i got a 94 firebird, and a guy at a local shop suggested bosch platinum+4s but i came online and read nothing but bad things about them, how bad are they?

 

Personally, I consider the Bosch plugs over-hyped and well marketed, but they don't live up to their promised results. There have been numerous complaints on here regarding them. I would just stick with another Delco set or the NGKs.

 

I dont see the point in them... they make 4 different arcs, but use the same voltage... so each arc is a 1/4 as strong as it should be

 

what i found interesting was it said gap spacing did not need to be changed. what does that mean, and how well can that work when you want a different gap spacing?

 

most of the time a product gets bad reputation because the use the product intending to fix something when it should have been taken care of properly to begin with. In a good running engine these plugs do help, although i dont have the equipment to prove it scientificly, i had ACdelco plugs in my 1989 formula 350, long story short the fouled out, rusted up and fell apart not even 3 months after i installed them. before this i had installed the plat. 2's with my MSD ignition in hopes of better more powerful burn, but with the ACDelco's after noticing that one cylinder wasn't firing well i pulled the plugs and noticed that 2 if not more weren't firing as well as they should because they looked to me to have fallen apart inside and were covered in rust. platinum 4's are in now and burn noticibly better, no smoke, more intense spark and a clean healthy smelling exhaust, but as i said my aftermarket ignition helps produce an awsome spark on the plugs.

 

You don't get "4 different arcs". You get a single spark to the closest ground strap. As that ground strap erodes, increasing the gap, the spark moves to the next closest ground strap. All it does is provide 4 times as much service life, at the possible expense of shrouding the spark.