Best way for ground wire?

[Morphsuit 10+ year member]

Hrmm.. I've been wondering this myself. Seems like one of those questions where there is no "Definitive" answer.. there are two schools of thought.
A) Shorter ground = Better.. less resistance = better. (Which is what I do,.. 4 gauge running 2-3 ft to a Chassis 10mm bolt, sanded -- with the terminals soldered with a torch.

B) Run back to the Neg. of Battery no matter how long the run has to be. This makes sense as well as the Neg terminal is the ground that grounds the "most" current.. so with electrical principals in mind it could be argued to be "better".

With me.. I would start with the short 3ft or less ground to a non painted Chassis area with a bolt (no screws, etc.) -- If you experience any issues with noise in the system, clicking, etc.. Then sure.. run the ground to the Battery straight ghetto over the seat out the window etc.. (IE: Do it in 5 minutes ) just to test it. If it resolves your "issues" then run it properly hidden/routed.

Though I don't see any point whatsoever in running an amp ground back to the battery if you are not experiencing any adverse effects from a short ground to the chassis. Why do it otherwise?

I want to keep the ground I have right now. So far it's pretty good ground but the bolt is pretty big and it requires me to drill to make the hole bigger. So that's why I was wondering if it would be any better to make a new ground spot with my own nut and bolt or just keep the one I have and make the hole on the ring terminal bigger. I have a drill press that I can use to make it easier because we tried holding the ring terminal with pliers and using my drill but sometimes that doesn't want to work, haha.

What do you think?

 

[Brotherali 10+ year member]

If the hole isnt too big (going to break the terminal) then just drill it bigger. To make it easier just keep going up in size slowly so you dont mangle/break the terminal