http://www.gripmotorsports.com/pi~pn..._kit-3025.html
What is a Ground Kit? The Grip Ground Wire Kit is made up of large stereo quality 4 Gauge high conductive copper cable (100% Oxygen Free) that has industrial crimped and sleeved 24k gold plated ends (will not rust like other metals) to bolt to the chassis of the car. Copper wire is used to produce the highest conductivity rate. Grip Ground kits will typically replace many of the major factory ground wires (as small as 12 gauge) with a much larger ground wires and even create some new ground points that the manufacturer left out due to production cost.
What does a Ground Kit do? As tested by numerous respected tuners, magazines, and shops, a ground kit does what you want, add power. Results vary depending on car but here are the average results:

• 3-5 Horsepower increase
• Increased Fuel Mileage
• Better Electrical Current (Headlights Brighter, Stereo stronger, etc.)
• Dress' up your engine bay!

Why buy a Grip Ground Kit compared to others? They use a loop system designed specifically for the greatest power. Meaning it starts at the negative terminal and goes from one spot to the next in series. Connecting to all major conducting pieces of the car, IE: throttle body, engine block, fender, transmission, and etc. The Grip Ground Kit uses a TRUE 4 Gauge Copper wire where others use a smaller 8 gauge and charge more. Grip Ground Kit are oxygen free meaning perfect electrical current. The Grip Ground Kits are available in 4 colors to match your cars style where some only come in 1 or 2 colors.
The best advantage of a Grip Ground Kit is simply the price, presentation, and purpose. Less expensive then the competition. You have the absolute best quality made ground kit possible, and produces more efficient power then others.


Grip 4 Gauge Universal Ground Wire Kit for Mercedes SLK320

 

Every time gas prices spike, the snake oil begins flowing.

I would live to hear the physics that demonstrate how ground cables improve combustion efficiency!!!

 

i'm going to agree with the assessment on this one...

 

What you do not understand is that these wires are the newest generation of flux capacitors. What they do when properly installed is propel your car into the future in very short bursts. It is not enough for you to notice but does increase your rate of acceleration and increases your gas mileage.

 

yes this and in conjunction with other subtle mods... little by little the improvements will be felt, and talk about short bursts of the future...

it does dress up the engine bay looking futuristic...

i never said it was like:


have a good one.
J

 

Forget the flux capacitor, with gas prices this high I want a mr. fusion...

 

I've had my Hot Inazma hypervoltage system installed in my XFIREX for a while and I'm still loving it!

 

This mod will help your engine:

1. You do not gain HP but you do keep what you got.
The reason I state number 1 is: If the car is able to produce electric current without any resistance there is less of a demand on the engine to spin the pulley affixed to the alternator... saving a horse or two - this is a known fact. hooah At the same time if your engine is under less load, it will use less fuel. "end of story".

 

i thought you left?

 

The amount of power demanded by the vehicles electrical system is what determines how much mechanical power (hp) is required. A 5hp "increase" is equivalent to about 2.8 kW (electrical), assuming a 75% efficient alternator. For a 12VDC automotive electrical system, this means you would have to reduce the alternator load by about 235 AMPS!!!

Most automotive alternators are in the 65-75 amp range... total capacity at full load (full load is not a common situation - normal operation is 10-20 amps). Unfortunately, you could only save "about a horse or two" if you completely remove the alternator and left it in the garage.

 

The hypervoltage and ground systems absorbs static electricity and negate dangerous electrical failures, thereby, maintaining voltage consistency, improves performance in the ignition system, saves fuel, filters usable energy needed for the braking system.

As the car travels on the road, the friction created by the wind rubbing against the car body causes electrical static. The static is physically detected by the car's sensor, which causes the sensor to translate false information to the CPU. This causes the CPU to make erroneous judgments that could affect the ignition system, fuel injector, ABS, and other vital electronic devices.

 

This doesn't sound overly credible in my opinion. I would call this a "stretch" of the truth, as Jeffrey Skilling would say (former CFO at Enron). Perhaps he even wrote that blurb as part of his new career when his testimony ends at the trial.

1). Static is high voltage, low current electrical charge which might build up, but be routed to ground through the normal grounding system. Otherwise, when you touch your car from any grounded source (especially at fuel fill up time) like a gasoline pump fill nozzle... Kaboom!

2). "Filters usable energy needed for the braking system" ??? Last I remember, brakes work hydraulically. And how much energy could be "filtered" and used in the braking system unless you have a hybrid gas-electric car? Usable energy? In what form? Heat? This is vague all by itself... What exactly is "usable energy". This is marketing "hype" of the first degree.
Did Ken Lay help Jeff Skilling (also from Enron) concoct that blurb?

3). "Which causes the sensor to translate false information to the CPU" - OK now, which sensor are they talking about here? There are scads of them all over the car. If this magic sensor(s) were prone to static interference, then if you're running a stock car with regular ground cabling, wouldn't it mean that the faster you go, the more static, the more the car wouldn't perform well? Uhhhh, wouldn't the highly skilled automotive engineers at Mercedes Benz pick up on this? OK, maybe the MAF sensor will pick up some changes in air flow, but all the sensors would have to have a common ground reference point (the body), with no appreciable Eddy currents... Again the engineers most likely thought of that. The CPU runs on the same ground as the MAF sensor... same reference point, so the CPU won't be confused.

4). Uhhhh, affects the ABS system eh... Hmmm... I'm sure the liability folks at Mercedes/Chrysler really gave the car's ABS system a good going over before marketing the vehicle... Lawsuits abound if ABS systems fail with stock electronics.

5). The product is well-named, and I'm sure a ploy on the unsuspecting layman... "Hype"-voltage. That is a give-a-way right there. Radio Shack has fat wire. If you want a grounding system, get a few strands of that at Radio Shack and hook it up. Save $40.00. Don't line the pockets of the hucksters who market this stuff...

6). If you conducted a test. Did you take HP/TQ/MPG stats before adding the grounding package, and then after? What were your individual gains as found from empirical, numeric tests... Dyno charts, gas slips please.

 

I agree with the guy above me. I'm sick of being fed bs wrapped in wordy lingo. If you don't really know what your talking about, don't act like it...

 

Ok, here's the deal with grounding systems. All of the sensors in almost all cars send signals by varying voltages. Resistance in power lines causes a voltage drop, which leads to an inaccurate signal to the computer. By the way, they use ground as a reference point. What grounding kits do is improve the ground path of the car, by giving the electricity less resistance. Which means less voltage drops which means a more accurate signal to the computer, which leads to improved mileage, increased power, smoother idle, and longer life. I know this because I have tested and done comparisons for my self. The key for them to be effective is to have the kit done correctly. This means grounding points all over the engine bay. Example: Engine block, head, alternator, chassis, battery, and any other points of the car that use chassis for ground. The reason for grounding the head is that the spark plugs are grounded through the head. Having a better ground for the spark plugs means a stronger spark, which gives better combustion, more power and improved efficiency. Whoever thinks this is a "ricer mod" is because of the marketing that was behind them initially. The manufactures of these "kits" always gave them a "Fast and the Furious" look to them and always advertised them on a compact japanese car. Doing an upgrade to your grounding system does nothing but good to the car. The older the car, the more you notice a difference, since the factory electrical connections become oxidized over time. This is what the kits do, not to sound cocky, but if you say I am incorrect, you are wrong. I may not be including every little thing they do, but this is the general idea. If you take any car, dyno it a hundred times, and take the average power, install a grounding system, dyno it another hundreds times, take the average, and you WILL see some improvement, GUARANTEED. It makes only a few HP, but an improvement, which proves that they WORK. Don't buy a kit that costs $20 bucks, because the wire needed for a good kit costs more than that. Get a kith that uses high quality wire, high quality connectors that are coated in either gold or silver to prevent corrosion, and they have SOLDERED connections. Also, the fact that it puts less stress on the alternator is negligible. and to correct trobertson7, a '92 honda civic uses a 65-75 amp alternator. I have not looked up the numbers but I'm sure ours is closer to 100 Amps. To see the effect of alternator strain on your car, when you are idling, turn on your headlights, foglights and hold the window switch up, when you windows are up, and watch your tach. That about sums it up.

 

As an electrical engineer with 20+ years professional experience with automotive electrical systems, I will say that there are threads of truth of in what you posted...but also many misconceptions.

While electrical connections do corrode in time, most modern vehicle electrical systems use the chassis ground only for power circuits like the lighting and starting systems. The sensors as you described (temperature, flow and pressure) are 2-wire devices, and do not use the chassis ground as a reference (analog common). This is done to address many of the potential problems you mentioned, plus a few others like electromagnetic interference ("noise").

By the way, dissimilar material are very prone to corrosion in electrical circuits. Mechanical connections mating copper, to gold, to sheet metal would, in time, also show oxidation at the mating surfaces. Automotive connectors use a tin-lead plating on contacts for general purpose circuits, and silver or gold plating for more sensitive or critical systems (like airbags).

By the way, I stated "Most automotive alternators are in the 65-75 amp range", so there was no correction required. Most cars on the road ARE Civics, as you mentioned, so it sounds like you and I are in agreement here.

What is the point of the statement about "alternator strain" and turning on your headlights, etc??? The alternator load translating into a HP loss to the engines net power to the crankshaft - and improving the chassis ground will not reduce the amount of load the alternator placing on the engine.

I hope this helps.

 

Absolutely right! All the critical sensors, including the digital ones, have a separate signal ground back to the ECU.

 

Thank you TRobertson... We need an engineer (electrical) here... So, basically what DOES a ground strap system give you (aside from a $35-$80 hole in your pocket). From the above, it won't give you extra mileage, or make the electrical systems more efficient since they don't use chassis ground... I still think those kits are basically bunk... So, can you make a call on the "bunk" or "no-bunk" worthiness of those kits? What WILL it make better and what will it NOT do, pure and simple. Spark is better (chassis ground there, correct?) yes/no... List others with input on yes/no/maybe...Thanks for the input.

 

I wouldn't attempt to group ALL electrical system mods into "bunk or no bunk". Automotive electric systems are a harsh, noisy environment... It wasn't that long ago that cars only had lights, a starter, a radio and a horn. Kits that work to stabilize and clean up the system can provide a cleaner, safer environment for today's sophisticated electronics. That's good.

Modern vehicles have very adequate chassis grounding systems. But mod-ers and installers of high wattage sound systems may tax the factory system, which is why it's best to install separate power and ground cables (and not use a chassis ground), and run them all the way back to your power source (battery).

The thing about the GRIP kit that bothered me was the claim that it would give a 3-5 HP increase. Just think about it - If this is ALL it takes to improve HP and increase fuel mileage, don't you think the car manufacturer's would jump on it.

I suspect why you are seeing more grounding kits is that the story sounds good (or that people want to believe it because of the high price of gas), they are easy to install, and the manufacturers can make 400-500% profit without much of an investment.

Just go to eBay and look at all the $8 Magnetic Fuel Savers, $15 ECU chips and $25 Air Typhoons...Unfortunately, they only exist because some of us are willing to trying them!!!

 

Precisely my point, TRoberson... Once a single invalid claim is made (3-5 mpg more), I consider the whole thing a big marketing hype with little-to-no results. The marketers are just trying to score a buck with those not knowing the details or just sitting back and "thinking" for a bit...

 

This is a rip off, just got one and its just nice 5 wires and connectors. I could have bought it by the foot! It's nice to get the instructions tough!