Grounding & Me

[chibahawk 10+ year member]

always been curious about finding a good ground- seems like whenever I see someone ask, "is this a good grounding spot?" and includes a pictures of somewhere in the trunk it always gets a, "NO, ground it to the chassis."

Okay so kill me for not knowing where I can find an adequate spot on the chassis but isnt the chassis only exposed under-car? do you guys suggest drilling a hole in the trunk and grounding it under the car?

and no I dont want to buy another $60worth of wire to ground to the battery.. so does anyone have sample pictures of what would be a good ground location in their own trunk.....just so I can get a better idea of where I can wire up to?

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[justinschmiidt 10+ year member]

shock tower strutt mounts, or under the rear seat belts just make sure theres no paint, and bare surface.

 

[chibahawk 10+ year member]

i heard that under the rear seat belt bolt was a bad idea? also wouldnt the shocck tower strut be under the car? Im thinking it would be bad to drill a hole in the trunk to the under car because the wetness may not be so good

 

[.::DuD3::. 10+ year member]

just find a spot in your trunk underneath your carpet off to the side. scrape whatever paint is on there drill a hole. if you really want to find the best spot use a dmm.

 

[chibahawk 10+ year member]

just find a spot in your trunk underneath your carpet off to the side. scrape whatever paint is on there drill a hole. if you really want to find the best spot use a dmm.

is that suggestin i run the wire to the underbody? or ground it to a spot under the carpet with a bolt? see I was never sure if that was chassis-enough... also im a clown with the DMM and can never figure out what setting to use but ill give it a shot.. im looking to get a 12V read out on the DMM at the ground location?

 

[theFBI 10+ year member]

I've seen it grounded to the seat belt, wasn't a bad Idea.

Think of it this way... The thicker the steel/metal, the better! Usually, if there's a big bolt, or nut, that ways considerably more than an adv. 12mm bolt, it's going to be a good ground.

Some good places:

- Spare Tire mounting bolt.

- Mines attached to my gas tank, wouldn't recommend that

- Where your car jack is secured.

- In the Trunk, Near your lights, should be thick metal/bolts.

http://tkfiles.storage.msn.com/x1pmAkndzHuOfdJJKkpK8fh0S0H4sgshGVmCop0DyLLN122EJNLHqnp_oegxS2PZktkntqJbu9a2AUM25KZ1J7_PBvWnocXe--fY2ddO1CjezZAlEcgmEDNYEMFOrZrqyGS

That's a picture from My space. the shock/strut he was talking about is on the right, beside my capacitor, you'll see the 2 white wires running to it. In my civic, just pop the plastic top off, and BAM big heavy duty bolts and nuts. it's suggested to run the wires UNDER the plastic so you can hide them and it looks good.

-Brian

 

[djfrestyl 10+ year member]

is that suggestin i run the wire to the underbody? or ground it to a spot under the carpet with a bolt? see I was never sure if that was chassis-enough... also im a clown with the DMM and can never figure out what setting to use but ill give it a shot.. im looking to get a 12V read out on the DMM at the ground location?

There is no need to run a wire to UNDER your car. Find a big bolt in the trunk, undo it. Grind the paint off around the hole. Put the bolt through the ring terminal on your ground wire and reinstall the bolt. You will not be getting 12V from the ground, it's a GROUND, not POWER.

 

[chibahawk 10+ year member]

There is no need to run a wire to UNDER your car. Find a big bolt in the trunk, undo it. Grind the paint off around the hole. Put the bolt through the ring terminal on your ground wire and reinstall the bolt. You will not be getting 12V from the ground, it's a GROUND, not POWER.

Yes this is what I've usually done but it seems like people always suggest finding a better ground. I always scratch all paint away and all that but seems like people always suggest going one step further

 

[djfrestyl 10+ year member]

What you want to do is find a bolt on the MAIN chassis, not on an accessory adjacent piece of metal. It's different for every car.

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

run a neg wire to your batt //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif thats the best bet

 

[86yota 10+ year member]

He just said he didnt want to spend $60 for the wire to do that. Any big bolts are a good bet, I always use a seat bolt but a lot of people hate on that. I have never had any problems tho.

 

[dkguitarist 5,000+ posts]

i've been using the bolt that goes to the backseat bracket. worked fine for me.

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

He just said he didnt want to spend $60 for the wire to do that. Any big bolts are a good bet, I always use a seat bolt but a lot of people hate on that. I have never had any problems tho.

Yea , but he also said he wanted to go a step further to grounding it to the body, u cant run it halfway up the car and ground it any better than u can in the trunk lol

its all or nothing, but what everyone else said you can just ground it to any large bolt and be fine //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[chibahawk 10+ year member]

ALSO::

heres a question that involves real ghetto wiring...

can i take my three 4 gauge grounding wires from 2 amps and splice them into one 0/1 gauge run and run that to a grounding bolt? I will make sure the splice is heatshrinked and all that tho its not unsafe i just dont want to buy another d-block

 

[djfrestyl 10+ year member]

Just run all 3 wires to the same bolt using ring terminals on each wire.