Ever try grounding out your car

Today i bought a ground kit for my car.the kit includes 4 ground wires and a series of locations to ground them out at.Even thou it sounds a little stupid ,but it works.I can tell the difference about 4hp difference.I feel it the most after I pop the clutch.









91 4door civic
1.8GSR Engine
AEM cold air intake

You can feel a 4hp difference? But I agree, when my clutch is in, I feel NO horsepower, he he.

Just curious but how much did you pay for this grounding kit? I made my own with about $4 in 8 gauge wire and some 8 gauge crimp terminals. I noticed a smoother idle and thats about it.

You can feel a 4hp difference? But I agree, when my clutch is in, I feel NO horsepower, he he.

Clutch? Who needs a clutch? Just slam that puppy into gear... or better yet... lets roll it downhill... with a 150mph back wind.

4hp? Bah! You can't feel 4hp difference from wiring. Hell, you can't even feel 4hp difference without wiring. New wires don't add horse power.

Grounding is good for your engine thought, cause helping the electricity flow better will keep your car running better longer... smoother starts, idles... and fewer burnt out fuses and wirings years down the line.

Car Audio wiring cables are not good however, cause of the way the cables are made they actually end up creating more electrical resistance. But any autozone/advanced auto/pep boys sell good grounding kits that should work quite well for ya.

Car Audio wiring cables are not good however, cause of the way the cables are made they actually end up creating more electrical resistance. But any autozone/advanced auto/pep boys sell good grounding kits that should work quite well for ya.

Could you please elaborate on this? 8 AWG copper wire has a resistance of .67 ohms for every 1000 FEET (yes 1000). The ground wires are roughly a foot long a piece netting a resistance of 6.7 x 10^-4 ohms.

Car Audio wiring cables are not good however, cause of the way the cables are made they actually end up creating more electrical resistance. But any autozone/advanced auto/pep boys sell good grounding kits that should work quite well for ya.


From both the perspectives of theoretical and real-life experience...
I am sorry but I will have to disagree on this one.

Can you explain how high grade, large gauge, oxygen-free copper cable is not optimal ?

Is this based on the testimonial of someone selling a ground kit ?

Is this based on the testimonial of someone selling a ground kit ?

Nope.. just something my grandfather told me. Professional mechanic for almost 50 years now.

Simply said "Don't ever use this shit on your engine!" and proceeded to change out my grounds with some thick ass truck ground cables. And some type of ribbon wire, that I've yet to be able to find anywhere.

And since he's built more cars than I'll ever own, I tend not to argue with the old man.

Just curious but how much did you pay for this grounding kit? I made my own with about $4 in 8 gauge wire and some 8 gauge crimp terminals. I noticed a smoother idle and thats about it.

Where could you get wire like this? I see it in Best Buy and Circuit City, but its in kits for like an absurd $100 price for running wires back to your amps.

I just go to a local audio store if I don't feel like waiting to get it off eBay. 8 gauge is like .75-$1 a foot there, and eBay its ~.50 a foot. The 8 gauge ring terminals are roughly the same price. My 4 gauge amp wiring was like $25 or something from eBay. Does a brand name really matter to me? No not really. Check out: http://www.bcae1.com/wire.htm from www.bcae1.com that states:
"Oxygen Free Copper:
< RANT >
As you have probably noticed, wire designated as OFC wire usually has a clear insulation and the wire is bright and shiny underneath the transparent insulator. Well... It is nice and shiny for a while but after a short time (actually from the time it is drawn), it starts to oxidize (unless the wire is kept in an oxygen free atmosphere). When copper oxidizes, it becomes a less effective conductor. This means that, in time, the wire's current carrying capabilities will become significantly reduced. The problem is made worse by having many very small conductors. This creates even more surface area which makes the oxidation process even more efficient. In my opinion, if you are designing a system of any type for long term use, I think the better choice is a 'tinned' copper wire. In this type of wire, the copper is plated with tin (maybe a lead/tin alloy) or similar conductor which will not oxidize as quickly and never as completely as the bare copper. As a side note, this has nothing to do with the copper being 'oxygen free'. It has everything to do with the fact that the wire is unprotected (untinned) and is finely stranded. I used OFC wire in this example because most OFC has many fine unprotected strands.
< /RANT >"

I tend to trust that site because its basically a bible for car audio.

Just go to like home depot. I bought some 4 or 6 gauge, cant remember, but the wire is ment for grounding. Have them cut it into like 1 foot lengths. It cost me like under 5 bucks and like 30 min at the extreme most to do it.

Oh yeah plus i gained 5-7 extra hp + 2 ft/lbs torque

hehe

i was joking of course!!!

Meh you must have gotten the yellow wire. I completely forgot about that when I got mine.....

No offense to your grandfather but he would have been working on cars in 1953. The electrical system of today's cars is a million times more complex than those old simple cars. And generally older guys don't know shit about modern day electrical systems in cars because they just refuse to try and learn about it. How many old people do you know who even own a computer. I don't know any, primarily because they don't care to learn new things. So I highly doubt some retired mechanic would try and learn about electrical systems in modern day Japanese cars he doesn't work on.

I'm a Toyota mechanic and I go to Toyota school and have taken electrical diagnosis courses and I can't see a single issue with using audio wiring as ground wires. It would work just as good as anything else. High grade audio wires will test out as being a lot more conductive than the shitty stock ground wires.

this is informative. You all keep going. I am trying to learn.

So changing the ground wires do what?? Make the car run smoother?

i've replaced one wire so far with 8 guage and it hasnt made ne difference

anyone have ne pics of where all the grounds go?? i think i'm missing one

8ga is wimpy stuff :P

On my car I upgraded to 6 ga grounds for the engine ($3 each at walmart for 16" or 24" lengths, 16" works best). On the battery I used a 4ga ground. I have only a CD player and 2 speakers, no amps, no subs.

I can honestly say I felt a difference, but by ignition system is fairly highly stressed.

-Dustin

Im going to have to agree with FourthGenHatch wholeheartedly on this issue. With wires, you do get more power, dont ask me how but it probably has to do with the ignition system and supporting components. I personally have 6g wire on my Ba4 Prelude and I felt a bigger power increase from the wires than I did from my short ram intake! And not to mention it idles much smoother, probly smoother than when it was new. And when I have my lights on bright, my rear window defroster, my radio, and my heater on now after the 6g wire my gauge cluster lighting never dims out now, and my sunroof opens faster (how?) now!

Yeah, only the electrics will be better working. Ie- things which require a CLEAN signal to get them to operate.

Earthing (grounding, sorry, I hate the term "ground") is all about providing less losses through your electrical system, and a lot of the time to prevent backswings etc which cause damage.

So do you need any special tools when you make these wires? I have heard soldering and crimping from write ups. Could you use a pair of pliers instead of a crimper?

The wal mart wires are cheaper than the wire and the terminals. so don't waste your time.

The concept is very simple, less resistance = less voltage drop = more efficient operation of every component. This especially effects ignition because a coil does not increase voltage to 40,500v (er whatever), it multiplies 13.5v (what it is rated at) by 3000x (depending on the coil). If your only getting 12V to the coil, you get 36,000V instead.

-Dustin

I was thinking, probably the best spots to ground are the transmission (for the starter), the engine block (sensors), the head (plugs), and the alternator (duh). That should make a difference, as long as you make sure to clean any paint/grease/etc... from the areas before you attach them.