I first replaced mine at 6 years and 81,000 mi. They weren’t hard to remove but there was a lot more resistance than I was comfortable with in an aluminum head. I pulled them because I just wanted to check condition, and try my new wrench. I found a lot of deposits on the ground electrodes and gap was way off. I replaced them rather than clean and regap. This month I checked them again and decided to replace them again (135k). Same issue, a lot of deposits and gap out of spec. Maybe it’s that California gas?