I like your engine compartment, that's a nice mod!!

 

^ thanks!!!

 

Thats false and bad information. American and Euro cars both use primarily negative triggers though out the car like the Japanese cars. Even on the new data systems. As someone that has been diagnosing and working with mobile electronics for 14 years I have been deep into all of them.

The Euro guys are too busy with real mods. Not this cheap garbage that looks like a best buy amp install gone wrong. The one thing I saw with the Euro people is they have a good hold on what works and what doesn't. They tell it like it is and don't try to defend a part they have if it doesn't make the grade. Don't see much of that on the other side. I give Dave a lot of credit here. He is one of the few that I have seen that doesn't get pulled into the hype of a part and does real testing and gives real feedback. The electric fan mod is my favorite. Ok... lets not even go there.
The American guys just want power with real parts. Not talking about the new age cobalt and srt guys. I can see this as a accepted mod for them.

Do you think those that make these kits take the time to figure out what gauge is needed for what point they are wanting to connect with. Not guessing but a calculated decision. Or if a ground is even needed in the area your instructions tell you to put a wire. Throwing ground wires all over the car is not going to do any good. Just waisted money. If you expect a ground to do any good then you have to put it where NEEDED. Not just throw wires everywhere and hope to get lucky once or twice.

I have seen this so called mod praised a lot here. I was quite shocked since I have been in the mobile electronics field for so long and seen more then many ever will or understand. I looked at it with an open mind and read threads. Even saw a dyno or two show a power increase. No backups to confirm though so it rules out any power. We all know how flaky dynos are. Then I saw people talk about it making the shifts quicker. Others didn't see anything. What that told me was that there may have been another problem. Possible corroded factory ground or other. Or just the mind telling you something happened even though its the same. Could have been anything. But no solid data to indicate there indeed was an improvement.
The biggest thing I saw was a lot of talk. Some of those that make them talk a great game and are working it in the marketing side. I would too if I was selling. Just too little proof that your buying into a product with value.

I know some of you will just swear up and down that its solid. Good... the mod if for you. In my eyes talk is cheap though. I want to see proof or its just opinion or your good luck.

 

I work with RF (radio frequency) a lot as a Amateur Radio Operator. I know what grounds can and can't do. I grounded my Exploder 6 ways from Sunday because of Noise that was getting into my HF Ham gear. I grounded doors, hatch and hood to the body, the body to the frame, the frame to the exhaust, the frame to the motor and battery. I used 20 feet of flat braided strap and end connectors. Did it help? Yes it did. My signal got out was better, and the noise was down. The RF field (measured in volts/meter!) was down inside also. What it also did was make the whole electrical system run better. I was a lot of work and in the end, it was worth it. Too bad it was a Company car and I had to give it back two years later.

 

ClaerBra Guy, how many of the electronic mods on car forums (not just here) do you suspect are like the placebo effect (I paid a bundle, therefore it works as stated! Even if it doesn't really?)?

 

Did you paint this yourself and if so, how did you get such clean lines around the logo and elsewhere?

 

I thought that all of these were already grounded. The doors via the hinges, the hatch and hood via their respective hinges, etc. Is it possible that the braided wiring actually became a part of the antenna system (sort of like the skin effect seen on AC current) as opposed to a superior grounding to what already exists on the car?

 

Lets Summit this to Myth busters and find out the truth

 

Yes i painted it myself... And used a saw saw to cut it and grinded the edges with a grinder...

 

Do you mean that you literally cut out the forms and painted them? How did you glue them back together?

 

Yes, the skin effect on the ground plane of the antenna. It made a larger counterpoise for the antenna to radiate better. The hood on some cars (Chevy for example) do have a ground connections on them. Most do not. As for the doors, yes there is some gound at the hinges, however, a good solit ground strap will always help. I scrape the paint to bare metal and use stainless screws and star washers to lock them down. Then cover them with synthetic grease.

 

One last thing to consider, today's cars are all run by computer(s), a lot of cars have up to 5 computers in them. Grounding the body helps in evening voltages across the entire car and keeping noise out.

 

I'm with Dave B and ClearBra_Guy on the grounding kits... for the most part.

From my own experiences in car audio by upgrading the ground loop you can get better/steadier voltages out of a vehicle's electrical system, which in turn will net you higher dbs/SPL on the good old Term-LAB. If interested just Google "Big 3" and you will probably get a few thousand hits.

As for these 10+ wire kits I can't see where there would be much of a difference over a simple ground loop upgrade, but then again I haven't tried.

Maybe it's time to dig up the old 1/0 awg wires and see what happens.

 

There are already several fairly exhaustive threads on grounding kits elsewhere on the boards.

There's something like 30 pages of testimonials on Grounding Gear's kits with positive feedback from ~99% of the users. The testimonials are predominantly from reputable, professional, long time members of the forums. There are also some dynos available if a quick search is conducted (although grounding wires are certainly not a power mod).

My advice...do a little research and make a judgement call based on your findings. I don't regret my decision.

 

In my first life (I was an electrical engineer before I went the med school route) we were easily able to measure electromagnetic output decreases following proper or increased grounding. At one point I was repairing TV and radio station transceivers where sound quality is critical. A "technical ground" (or "technical earth") was often installed to prevent noise from static electricity and electromagnetic waves brought on by too many wires running side by side (insulation was poorer in those days). At some points we would need to build a faraday cage as a shield in order to discharge excess noise-- the grounding kit seems to perform this function. I see the logic behind the kits, for this purpose only, though. [color=Black]