I have had for awhile now a SunAuto grounding kit that I got for my last car. I have been debating putting it on the MINI just because I am tired of it sitting around. Because of where the battery sits I would have to put a hole in the fire wall to run the cables through. What I am wondering is if anyone else has a grounding kit on their MINI?

http://www.sunautomobile.com/sunPerformance.html

 

I'm a little lost what does it exactly do?

 

there is a person who sells one for the mini. I was going to buy it, it may help with that lurch in first. and the window bug.

 

A ground kit basically in larges the ground wires around the motor is suppose to help regulate the electricity going through it

 

at least on the R50/52/53 you have a really big cable bolting the engine to the unibody. And you have a really, really big cable bolting the neg side of the battery to the unibody. I haven't really looked at the wifes Clubman to see how it is on the newer cars.

Matt

 

Ya the thing with a grounding kit is that there are more wires that are better made and are made out of better materials then the stockers.

 

Sounds like a waste of money to me.

 

I am not looking at buying one. I already have one. I am just wondering if anyone else as a grounding kit and what their experience with it and how they installed it on their MINI. My experience on my last car was that it stabilized the throttle, brightened the headlights, made the windows went up faster, and the radio had less static and played louder.

 

That all sounds good to me!

 

Well its looking like I am going to be the first on NAM to do this and it is going to be interesting trying to hook it up because I am not sure how I am going to do it.

 

I wish the OP best of luck with the grounding kit install, but anyone considering the purchase of one of these kits should question why the mfrs don't all include similar euipment on all new cars if they do any good.

Similar to the Turbonator (swirls the air for better mixing) and the clamp on fuel magnets that straighten the gas molecules to improve flow, it is very difficult to find reliable and objective data showing consistent performance improvements.

If your car has electrical problems that you believe are ground related, a digital VOM can help determine whether there is a problem with the stock wiring.

It is not at all uncommon for battery to chassis grounding cables to corrode at the battery connection (crimp), resulting in a weak ground.

You could put a grounding kit on the car, or you could diagnose the cause of the problem and simply replace the stock part to restore the system to its original performance.

Again, not trying to start a flame war, just giving an opinion on the benefit of an aftermarket component that is not commonly require on most cars.

 

A lot of things manufacturers will compromise to keep costs down that can legitimately be improved upon with after-market goodies. Then you get stuff like those air-swirler things and fuel ionizers, or whatever they call them, that claim an immediate boost in power and fuel economy but in reality are just garbage.

Sounds like some folks have had positive results with grounding kits, although I have to admit it's the first I've heard of them. I'd guess that electrical grounds fall under the category of if it works and is adequate enough to not cause a fire or pose any other danger, then it's good enough. I'll be curious now to hear from the OP what benefits he sees with one. Keep us updated, bro!

 

If one of your major ground terminations is corroded, cleaning or replacing it will correct the high resistance in the ground path and remove that as a possible issue with your electrical system. I would hope Porthos' system isn't corroded, but you never know. Looking at my '08, stock conductors appear to be adequately sized and well placed, but larger conductors could be used at the expense of additional weight.

 

Well I wouldn't expect to see a power increase like some people claim, that's just silly but one can never be too grounded so it can't hurt other than wasted time since you already have it. As for others, if you think you have a ground related issue, I wouldn't bother with some special kit. Just get some wire that's larger guage than the original ground straps and use that. There's nothing special about ground cables, the whole point is to allow electrical dispersion throughout the frame.

 

Import tuner did an article on these about 10 years ago. Do they work? YES. They showed an improvement on the dyno of 1-7hp depending on the car. most people that have alot of car audio already know the benefits of the "big 3". On my 93 celica I did see improved idle as well as 1-2 mpg better than pre ground kit (built my own with Knu Konceptz 4 gauge wire) I have debated on doing it to the mini though as the mini has an already good power setup factory.

 

you won't be the first. This topic came up about a year ago on NAM. You should be able to seach for it, however, it seems like it was called something else besides a grounding kit. I defintily remember reading through a fairly long thread about it though. It didn't persuade me to get it though.

 

First of all, dynos can easily vary by that much power between runs with NO changes to the car so you could have 'proven' that grounding kits hurt power by that much just by choosing which dyno graph to compare.

I stand by my statement that it can't add power. If you see a gain, I'd wager you had a problem before and that fixed it. It's like saying new oil or spark plugs or any maintenance item adds power. You might restore power in a tune-up but it won't add anything.

As for cleaning up an idle, reducing noise on the sound system, brighter lights, faster windows, those are legitimate claims. Just remember how electricity flows, with a negative ground system the battery acts as an electron "vacuum" pulling electrons through the ground cable from the car which in turn pulls them from the atmosphere. This can never be as efficient as a true earth ground and one can only attempt to make the process more efficient by lowering resistance. Of course this comes with diminishing returns and the current ground straps are pretty low resistance already while the current flowing through is not all that high relatively speaking.

IMO it's just not worth the hassle unless you're running a high power audio system or something. I'm willing to bet the wires involved with ignition/injector control/throttle control are pretty well shielded(if they're not you'll see better results from shielding them rather than upgrading ground anyway). It might be more worth it with older cars where EFI was new and grounding was likely less important to the engineers.

 

If the after market electronics can benefit from it than why would the stock electronics NOT benefit from it?

 

Consider the grounding system like the exhaust system for everything electronic on the car. Obviously a bigger exhaust can help the engine breathe more freely but at some point going bigger won't help anymore. Consider the mini's engine in particular, if the entire exhaust from the downpipe to the the tip was 5" in diameter, that would be a bit overkill yes? But how well do you think something like, say the diesel on the ship that brought the Mini here, would fare with only a 5" diameter exhaust? I think it would be pretty choked because it pushes a LOT more air than our little 1.6L.

So you see I'm not saying it would hurt to add ground strips, only that it's a bit pointless because the current setup isn't restricted by stuff like the stock exhaust. The reason I mentioned the high end audio stuff in particular is because better grounding can help with noise levels developed when the alternator puts into the electrical system and this noise will become more apparent with loud, clear speakers. I just find it hard to believe that the noise interferes with the engine related electronics, at least not in a 2010 car. If you really wanted to reduce the noise, I think designing your own rectifier/voltage regulator with better capacitors and inductors but that would be pretty difficult since the current one is an integrated circuit and therefore much much smaller than something you would build yourself. Imagine something the size of a computer's power supply sticking out the back of your alternator.

Anyway, I kind of got off track there. Sometimes I ramble on topics that interest me . My point here is that cleaning up noise beyond BMW's engineers is a audio perfectionist's goal and I just can't see it doing much to help the engine on such a modern car.

 

Well, I didnt fully read the thread, but I see we have the same argument as always.

Some people say it helps, others thinks its waste of time.

I used to build and sell kits like this for the Dodge Neon when I had my speed shop. Aside from doing custom turbos, interiors, stereos.

From my experience they all did SOMETHING, they either helped with the windows going up and down, the headlights dimming, some say the throttle response, ect. The biggest thing I got out of it was not getting shocked everytime I stepped out of the car. That was a huge plus, especially at gas stations as that can ignite fuel vapor.

As far as buying a kit, just make your own, go to your local stereo shop and get some bulk 8 guage wire, some connectors, and you're done.
I liked to link all the grounds together at a central point, like a motor mount, but even if you just ran some extra grounds from your current grounds and tied them all together you would save some money over the "kit".

I think its worth it on every car. I read the part of "why dont car manufactures do this if it works." Cost, Cost Cost. If they did every helpful thing to a car the aftermarket thinks up then the car would cost $100K.

 

Aftermarket electronics are an additional load that the stock grounds weren't necessarily designed to handle.

 

any other effect of improved windows or whatever isn't due to the current handling capacity of the grounding, but rather the resistance at the various connection points. This can be easily fixed with some care, effort and sandpaper!

But you should watch out for doing this wrong. There is something called a ground loop that is really a single turn transformer. It can and does result in induced currents that will increase the corrosion rate at junctions, and add audio noise or decrease radio reception sensitivity.

As cars get more and more computerized, the manufacturers are getting more and more aware of these issues. That's why on my old Mustang there was no dedicated ground cable from the engine, and there's a big cable on the engine of the Mini that goes to the uni-body.

So, another way to save the money, isn't to just buy the components yourself, but to take the existing grounding strap and make sure it's in good shape.

Matt

 

You bring up a good point. While I said you can't be too grounded, it is true that extra wires can increase the reception of interference.