Drivers Side Interior Ground Points OR Bolt Spec

[FamousAv8er]

I was planning to use a drivers seat bolt as a ground but the bolt is painted. I need one of two things.

I either need locations where I could possibly ground my amp. This would need to be near the drivers seat.

OR

I need to know the specs of the drivers seat bolts so that I may buy an unpainted one.

Please and thank you!

 

[JSparky]

You could take some sandpaper to the factory bolt to expose bare metal; however I’d suggest running a ground under the plastic door trim, through the firewall, and back to the battery.. it’s not hard and only takes a few minutes. I wouldn’t want to use a body ground for audio equipment, but that’s me. Good luck!

 

[FamousAv8er]

The bolt is M10 x 1.25 x 30mm

 

[flyrv9]

Grounds should always be as short as possible. You can always create your own if necessary. You can test with a meter first by scratching off a little paint and then test to a known good grounded location. 2 ohms max for a good ground with a zero'd meter to compensate for the leads. If you meter doesn't have a zero function then touch the leads together on the lowest ohms scale and note the reading. Then subtract that from any readings you take.

Once you have a spot, you can remove the paint necessary (burnish the contact area around the hole) and either install a bolt to make a ground stud to attach a lug (best way) or tap a hole. Either way, good contact between cleaned surfaces is key. Once complete, re-test to confirm result of less than 2 ohms. Your ground connection then can be covered to prevent corrosion. Nail polish works well here and can easily be removed and reapplied if necessary. If you're interested in a ground stud buildup let me know and I'll post the required hardware and stacking.

 

[Sky]

Grounds should always be as short as possible. You can always create your own if necessary. You can test with a meter first by scratching off a little paint and then test to a known good grounded location. 2 ohms max for a good ground with a zero'd meter to compensate for the leads. If you meter doesn't have a zero function then touch the leads together on the lowest ohms scale and note the reading. Then subtract that from any readings you take.

Once you have a spot, you can remove the paint necessary (burnish the contact area around the hole) and either install a bolt to make a ground stud to attach a lug (best way) or tap a hole. Either way, good contact between cleaned surfaces is key. Once complete, re-test to confirm result of less than 2 ohms. Your ground connection then can be covered to prevent corrosion. Nail polish works well here and can easily be removed and reapplied if necessary. If you're interested in a ground stud buildup let me know and I'll post the required hardware and stacking.

2 ohms is a pretty shitty ground IMO.

That would be like having 800ft of 14 gauge wire in your ground path!

 

[Space King]

2ohms is pretty garbage for a ground path.

 

[Farzad_K]

I just did a ground continuity test between the nearest 12v accessory port (in the center console box) and one of the bolts of the rear seat and I do get continuity, which is the same as measuring resistance with my MM, and I get about 0.1 ohms which is the smallest that my MM can measure.