I decided to get the Active Tuning Custom Engine Grounding Kit and I figured I should write a review so you guys can compare it to some of the other kits available. I do want to say that I am in no way trying to be disrespectful to Matt Blehm who offers his kit for $50 shipped which is a good price and I have heard nothing but good things about his kit. I had trouble getting in contact with him through email which is basically why I started searching elsewhere and found this kit. First off, it's $40 shipped. The kit has audio grade 4 gauge 100% fine stranded oxygen-free copper cable with die-crimped ring terminal ends covered with a black heat shrink tubing.

The kit includes:
4 Ground Cables 10", 12", 14", 15"
2 M6 Bolts
2 M6 Flat Washers
1 M6 Nut

My e-mails to Active Tuning were answered extremely fast and they were very polite and willing to work with me if any of the wires didn't fit the way they were supposed to. Everything fit fine.

There are better pictures and installation instructions here [ http://www.activetuning.com/products...stallation.php ]

I included some pics I took myself after I installed the kit. It's for 95-01 Maximas and I had no problem making it fit my 2000. All the connections were basically the same. I used one different grounding point just because I was too lazy to try to reach the other one. The one below the fuse box was a PITA to get to, but I think it's the one you should use. I chose black wires because I didn't want it to stand out. Yes, I know my engine bay is extremely dirty. I apologize.



Wire #1



Wire #2



Wire #3



Wire #4



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Things I have noticed since the installation:
1. Faster Start
2. More Smooth Idle
3. Smoother revving
4. It's kind of hard to describe, but I guess the car is just more smooth overall, and it's hard to tell if you think it's more smooth because they say it should be or because it really is, but so far I think there is a difference. I have a 5spd so I'm sure those with automatics will have more smooth downshifts etc.

I definitely recommend some type of grounding kit and hopefully this gives some more information to those people looking at different kits to consider

 

i think you should move the ground wire that goes on the intake manifold ours is plastic so it won't improve grounding, either remove it or use it somewhere else.

 

hi, ima a fan of matt blehm and all the work he does toward the community, i n my few times that i have required contacting him he has responded rapidly, usually within 24 hours and has been very thorough and helpful in his responses. my question to you is...... do u know if the ends of the cables are soldered before being crimped? did u also know that matts cables are pre cut to certain lengths to meet certain sensor grounds, that make the biggest difference?....


wow i sound like a spokesperson! lol!!

 

Yah they're soldered the same way and these are all cut to lengths as well

 

lol, i mean they are cut to be put on certainsensor grounds, not random ground points

 

and that is what I mean too. they are cut to certain lengths so they reach the factory grounding points without being too short or too long. I thought that went without saying.

 

please, explain what you mean by "certain sensor grounds", cause it SOUNDS like your'e saying that the different ground points make a difference, because neither matt's nor active's are scientifically proven.

i think this thread is fair in saying this is just another brand. and, it's kinda hard for you to try to be a spokesperson for ground cables. i made mine myself and picked my own ground points and think it did the same affect.

 

Yes, it's just grounding and before I believe any hype or smoke and mirrors. They would have to explain where they studied their electrical engineering and what kind of grounding topology this is and why it's best.



~Catch me if you can like the ginger bread man.

 

umm, why cant you peple go to a car audio/video store, get a lenth of 4ga cable and some rings/terminators, crimp/solder them yourselves, and follow the instructions to ground your car. i am sure it would be cheaper to get cable by the foot, than to pay for premade+shipping. it is not that hard to do by yourself. in fact, i think i will do this today, and maybe do a write up on how many feet+what hardware to use.

 

plenty of people already have writeups on their custom made ones that only cost around $20 in materials. I realize that is an option but I am too lazy to go and do that when I can spend another $20 and just have it all premade and cut to the right length for me without going anywhere...to each his own.

 

Cable is about $1-1.25 per foot, and ring connectors are about $17.00 for a bag of 12. At least that is the best I have found for 4 guage.

 

I just installed my AT kit this past weekend, but I can't really tell anything. Maybe my car was already smooth. I thought I may have grounded wrong but I used similar points as yours. I'm going to match your install this weeked everything but your ground by your dip stick to see if I notice a change.

I have the install and ground points on my cardomain site. Check It Out!!
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/458787/5

 

Yes, we used very similar points. I had the wire from the battery going to the exact same bolt holding the headlight as you did originally until I decided to suck it up and loosen my battery and fuse box and install it below the fuse box where it's extremely hard to reach to see if it would be any different because this is where it said to put it. This is when I started to notice the faster starts and smoother idle etc so I advise that you try that connection and see if you notice any difference. (get ready for bloody hands)

Also, i agree with your concern for the intake manifold not being metal but I think that is as close as we can get around there because I looked all around today and couldn't find anything all metal that was part of the intake manifold so I'm going to keep it where it is because I definitely notice a difference the way my kit is now.

Finally, I couldn't get a new bolt or an old one for that matter to thread through the empty hole near the dipstick which is why I went farther to the right and used a ground that would reach with the length of the wire. Did you have to try really hard to get the bolt to screw through that empty m6 hole near the dipstick? I highly doubt there is any difference between my connection and yours on this wire, but I'm not sure.

 

I did originally bolt into the side wall by the battery but I was stretching the wire tight so thats why I moved it back up top to the headlight. I didn't have too much trouble getting back there because I removed the headlight.

As far as the empty hole goes, I didn't have a prob there either. I dremeled the surface to get a clean connection and screwed the new bolt provided right in.

 

I turned the bolt and mounting bracket thing around the opposite way it was on the negative battery terminal and pulled the wire around as far as I could and the wire would then fit fine below the fuse box where it should go if you want to try that. you can see from my pictures. I just noticed that we used the same ground for the wire near the dipstick, and I will try again to get a bolt through that empty m6 hole, but do you think there is really any difference between the next one over that I used and the one that you used? It's all the same piece, so I doubt there is, so I don't know if I want to even bother trying to force a bolt through there.

 

i wonder if this helps more on older cars. the factory grounding may become corroded, and adding this kit increases contact poits for the motor, so i dont know if everybody with newer cars will notice much difference. i think as the years go by, the car will keep running smoother with the grounding kit installed.

 

btw, for all the 6spd owners, what does your car idle at when sitting at a traffic light in neutral?

 

stock idle is 625. if someone is idling differently, they need to get it adjusted. i *THINK* it's +/- 25.

 

i agree...altho I do notice a difference, it is minimal. My friend at work has a 95 and he installed the same kit on his car a few weeks ago and he can't believe how much more smooth it became and how much better the car ran. It certainly helps to simply sand away old rust and improve old connections, so I assume adding the grounding kit does even more than that for older cars.

 

I tried the hole next to the empty one too, but the only thing that made me go back to the empty holes was that the bolt seem to have a rubber type gromet around it that would prevent good grounding. You didn't have that?

 

I recieved my Grounding Kit yesterday, I ordered on Sport Compact Only for $59. Install didn't take to long because it did not come with instructions but it was kinda self explanatory. As long as you get good ground points and link the cables in series from negative terminal of battery you will get a positive result. All I can say this mod was worth every penny. My Maxima is much more responsive and you can tell a difference, plus my silver color cables makes the engine bay look more agressive. I would guess it gives about 5hp(+-1), just guessing. I test drove the car on the highway and I had to hold on to the steering wheel more(torque steer) than usual becuase the power was more noticeable. Get a grounding kit or make one if possible, well worth it!

 

placebo effect.

 

We were just as skeptical until we made our own. The way a grounding kit works can be explained from an electrical engineering standpoint, so there is no reason for there to be a placebo effect (unless you exaggerate the results). There is a lot of good reading online about the technical specifics...the first place I'd recommend starting is this post:

http://nissanclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187844

 

i definetely beleive that it improves ignition, and smoother idle, but +5 horsepower, that sounds off base. i will do this myself soon just for kicks, to find out what it does for me.

 

As an electrical engineer this is common sense.
Take a look at this and maybe this will convince more skeptics....

From JSerrano from Nissanclub.com

"Many grounding kit aficionados say things like, "Two or more grounding points are better than one." But is "the more, the better" actually true. So many people haven't actually supplanted their original grounding but instead have "piggy-backed" off the OEM ground. Let's see if this is a well-founded approach because there are a number of issues to be considered as well.

Let's say you have the OEM ground running from the negative terminal of the battery to the engine ground. You add another ground connection from the same negative terminal of the battery to another grounding point of the engine. In essense you have two parallel grounds to the engine. This sets a red flag in many peoples mind because of the potential for ground loops, ie. alternate electrical paths to ground. I'll discuss that in awhile for the meantime let's accept the multiple grounding approach.

Those whom have taken electronic theory have been told many times that the electricity will flow in the circuit of least resistance. In the case where our original OEM is inadequate and has a high resistance then that would mean that all the electricity would flow in our heavy-duty, infra-low resistance wire. That would make the OEM wire just added weight serving no purpose. But stop, is that really true? Let's look at another electronic theory, the theory of two resistors in parallel, which is what the wires are representing. Say the OEM wire has developed a 5 ohm resistance because of rust and our other wire has 1 ohm of resistance. There is actually an electrical formula for those math-starved people to help solve this dilemma. It reads,

R(total) = R1 * R2 / R1 + R2. ....we will assign R1 = 5 ohms and R2 = 1 ohm

We are lazy so we will use someone else's calculator off the web. (http://www.csgnetwork.com/parallelresistcalc.html).

Whoa, what happened? It said the total resistance for this circuit of two resistors (5 ohm and 1 ohm) is actually 0.8333333333333334 ohms. Much lower then the least resistance theory of 1 ohm. Isn't the current all supposed to flow through the least valued resistor? Well, NO, some actually flows through the other 5 ohm resistor. How much, if you assume a 12 volts source? 2.4 amps. And of course R2 has more amps flowing through it, 12 amps to be exact. So the total resistance actually passes the 2.4 + 12 amps or 14.4 amps total. So those grounding kit aficionados where correct, multiple grounds are better than one. Here is a rule-of-thumb worth remembering, the total resistance will always be less the the smallest of the resistors."

 

Update: I don't know if I feel a real difference in power, but there definitely seems to be a little more torque and i don't know if it's just me looking for things to improve after putting the kit in, but it definitely seems like the shifts both up and down are much more smooth...I'm almost certain it's not the placebo effect because I obviously know the feeling of the shifts after two years with the car and there is definitely a difference.

 

aite, i am not arguing against the car running better/smoother. just that +5 hp gain does not sound right.

 

I might be more prone to believe it felt like 5+ hp if the car was older and had corroded connections etc, but your car is a 2003, which I doubt was running not smooth to begin with. chronos...that is probably why you won't notice as much of a difference as me with a '00 (who noticed a slight/noticeable difference) and my buddy at work with a '95 (who noticed a big difference) it all depends on how old the car is and the condition of the factory sensor connections