I like what I have heard so far so I am going to purchas a ground wire kit soon. I have narrowed it down to either the Ground Fusions or the Sun Auto Hyper Ground System. The Fusions seem like a good buy, but the hyper grounds have dyno proven results on various cars (16 whp on a 92 talon!) . Thay are also like$120 or so. What are the primary differences between these kits? Any feedback is apprieciated

 

The difference between the two is wire quality....but they won't do squat on new cars... You're better off saving your money and just reset your ECU from time to time to cheat yourself into thinking your car is faster...

Although, they do look good as engine dress up....make your own for under 20 bucks.

 

i prefer my ground fusion Hot lava ground wire kit... 73 shipped...


What I have noticed about the wires is....

- no rpm drops at idle anymore (or turning on AC or anything electronic)
- kickass looks



but I'm sure you could make your own for cheaper..... But what ever, I'd rather pay and have them done right.....bleahhh

 

Yeah I know thats true b/c my friend has a box with those cheap ebay wires and his idle is very, noticeably stable compared to mine. Im sure its not going to add any significant power, it seems like most mods dont on these cars. However, I have this clatter that comes from under my hood from time to time when the idle fluctuates, really annoying. I think a set of ground wires might help that out. I work in studios, and in the audio world, cable quality makes a HUGE difference in the final product. I'm just not sure if the same goes for ground wires on a car... BTW which one is a higher quality cable, I am guessing the Sun? Jeez they are expensive though!

 

More snake-oil for the Tuner crowd. I=V/R (Current is equal to Voltage divided by resistance and the equations you can derive from it) says that this is kind of a dumb idea. Okay, lets say the factory ground wires are inadequate. You're willing to pay $150 for oxygen free 10 gauge copper or whatever they are trying to sell -- You've still got the same inadequate positive wires feeding all those devices -- You can't get more current through a circuit because one part of it has a lower resistance. Total resistance determines overall current for a given circuit"." Old cars that happen to have worse grounds than supply wires might gain something from this but any positive effects you see from "ground wires" are almost assuredly placebo.

 

hyper ground system.

 

Save your money.

Electricity is not a weakest link in the chain analogy. It is the sum of the resistances of all of the parts. With that in mind, improving grounding does help the car, but let's justify and then quantify it.

Reduce resistance in major ground wires/power wires
Reduce voltage drop for a specific circuit
Reduce current draw from car electrical system
Reduce load on alternator
Reduce load on engine/accessory belt/crank
"Idle improved"

Typical current draw from 14 gauge copper wire is 2.6 ohm / 1000 feet
assuming 13.8V operating thats 35.8 amps / 1000 feet
Let's switch to 8 gauge .67 ohm /1000 feet = 9.2 amps / 1000 feet.
This seems like a reasonable upgrade.....even more than some of the kits I've seen.

So, for each foot of 14 gauge wire replace with 8 gauge wire you reduce current draw by ~.0266 amps.

Let's compare that to other items in the cars electrical system (feet of wire replaced)
The brake light pulls 2 amps each or a total of 8 amps when you stop. (300)
The stereo pulls about 1 amp with the volume down. (37)
The daytime running lights pull about 10 amps (375)
The headlights pull about 30 amps (1127)

Ultimately, I must agree that a good power wire and grounding kit will improve your cars gas mileage, alternator life, and idle power consumption. But, there are many other factors which overshadow this to a degree that it is inconsequential.

Save your money folks. You can't change the laws of physics, especially if your in marketing.

 

we have lineage grounding kits for $89 shipped. If you want more info on this company check out there website. http://www.lineagemotorsport.com/page1.html
Contact me if you would like to buy them.

 

i read in a review of the xa that its rpm is held at 4200 while it cruises at 80mph. mine did the same until i installed the hyper ground system. now the rpm is at exactly 4000 while i maintain a speed of 80. this is enough to convince me that i made a good choice when i purchased the hyper ground system.

 

checkout the randode racing kit. i have it on mine, and noticed the idle stabilization, and better performance from my audio components.

http://www.randode.com/parts.html

 

Ground Fusion. period.
It is the highest quality kit out there, and is worth $73 shipped. Many colors, quality crimps with 8 wires, and awesome instructions, customer service, and attention to detail.

Don't listen to all the haters out there. They just haven't been in a xA/xB with a ground wire kit and can't attest for them. I wasn't expecting much, but was hoping that the annoying idle would quit fluctuating. It did. RPMs don't bounce any more. And acceleration is smoother with my 5 speed, the lights don't dim at night when you run the a/c or use the power windows, plus it looks cool if you open the hood.

You never see anyone on here who has bought a ground wire kit say they don't work.

 

lol, ask Kaeon, he short circuited his passenger side window (or something) on his tC while installing his kit... Probably stupidity on his part, though.

I don't think the 73 bucks is worth it. I paid 7 (or was it 5?) bucks for the supplies for my kit and it works just the same as any other kit (unless it has capacitors). I've already tested the connections with/without the ground wires with my Fluke 88 VMM and the difference is minimal. My wires are 10 gauge, but they do the same job as the 4 gauge. The 4 gauge wire just looks meatier and looks nicer for dressup. Even with 4 gauge wire, the supplies to make it would still be under 15 bucks. The supply store just didn't have the color I wanted. *shrug* My money was well spent...

Maybe I'll start selling my own kits...

 

I still think HKS has the "show and go" for ground wire kits

 

your engine bay makes me thirsty for some cranberry juice...

 

Wow, your engine looks sick!

 

I misread you're statement and thought that you read this claim in a magazine so if this reply sounds a bit hostile, I was very upset a magazine would make this claim. I'm sure you're just reporting your experience. But really, If this is an Automatic, when the torque converter locks up there is a physical connection from the Crankshaft all the way to wheels, there is no way the engine speed can change independently of the wheels unless the Lockup slips. (I guess its possible that the TC Could unlock at that speed, but I really doubt it and the RPM Difference should be more than 200 RPMS) and if its a manual then there is simply no way an electrical issue could effect what RPM the Engine would run at a given speed. I don't even think a ground could effect the Tach read-out on these cars.

It would be so easy to setup back to back testing for these things, just throw a switch to connect the wire kit to the system and watch the engine instantly run smoother, the dyno numbers improve, ect... This is the tripe that sells these kits. This is the same logic that says you better run monster-wire to all your speakers and has people using giant wires inside their subwoofer enclosures. Ampeg specs 18 & 16 gauge wire (And Ampeg is one of the most respected companies in pro audio) inside their Bass cabs, these are cabinets that can handle 1000watts RMS all day long, the loss over two or three feet of wire does not even add up to an audible difference (No, Really - Its been tested many times but you're not going to hear about it in Audio magazines who's sponsors are the same people that are selling the junk - You can't hear the difference with the human ear!)

I'd love to hear someone give a technical explanation why a ludicrously over the top grounding solution on a car should effect the idle? A gas engine isn't exactly rocket science, what's making that idle so much smoother? Better spark? More fuel? The Timings more accurate?! Give me a break.

Buy this stuff if you like the way it looks, or you're such an enthusiast you've got to have every part no matter what it does or doesn't do. Don't delude you're self into thinking its doing something its not.

If some company wants to send me a set of wires to prove it to me, Ill test it fairly and if I find that they effect the way the engine runs I'll take it all back and pay for the wires too. But I'm not going to pay $100+ just to prove you wrong.

 

As far as the speaker wire thing goes I think I was wrong, I think the wires are even smaller in those ampeg cabs like 20 AWG, But keep in mind that all that power is running through some 100'-200'or more of tiny tiny wire when it goes through each speaker - have two subwoofers connected in series? You've got those massive wires connected to at least 250' of tiny little wires and those little electrons have to go from one end to the other buddy. (I don't really recall how much wire is on an average subs voice coil but I wouldn't be suprised if it was more than 150')

If you want to read about some stuff you'll never hear in a pro-audio magazine go to http://www.roger-russell.com/ He worked at the McIntosh labs (Very, very highend audio equipment) His articles are fantastic. Check out http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

 

I stand by my first post.

I don't claim that there are less RPMs at any speed. That doesn't seem logical.
I don't claim that the audio is better. The actual speaker wire isn't changed so that doesn't seem logical.

What I DO claim is that the annoying constant change in RPMs when sitting at a stop light nearly stops. I'm not sure what causes the fluctuating RPMs in the first place, perhaps it's the cooling fans kicking on/off to maintain perfect temp. for emissions, I don't know. But it pretty much stopped, and my xB doesn't annoy me anymore. It has nothing to do with the fact that "I know there are now pretty wires under my hood".

I also claim that the lights do not dim at all when using the power windows or a/c at night, which they did before.
In my VW, which I've modded all to hell, it didn't have those annoyances. Perhaps the electrical system was better in it, so it didn't require it. But I never bought a grounding kit for it 'cause it has no use for one. Otherwise, trust me, I would have gotten that mod too.

With my xB however, those things annoyed me, and made it feel like a cheap Kia. So I read several posts and decided to try it to see if it would work. It did. I have no "technical" data for you. If you lived near me, I'd buy one for you to test and see the results for yourself.

I personally am not claiming any crazy improvements or changes. I don't appreciate you calling me a liar.

 

dont forget the randode.com groundwire kit. SL priced at $50 shipped.

 

Ha sorry - I didn't really talk about the Lights/Windows thing cause I guess that's plausible. (But wow, I still have my doubts) I have a problem with Horse power claims, the RPM change claim, and I guess the idle issue but if you insist it helps Ill take your word for it (Engine rpm fluctuation with the A/C on is associated with the A/C pump cycling on and off - Increasing and then decreasing the Load on the engine - it's not unusual for it to take a moment for the computer to compensate - But I have also seen large electrical loads make RPM fluctuate, I assumed this was from the load on the alternator, but perhaps its something else.) - If I have the same problem with mine perhaps I'll give it a try. At worst I think I only suggested people might be liars but if you, personally, are genuinely offended I'm sorry.