Ground wires really work. Especially in today's car with all the electronics they have nowadays. I've seen actual dynos. It's very dependent on the ground placement. Some spots just work better than others. You won't know unless you can dyno your car, and that's gonna cost $$$. Is it worth it on a car with less than 250 hp, no. They seem to work best on cars with turbos.

 

I did the "Big 3" upgrade on my Cavalier before this and saw a much better gain than just a ground kit. It can't do it on the HHR though, the Big 3 consists of a fused positive wire from altenator to battery, battery to engine, and engine to chassis. I also added a battery to chassis as well all of these wires were 4 gauge wire with soldered ends.
With the battery being in the rear of our vehicles a grounding kit wouldn't work the same, you could run it off of the 12V lug under the hood, but again it wouldn't be the same as if the battery were in the engine compartment.

 

I dont know about performance-but our cars really do have a ground problem that could more likely create engine noise on the radio.

I discovered about the ground problem by accident. I connected my airhorns to the ground nut on the drivers side shock tower. This is the same place that a sticker says to use when boosting the car. My horns worked intermittently. I blamed it on a poor power source-I was using the post next to the fuse box that goes to the power steering. I was perplexed why my steering worked but the horn didnt. Eventually, I ran the power line into the inside fuse box, and still had the problem. Then, when I tried a different ground everything worked. I used a test light and found the shock tower to be a very poor ground. I used a ground strap and connected it to the engine block. To my utter amazement, the other shock tower still had a ground problem, indicating that the 2 shock towers dont have a good connection. Needless to say, I ran a second ground strap to the other shock tower.

I have heard from several tow truck drivers that when boosting or charging the battery on both Cobalts and HHR's it is very difficult. They no longer do it from under the hood-they go directly to the battery.

So, while I do not think that better grounding will improve performance, it will at least make sure that everything works as intended from GM.

 

well I have made my own grounding kit by take 4 gauage wire and ground different spots in my engine bay and they only thing i got out of it was smooth idel

 

haha, all this talk about getting a performance increase by adding ground wire kits makes me chuckle. The only thing ground wire kit's do is fatten some guy's wallet.

I've been an automotive electrician for well over 30 years and some of these "New Performance " products are such a farce.

Now I'll be the first to admit that good grounding IS a very critical component for a sound electrical system. But for the most part auto manufactures to a great job in designing the electrical systems to ensure proper grounding, if they didn't, the dealerships would be swampped with vehicles suffering electrical issues. (that's not to say that some vehicles don't suffer electrical problems, there's always the exception).

If you add a ground wire kit to your car and get an increase in performance, all you've done is masked an already existing electrical problen (i.e. a faulty ground wire somewhere).

Now with that said, I did say that good grounding IS very important. Especially if you've modified your car with other electrical components that could tax the system. In any case, weather or not you've modified your system, adding a few more ground wires IS a good insurance policy for the possibility of a faulty ground wire somewhere in your car's electrical system.

But instead paying the uber high prices these scammers want for these so called "Ground wire kits", why not just go out and get yourself some wire (most any kind from bare braid to multi strand will work as well as size). You can also pick from the miriad of colors available to suit your fancy. Get some terminal lugs. Locate some places between the chassis, engine, Neg batt post, or any combination you chose and make your own additional grounding points.

The addition of more grounding points may not give you an improvement in performance, but it will give you peice of mind knowing that you in fact do have good grounding and could very well head off a future problem caused by an inept auto worker who built your car on Friday and was in a hurry to get off work and just didn't tighten up that last ground wire bolt in a location that's unknown to the usual car driver.

And remember. If you DO modify anything in your car's electrical system, be sure to follow the components instructions and properly ground whatever it is that your adding on. - Dan

Sorry about this post under intofocus's handle, he was the last person signed on to this web site from my computer. This post was done by dan-d (Danny not Arthur).

So if anyone want's to flame the author, flame dan-d, not intofocuszx3.

 

yup that's my post ^^^ and not Arthur's. - Dan

 

lmao

 

A lot of recent vehicle designs have the ground connection from battery negative to the front of the block, and a secondary ground wire, generally around 10gage, to the fender, that then ties all the remaining ground connection points to 0V. This one connection is then fairly critical, especially if additional loads are presented using a frame ground. The starter current, which is typically an order of magnitude higher than any other load, is conducted directly back to the battery.
With the battery in the back, the HHR cannot reasonably have that direct path, so traditional frame grounding is used. Pics below show the connection from battery to the bracket under the trunk floor, the connection to the engine rear face and the other end connecting to the upper rail just behind the radiator support. The ground path from the starter motor's internal circuits is generally the grounding of the negative brushes to the non-drive end cover, and then through the starter body to the flange that it's bolted to. Give the reliance on that ground wire from engine to fender for the starter current, I can guarantee that you'd know immediately if that connection was anywhere near bad enough to be an issue with any other ground path.

 

So Dan-D do you think that a "frame/steel" ground is a good ground?? Or do you think a "stranded copper wire" is a good ground?? 30 years experience??? Anything that runs on electricity needs a good path to and from. I don't think a steel frame does the same job as copper. I am soon to be an HHR owner and right now I have a 2005 G35 coupe that has a grounding kit on it. Awesome is all I can say for what it did for my car. The HHR does not have manu-matic shifting but the G does and the ground made a major difference on how that worked along with starting and idling. Manufactures do not do this for one reason... $$$$. A car will run on 11 volts almost as well as 12 so why bother for the cost and added weight. YES it works. Does it meet the $$ per performance point??? I don't know but I do know that they can work. And if you use good wire and connections they can work pretty well. Just my $.02.

 

30 years experience??? - Yep, and prior to getting certified as an automotive electrician I was certified as an Aircraft electrician, I'm also a certified Aircraft Flight instrument tech. (among other things)
Anything that runs on electricity needs a good path to and from. - This is true, re-read my post and you'll see that I said the same thing. Good grounding IS very important, but a performance improvement....give me a break.

I have a 2005 G35 coupe that has a grounding kit on it. Awesome is all I can say for what it did for my car. - If this is the case then what you've done is masked over an existing electrical ground problem.

Manufactures do not do this for one reason... $$$$. A car will run on 11 volts almost as well as 12 so why bother for the cost and added weight. - If you beleive your own statement then you've just reinforced what I said in my post about this being a performance enhancement.

I do know that they can work. And if you use good wire and connections they can work pretty well. - So do you need to buy an expensive kit to do the job. Wouldn't just getting some good copper based strand wire and terminal lugs accomplish the same task and cost you less $$$, not to mention the satisfaction of saying "I built it myself". - Dan