Ok, so I'm thinking about replacing my spark plugd, wires, distributor cap and rotor today because they all look a little worn. Plugs deffinately. The truck has 115k on it and I'm pretty sure that the plug wires and distributor cap/rotor are original. What is the normal lifespan of this stuff? The distributor cap's contacts are worn down pretty far so for $12 or whatever I'll just get a new one but do I really need to change the plug wires? All of this will be OEM parts.

thanks

 

OEM wires are junk in fact any carbon core wire is crap unless your goal is AM radio reception. OEM plugs are fine NGK or Nippon but if you want long life then autolites are the hardest electrode around. All the fancy expensive plugs you see on the market are simply a bandaid for a weak ignition. If you like to research stuff yourself then take an OHM meter to the parts stores and compare the resistance of different plug wires. Your looking for a spiral core wire with lowest resistance possible. When looking for a cap and rotor OEM is good as well as anything from "Standard motor products" most of the cheap no name crap on the market has a very large gap between contacts and the rotor.

Another plug wire thread
I put a Jacobs ignition on my truck a while back and whoa! what a difference. You may want to consider upgrading ignitions as well if your performance minded.

 

autolite plugs are junk with factory ignition. if you're leaving it stock, use NGK or denso brand wires and plugs. now, if you step up to something like an MSD ignition that likes to eat plugs from the juice it puts out(not to mention it uses multiple sparks per firing), by all means use autolite plugs, as they're cheaper and work fine with the american style ignition box.

plug wires last a long time, especially if oem or ngk. no need to replace them unless you start missing or they crack/break