Ground Wires, Any Good???

[Ripper]

Hey Gang

I've been reading up on these "ground wires" on www and it seems to be an al-cheapo performance upgrade...

The benefits described on www is pretty darn good if they are true

Anybody have any experience with them???

for those who dunno much about "ground wires'... it's an aftermarket wire kit that replaces the stock wire that grounds to the body of the car from the battery negative terminal. The stock system uses a single wire grounding to a single location of the car body while the aftermarket kits have multiple ground points...

It supposedly gives you more power, better fuel, etc etc

[2F2F]

dnt knw much abt this ground wires....jst wntin to knw sm more abt this....whtr they r available in SL?cost?buyin place?

[dhp]

it depends on your existing grounding.

-Take a volt meter and measure Voltage between negative post and a spot on the opposite end of the engine bay and block. If there is a considerable difference then you can benefit from a grounding kit.

-If your grounding cables have broken strands, loose or corroded terminals then you can benefit from replacing or adding grounding cables

The theory is that resistance will cause enough of a voltage drop to hinder the performance and by adding a grounding kit you can ensure optimal performance; but in practice I have measured the voltage difference and found to be around 0.1V max (@ 14V thats around .71%). If you're car is within its operating voltage range, then adding an extra grounding kit does nothing but add weight!

[Ripper]

it depends on your existing grounding.

-Take a volt meter and measure Voltage between negative post and a spot on the opposite end of the engine bay and block. If there is a considerable difference then you can benefit from a grounding kit.

-If your grounding cables have broken strands, loose or corroded terminals then you can benefit from replacing or adding grounding cables

The theory is that resistance will cause enough of a voltage drop to hinder the performance and by adding a grounding kit you can ensure optimal performance; but in practice I have measured the voltage difference and found to be around 0.1V max (@ 14V thats around .71%). If you're car is within its operating voltage range, then adding an extra grounding kit does nothing but add weight!

after bit of research..came to the same conclusion myself bloody evil performance parts manufacturers those buggers know to talk the talk to lure folks into buying into these things... weird thing is even HKS etc have these "specialized" grounding kits

[Ripper]

on second thought

http://www.circletrack.com/techarticles/ct...ring/index.html

http://www.turbomagazine.com/insidetechnol...tems/index.html

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=73857

Edited July 7, 2008 by Ripper

[dhp]

after bit of research..came to the same conclusion myself bloody evil performance parts manufacturers those buggers know to talk the talk to lure folks into buying into these things... weird thing is even HKS etc have these "specialized" grounding kits

yeah, its easy to make the case for grounding kits in theory but it doesn't provide much practical performance. You can probably have the same performance gain by loosing some weight (reducing fuel load, removing junk from trunk, etc.).

[Watchman]

yeah, its easy to make the case for grounding kits in theory but it doesn't provide much practical performance. You can probably have the same performance gain by loosing some weight (reducing fuel load, removing junk from trunk, etc.).

personally i dont think ground wiring can increase efficiency or performance as much as well tuned car with a proper drive line...

Though its an interesting topic, cos for popular brands to be promoting it this much its gotta have some effect..

[dhp]

It can help cars with some existing grounding issues. Like Ripper said the bimmer 5s have trunk mounted batteries and can have some grounding issues with engine block.

Its a good topic for Sri Lankan autos that spend a lot of time around hot, humid and sometimes salty conditions. Ideally all terminals used in SL should be crimped, soldered, and heat-shrunk with no visible coper.

I used to work for a wire harness manufacturer for about 4 yrs and we sold 1000s of battery cables to various industries (not essentially the fancy colored gold plated stuff) but sometimes its easier to add a new cable than try to troubleshoot an existing ckt.

[Ripper]

It can help cars with some existing grounding issues. Like Ripper said the bimmer 5s have trunk mounted batteries and can have some grounding issues with engine block.

Its a good topic for Sri Lankan autos that spend a lot of time around hot, humid and sometimes salty conditions. Ideally all terminals used in SL should be crimped, soldered, and heat-shrunk with no visible coper.

I used to work for a wire harness manufacturer for about 4 yrs and we sold 1000s of battery cables to various industries (not essentially the fancy colored gold plated stuff) but sometimes its easier to add a new cable than try to troubleshoot an existing ckt.

hey thanks mate for all that info... saw a kit on ebay for 9.99... thought i'll give it a go...

[Ripper]

personally i dont think ground wiring can increase efficiency or performance as much as well tuned car with a proper drive line...

Though its an interesting topic, cos for popular brands to be promoting it this much its gotta have some effect..

machang i don't think it'll come anywhere near to a "well tuned car" by adding these things on...if at all they might give you "something" more than what ya getting right now... manufacturers "claim" increased hp, better throttle response etc etc... and i also found out that quite a few racers do use them on their cars... considering the added weight, for them to hook these things up there has to be some form of gain out of it right?

A friend at AL who's got a set of these on told me offline that he personally didn't notice anything different with added grounding