A newbie question here...

but what are grounding cables? And are they worth getting from the dealer?

 

I'll answer the second question first: NO
Reason being? You can do it yourself for all of $10 at most - it's simply good wiring with connectors.

No.1 is more complicated, and I don't have the time today for a full write-up. It's a method for augmenting the factory's negative grounding. Theoretically, you don't need to do it because the factory grounding should be adequete. In reality, depending on the car, the factory grounding is not doing 100% of the job it was supposed to do, so the grounding does have benefits for bringing the car up to proper operation. The main thing here is that you are not giving the car any additional power or any other factor - you are simply bringing it up to full operational spec. And if the car already is, then you aren't going to do anything with a grounding kit. YMMV

Cheers,

Paul Hansen

 

Thanks Paul!

Is it me, or does it seem kind of weird that they should have to sell you grounding cables for the car to perform up to advertised spec? Well, if you can DIY (say, I wonder if my EE lab experience will help any ) without blowing anything up, then I guess I can take a stab at it.

I'm wondering though, how would you determine whether or not your car would need a grounding kit? And let's say your car wasn't performing up to spec, would you be able to tell without doing thorough testing?

 

Has there been any research put into the quality of grounding cables that go into the US evo? What kind of resistance factor are we looking at over the RallyArt cables? Is there any difference? Could better grounding be achived with a metal buffer on the end of a dremel tool, buffing/grinding out the contacts on the currently installed cables and simply reattaching? What about the Hot side of the car? I dont see any replacement + 12VDC cables being sold by rallyart. And wouldn't this make a great time to move your battery

 

I'm gone - possibly for the next 4 days or so - so just quick answers.

There is no easy way to tell besides installing it - another reason to stick to cheap DIY. There are lots of other things you can do if you want to, as mentioned above.

Cheers,

Paul Hansen