Infiniti M35 — $115 shipped

Infiniti M45 — $110 shipped

Send your model, year, and color you want (Gunmetal, Red, Blue, "Cola") to:
[email protected]

Original Post:

• What is the modification?
  
  I've been talking to NICO member Sentientbydesign recently and he agreed to do R&D for grounding kits for the Infiniti M35 and M45 models! This would apply to model years 2006-2010 only.
  
  Grounding kits improves the quality of the electrical signals used by the engine computer inside our M35/M45s and optimizing performance under all driving conditions. Being installed on key points of the chassis and engine, grounding kits allow for significant power gains, both electrical and performance wise.
  
  A Nissan 350Z, for example, was recorded to have gain 8HP/wheels with just the addition of a grounding system. More importantly, the addition of a grounding kit allows for maximum engine performance which translates into HIGHER MPGs! We all know our Infiniti M35/M45s suffer from poor gas mileage - grounding kits have been proved to increase gas mileage. A similar Nissan 350z was shown to have an increase of 4.6mpg when driving the same 3 1/2 hour trip after installing a grounding kit.
  
  
  
  Benefits from installing a grounding kit:
  • Increased Horsepower
  • Increased Torque
  • Improved Fuel Efficiency
  • Stabilized Idle
  • Brighter Lights
  • Quicker Engine Starts
  • Increased Audio Sound (Even better if you have a sub installed!)
  • Better Protection for Potential Engine Damage from Poor ECU Outputs
  Drawbacks from installing a grounding kit:
  • None....
  Here's a description from Sentientbydesign on what's included and comparisons:
  

  Sentientbydesign wrote:These kits are designed with Quality and Performance in mind.
  
  >Thick 4 gauge wire for maximum signal performance
  >Tinned 99.9% OFC (Oxygen Free Copper) wire to minimize corrosion and maximize longevity
  >Heavy Duty Copper Lugs- Gold plated terminals are just for looks and can suffer from a "skin effect" meaning only the plating carries current (Why have heavy wire and tiny conducting terminals?)
  >Heat shrink terminals for a finished look
  >Logo Free Wires mean less conspicuous "stealth" kits and flashier "show" kits.
  
  You be the judge:
  
  
  
  Kit Features-
  
  4 gauge Copper wire
  Heavy Duty Copper Terminals
  All necessary replacement hardware
  Detailed instructions with COLOR pictures
  Very little modification to fit
  Fits under engine cover
  Stealth or Show options available
  
  These kits are very similar to GroundingGear's in quality, but not the same in design. Even the Basic kit is more functional than the Stillen kit in that it incorporates connections to the ECU & TCM (VQ 5AT), and also uses larger wires and better terminals.
  
  These kits are far more functional than Active Tuning or Stillen's kits.

  Who is making the modification?
  
  NICO member Sentientbydesign has been creating and selling grounding kits for several Infiniti models (G35, FX35, FX45) and Nissan models (350Z, Altima [Coupe], more..) which have been well received by NICO members and has satisfied everyone who has purchased it. You can view the original thread on NICO by Sentient that has a ton of testimonials here.
  
  Post in here if you have any questions about this mod!

my brother had a 350z with grounding kit and i don't think it gained any power

but i'll entertain the idea along with higher MPG if the price is right. of course the quality of the wires have to be good.

Depending on the price, I'd be interested in purchasing a kit.

People in the Maxima world were either for or against them. Some said they were a waste. Let me know if you guys do any testing of 'before and after' of the cars that you test in terms of performance or mileage.

so what price range are we (you guys) looking at?

A good grounding system will allow the fuel injectors and ignition system to work better, in addition to other components. Hence in all the cars I have, I clean and re-secure the main engine harness ground points every 2 years (plus application of dielectric grease on connectors). And the bigger the wire, the lower is the resistance and shorter path to ground (electrically). Anyone with electrical skills can build the kit but you need a good quality crimping tool lug nuts and wires plus knowledge of wire routing. And you have to make sure that the ground wires don't cross 'hot wires' to minimize possibility of short circuit. In Nissan.Infiniti cars there are at least 2 ground points for the main harness and typically mounted close to intake plenum. If not, just follow the main harness and look for wires leading to ground lugs bolted to the engine.

A Pre and Post dyno tests is a good idea to convince members. And yes, I have read good feedback from kits made by "Sentienthbydesign."

Wow. These thread get deep when I'm not around.

Ok, here's my input on all of this. My appologies to anyone I contradict.

My experience

Are there going to be measureable HP/TQ gains? Uhm...*crickets*...The gains that can be had typically fall into the dyno error range (just like intakes...). Does that mean that it won't create power? No. It just means that it will be small power gains (typically, each car will vary, the M might make more, but it might make less than a 350Z).

What else does it do? It "Magically" makes the transmission more responsive and faster. Hahaha, ok, not magic, but a common problem on Nissan/Infinitis is that the transmissions are slow to shift. Grounding them makes for a faster shift (especially when shifting "manually").

Improved throttle response - Self explanatory.

Audio has been a typical improvement for all of my kits. The theory behind it is that there is less "noise" in the output, so the sound automatically becomes cleaner and therefore perceptably louder.

Smoother idle - I have G35 guys who can't tell there car is on...hahaha.

I personally noticed that VDC became less obtrusive. It kicked in when it was supposed to and dropped off quickly.

Overall, my G35 was much nicer to drive after being grounded.


Next topic

Can you make a kit yourself? YES!
Will it be as nice or as cost effective as buying one from me? NO!
Why not? For quite a few reasons, but the main ones are these:

I buy my supplies in bulk. This savings get sdirectly transferred to you (My G35 kits were originally higher priced when I first sold them...).
Tools - These things are expensive. You can do some "creative" things to try to get around using the proper tools, but you end up with questionable terminals.
Knowledge/Time - You get a color install manual with step by step photos, all of the necessary replacement hardware, and quality cables in my kit. If you decide to do this yourself, the 1hr-1.5hrs for install just turned into 5-6 hours minimum (design, make and install) and you might short out your car (not likely, but a possibility).


A little about me

I've made grounding kits for my fellow NICO members for over 2 years now. There have been a couple of occasions where I could have made money selling kits that made no perceivable improvements to the car (Nissan Versa was one of them). I junked the R&D and moved on (believe me, those Versa guys will buy just about anything to squeeze power out of their cars) because I don't believe in selling people snake oil.

I sent you an email about using my car for the testing

Sentientbydesign wrote:Wow. These thread get deep when I'm not around.

Ok, here's my input on all of this. My appologies to anyone I contradict.

My experience

Are there going to be measureable HP/TQ gains? Uhm...*crickets*...The gains that can be had typically fall into the dyno error range (just like intakes...). Does that mean that it won't create power? No. It just means that it will be small power gains (typically, each car will vary, the M might make more, but it might make less than a 350Z).

What else does it do? It "Magically" makes the transmission more responsive and faster. Hahaha, ok, not magic, but a common problem on Nissan/Infinitis is that the transmissions are slow to shift. Grounding them makes for a faster shift (especially when shifting "manually").

Improved throttle response - Self explanatory.

Audio has been a typical improvement for all of my kits. The theory behind it is that there is less "noise" in the output, so the sound automatically becomes cleaner and therefore perceptably louder.

Smoother idle - I have G35 guys who can't tell there car is on...hahaha.

I personally noticed that VDC became less obtrusive. It kicked in when it was supposed to and dropped off quickly.

Overall, my G35 was much nicer to drive after being grounded.


Next topic

Can you make a kit yourself? YES!
Will it be as nice or as cost effective as buying one from me? NO!
Why not? For quite a few reasons, but the main ones are these:

I buy my supplies in bulk. This savings get sdirectly transferred to you (My G35 kits were originally higher priced when I first sold them...).
Tools - These things are expensive. You can do some "creative" things to try to get around using the proper tools, but you end up with questionable terminals.
Knowledge/Time - You get a color install manual with step by step photos, all of the necessary replacement hardware, and quality cables in my kit. If you decide to do this yourself, the 1hr-1.5hrs for install just turned into 5-6 hours minimum (design, make and install) and you might short out your car (not likely, but a possibility).


A little about me

I've made grounding kits for my fellow NICO members for over 2 years now. There have been a couple of occasions where I could have made money selling kits that made no perceivable improvements to the car (Nissan Versa was one of them). I junked the R&D and moved on (believe me, those Versa guys will buy just about anything to squeeze power out of their cars) because I don't believe in selling people snake oil.

ahahaah - i like your attitude. i know someone like you on other forums who put their brain to work and make some money for it. like i said, i'll entertain all of those ideas as long as the price is right. just like your analogy with the intake, it might make some power, it might not. however for me, there is sequence of things that i want to do that make sense to me; for instance getting a software to monitor and trouble shoot my car, getting the AFR, IAT, EGT, etc tune properly for better performance; get better intake and exhaust track; then probably something like grounding kit, led lights, etc.

going back to your idea, it will convince more people if you have proper documentation of the benefits before and after. no one can trash the fact and if you have them, you're golden. good luck with the design and production.

Jake

Will this mod void the warranty?

--

i contacted nate and he said that he's never seen anyone have warranty issues b/c of the mod, but it might be subject to the dealership.

i'd volunteer my 06m45 depending on how long you'd need it in exchange for a kit

Nate/Sbd - Sent you a PM... It's been a while since you talked kits with me - many many many months.

I had a grounding kit on my Titan and I noticed a difference, not so much in power, but you could tell it in the idling.. What about us 2011 guys.. Not in Cali, but I am sure there are some 37's out there....

willie

As stated earlier, depending on the price, I'd be interested

I am probably going to meet up with Nate this weekend for the R&D

jake wrote:ahahaah - i like your attitude. i know someone like you on other forums who put their brain to work and make some money for it. like i said, i'll entertain all of those ideas as long as the price is right. just like your analogy with the intake, it might make some power, it might not. however for me, there is sequence of things that i want to do that make sense to me; for instance getting a software to monitor and trouble shoot my car, getting the AFR, IAT, EGT, etc tune properly for better performance; get better intake and exhaust track; then probably something like grounding kit, led lights, etc.

going back to your idea, it will convince more people if you have proper documentation of the benefits before and after. no one can trash the fact and if you have them, you're golden. good luck with the design and production.

Jake

I've spent a few hundred posts on arguing the science behind why a grounding kit works. I got lots of skeptics and "science folks" who argued that I was wrong. Then they experienced it for themselves and quite a few just stopped arguing.

As for documentation...This would be a fatal effort. The cost involved in testing transmission response time would be prohibitively expensive as would just about anything other than power (dyno). On top of it, some unscrupulous individual would play off of my investment and sell their copy and make off with the loot.



All PMs and Emails have been replied to.

Let's cover a few comments and concerns:


Warranty

With any aftermarket part, there comes the risk of warranty denial. There is Magnuson Moss Warranty Act - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson%E ... rranty_Act which requires the dealership/manufacturer to provide some soft of evidence that your "mod" made a component fail on your car. On the flip side, some dealerships are just mean and push the ticket as often as they can.

The reality is that I've never seen a grounding kit cause component failure. I've seen a couple of oddball situations where the dealership TRIED to blame a grounding kit for unrelated problems, but never complete warranty denial.

What's involved in Prototyping?

This is how my prototype program works:

You contact me expressing your interest in allowing me to COMPLETELY disassemble your car and sign a waiver saying I don't have to put it back together again...wait...that's not right

Real one:

Contact me letting me know what car you have and what mods (this makes a difference).
We set up an appointment (Yesterday's G37 appt took about 5 hours because I forgot a jack...dummy! Typical appointments range from 3-5 hours).
We go for a spin
I take some pre-install photos
Located grounding points
Design an efficient ground path
Make the cables
Install the cables
Take some post install photos
You turn the car on to make sure that idle is within spec
Then take it for a spin

Once you've driven the car for a few days (up to about 2 weeks). You send me an email or just post on the forums with your HONEST review (please link me, if you just post so I know to look for it).

The cost involved is around $50-$60 for the prototyper. This is approximately 50% of the final kit price and includes free installation.



Like I said before. I've had 2 or maybe 3 customers out of hundreds who have had something negative to say. One guy had a failing transmission and insisted on buying on of my kits to fix gear slippage. I FIRMLY told him that no grounding would EVER fix his problem. But he insisted. He bought it, installed it, then called me saying..."I didn't work. Why didn't it work?"

A couple of the Altima guys (mainly the 6mt guys) had stated that the kits made little to no difference, but they never asked for a refund or really said anything bad either. So we're talking about a >98% satisfaction.

Hey,
I am on the east cost, and I as many has expressed if the price is reasonable I wouldn't mind trying this kit on my M35x. Do let me know email kingquattro [at] gmail [dot] com

Jay

I am in for the finished product.

I might have missed this, but is there an ETA for when the public will see it? I know you still need cars for the R&D, but just curious on an educated guess.

how does $50-60 with a 50% discount come out to $90 for the full price? Thats one interesting school you went to :O

ok so I just got home from getting the mod done. I will post in a week or so what my impressions on it are

Someone with an M45 contact Nate to get this mod fitted for the bigger engine!



Ok I am putting my quick review up. I got the mod done last Sunday and have been driving every day with it since then. I will start off with the list at the top post about the benefits a grounding kit can provide and say whether or not I found that to be true in my case:

Increased Horsepower - possibly a little bit. Could be my imagination

Increased Torque - possibly a little bit. Could be my imagination

Improved Fuel Efficiency - well I cant say on this as I am driving harder with it and shifting at higher RPMs so my milage is lower than average just because of that.

Stabilized Idle - interesting thing here, I noticed that when I first start driving my idle is higher than 650rpms for a bit. I never noticed that before the grounding kit was put on. The car seems a bit quicker to pick up and go now like this so I dont mind at all. But just something I noticed.

Brighter Lights - nope not brighter for me. MAYBE, just MAYBE the xenon bulbs light up a bit faster. But its hard to tell as they were quick before too.

Quicker Engine Starts - very slightly quicker. My engine has always started right up though. Especially since I got a new battery put in 2 months ago.

Increased Audio Sound (Even better if you have a sub installed!) - sound is slightly louder than it used to be. It is also a bit cleaner sounding than it used to be.

Better Protection for Potential Engine Damage from Poor ECU Outputs - well we didnt ground the ECU so this doesnt apply to me.


Ok so now my impressions and thoughts:
The biggest area I see an improvement in is the manual shifting mode. It used to be when in manual you would hit the shift up, and the car would just be like "hey I love this song on the radio! ... ... oh you wanted me to do something? um gimme a sec, where did I put that shift command... oh here it is! and there ya go!". Now, the car seems like it is waiting for you to hit the shifter so it can shift for you. I would say that overall, there was about a 3x improvement in manual shifting response time. I used to wait 3/4 of a second up to 1 1/2 seconds for it to shift. horribly slow. Now it averages up to 1/4 second response delay in the upper rpm area for shift times while in manual mode. In lower rpms it has always taken even longer for my car to shift, and I still wait up to a 1/2 second, but that is still a big improvement on what it used to be. I do not really notice any difference in shifting in automatic mode, it might be a tiny bit smoother but it might not. I don't know if its my imagination there. We didn't ground the ECU so I am guessing thats why I don't really notice any changes to automatic driving mode. The reason we didn't do the ECU is because it is behind some molding in the firewall (I think that was the reason) and if we were to cut in there to get a big wire though then we would need to find a way to seal it back up water tight so rain and puddles don't drip in there and fry the ECU. That would be a very bad thing to happen one day So better safe than sorry thats why we didn't ground the ECU. There was also one other point we left out that is common, I dont remember what it was though. The reason was because it was behind some hydraulic lines and was hard to get to. Nate can probably chime in and tell us what that one was.

Overall, I would say if you ever drive in manual mode, would like to start driving in manual mode, do any sort of racing with the car, have some extra cash to spend, or want to get the cleanest audio sound you can, this grounding kit would be a worthwhile upgrade. If you prefer to drive slower or only ever use automatic driving, then the mod probably isnt for you.

Nate, if there is anything else you want me to comment on then just let me know. I will be out of internet for the most part for an entire week starting tomorrow as I am moving. But I will be on every couple days for a little bit.

Nice review. Being an audiophile and using manual mode, I'm considering this now.

Hey guys. Sorry for not chiming in sooner. I've been busy and the forum wasn't notifying me of new posts.

Ok. The short and sweet of it is that I think the ECU ground would have improved some of the other areas, but getting to the ECU is going to be a pain due to the different ECU wire bundle boot having hard rubber instead of just a thin flexible rubber cover.

We need to look into that again to see what can be done. The transmission response was a given and I'm glad that it was noticeable. That in itself is worth the $110.

So what are we looking at as a time frame for being able to order the kit?

Without the ECU, I could probably sell it right away. But probably a week or two to figure out the ECU dilema (even if it means no ECU grounding on the M35...).

Oh snap. I just noticed you have only fitted the M35. I have an M45 but I'm on the wrong coast.

Someone in the area needs to step up and get the M45 fitted. This is a great mod and needs to be taken advantage of

+2

Sorry for falling off the map guys. Lots of transition in life recently (You can PM me if you're really that interested). I'd like to get these designs all finalized. I'll be having the production done by a partner of mine and orders should be processed a lot quicker once all of the details are taken care of.

infiniti_lineup wrote:

EniGmA1987 wrote:Someone in the area needs to step up and get the M45 fitted. This is a great mod and needs to be taken advantage of

+1

Im down to help. After having electrical issues with my 745 and grand prix, electrical does kinda scare me. Ill be out of town the 2 weeks leading up to turkey day if you need it for a few days. getting my uprev around that time so if it would be better done afterwards let me know.

rowland220 wrote: Im down to help. After having electrical issues with my 745 and grand prix, electrical does kinda scare me. Ill be out of town the 2 weeks leading up to turkey day if you need it for a few days. getting my uprev around that time so if it would be better done afterwards let me know.

Actually, let's get the grounding kit on before the uprev. Then they can take advantage of the cleaner electricity.

rowland220 wrote:Im down to help. After having electrical issues with my 745 and grand prix, electrical does kinda scare me. Ill be out of town the 2 weeks leading up to turkey day if you need it for a few days. getting my uprev around that time so if it would be better done afterwards let me know.

Finally! Please do this as I would really like to order this kit. Thanks !