I noticed on www.nopionline.com they have a universal ground wire kit by R1 for $51 and there is another at www.sunautomobile.com thats universal for $118. Are they work getting or are they just a waste of time? Also what is the purpose of them?

Thanks
-Mike

 

As far as I know, they improve the headlights,electrical and even better egnition responce. I even read in Import Tuner (Latest Issue)That you can see about 5hp gain. I wanted to post the same question, wasn't to sure if people would reply though!!

 

Well i think i might buy the R1 wires from Nopi since they are only $51 after christmas!

-Mike

 

Sounds Good!!

 

There may be some truth to the gains from a high capacity ground kit. Reduces the load on the alternator in addition to the things others mentioned. Less impedence in the system.

 

Its a scam. We used to do the same thing at the stereo shop i used to work at. for 1/2 the price all you nee to do is run 2 or 4 gauge wire from your body to the frame. Also from the battery to the frame. Its that simple.

 

Makes sense. It is probably a real good idea if you run high power system or high output alternator, or if you have alot of additional electronics like TV, DVD, all that stuff.

 

I believe the kit he's talking about grounds several components, nearly everything worth grounding in the engine bay. My neighbors drag race trucks professionally and they have done something similiar to both thier 454s, and they don't have tv's OR stereos in thier rides. They don't have anything but a seat and a steering wheel! I don't know about a 5hp gain, though. Import Tuner is full of crap and paid to advertise.

 

True, Import tuner is guilty of "Rice Math". But good grounds are important regardless of the electronics. Things like ignition and charging system just work better with big gauge, quality grounds. plus, over time, factory ground cables and contact points just get crappy.

 

Well, I don't know how much you know about Import Tuner, but do you know that "Power Page" scetion they have. Where they test out some products on stock cars, and do the dyno and hp gain. This month, there was a section on The "Best" products they ever used. Are you talking about there actual articals are crap, or do you mean the Adv. for some products.

Ex... Tornado turbos, and $20.00 supercharges that works for every car!

 

I mean the whole magazine is propaganda. I'm a big reader of Sport Compact Car. I've been a subscriber since '99. I even have to sift through the crap when I read that, too. Primedia is very guilty of sponsor bias. They do an artical on tires and rate BFGoodrich the best buy for the money (when anyone knows that ) and so many of thier product reviews are bias because three pages down that company is paying them to advertise. Import Tuner is even worse.

 

There was a thread in the General forum, where they did some dyno runs and saw at least an 8hp increase. Personally I would not buy the kit, I have already upgraded most if not all grounds on my max. I also ran additional positive and negative lines from the Alt to the Batt.

 

Yeah I got a sub. to both, but what about Super Street, any Good??

 

I really don't know, I never really read it. From what I have read, though, it seems to be a lesser version of Sport Compact Car geared toward the pep boys shopping ricer wannabe's, IMO. I know one thing, if I see another pep boys Super Street sticker on another metro 'type R' I'm going to puke.

 

Upgrading the grounds on any car CAN provide pretty good gains. everybody sees how tiny the tires are going to the headlights, right? well if they skimp on such an important safety aspect of the car in being able to SEE, don't you think they skimped in less cricital places, too?

you can do a lot of good all over the engine bay by upgrading the grounds, but you have to know where and why to do it. you can't just go start strapping wires everywhere and expect it to make more power. you have to look at where the juice is going through the engine bay and upgrade what isn't up to par.

frame ground and alternator power cables are a couple of the first places to look, but they're not all of it. there's many small sections on the ignition system that should be upgraded also. (i.e. coil packs, VTC wiring and injector leads on the VE).

I can go on, but I think you get the point.