R8 Coil packs??

[Daled0111]

i have heard loads about the R8 (red) coil packs
do they actually make a noticeable difference to the performance
sorry if there is already a page for this

[Madone]

Apart from the colour... No

[StuF]

They are red so must be better!! 

[bigmig95]

The early red top variants used in the R8 had winding differences compared to the tfsi oem black tops ones, this gave a slightly stronger spark over the black tops.  Not sure if this is still the case.

[Beej]

I have just replaced my 4 coils with R8 red top ones from tps to try and fix an underlying issue and can honestly say, there is no obvious performance increase (if any that is)

[shoaybmakda]

I almost bought the r8 coils but opted for the standard ones. Some forum members say they make a massive difference..might be a psychological thing I guess if some guys think it makes no difference at all?

[rich83]

They make no difference. They are slightly higher resistance, but not sure what difference that makes.

[olethalb]

apparently stronger spark but am led to belive all red coils are not created equal, regular red not as good as R8 

[pudding]

Only way to be sure is test them all in a lab, or there should be some maker's markings on the coils and a number (e.g TEMIC, Beru et al) and you can find the KV rating online.  There's only so much KV a coil winding of that size can kick out and I'd be surprised if there's any more than 5KV difference between all of them, which you won't really notice.

Even if there is was an appreciable difference in spark strength, the coil dwell (charge time before firing) may be different in each application, so you wouldn't get the full benefit anyway.  Different coils need different charge times to produce their peak output.

A stronger spark might help if you're running big boost and gappier plugs, but if you're not getting misfires under hard load, I wouldn't bother personally.