EDIT 6/25/14: The taper appears to be normal. I wound up doing a full plug and wire job anyway. Dang, it's a serious pain on the Express having to go through the wheel well. Took way longer than I anticipated it would.

So I just bought an '06 Express 1500 AWD with 111K on the odometer. I'll be using to move from the E Coast to CO and towing a 6'x12' cargo trailer. In preparation for the move, I'm going over the van as best I can and checking out the systems and components.

This is what the plugs look like. Now that I think about it - I've never seen such a tapered electrode. Normally they're flat and cylindrical. Is this normal?

The plugs and wires don't look like they were replaced at 100K as per mfgr specs. I'm really not looking forward to changing them if I don't have to - getting those front plugs out of this engine looks like a serious pain for a home driveway job without a lift.

Any ideas?