Faluzure

First and foremost, I must comment on the awesome experience I had with Z-xtreme.com. Gyula Szita is a very wonderful person to deal with. He goes out of his way to make sure you're 100% satisfied. I don't think I've met anyone who is more business savvy than him. Kudos to Mr. Szita for not only a great product, but great customer service as well.

Now down to the nitty gritty. I've read many posts on the grounding kit and what it's supposed to do. You know, the increased HP & Torque, enhanced efficiency, better starts, smoother idling, more responsive throttle, etc. On top of that, I just recently decided to make an effort to cosmetically enhance my engine bay. So I fire up an e-mail over to Mr. Szita with a couple questions about the kit, the differences between the # of wires, etc. He responded very promptly and even tossed in an extra 6th wire because I was so interested in it. How is that for customer satisfaction?

I immediately placed my order after receiving the e-mail and first thing Monday, he shipped the package to me via FedEx. I had an issue with the tracking number, but it just ended up I was too impatient and checked too early. FedEx gave me the delivery date of Thursday, March 17. I got it the very next day (today).

I rip open the box to examine the contents and had a grin on my face the minute I saw them. In addition, Mr. Szita gave me a special gift. In the box were 6 deep blue (matches DB color almost exactly) professionally made wires. When I say professionally, they are a work of art in their own right. He even numbered the wires for me so I could easily identify them per the directions. The directions were very clear and understandable.

I drove home but it was already about 7:30 PM and already dark. Too impatient to wait, I bust out my flashlight & tools and get to work. The estimated installation time is about 1 hour. It took me until 9:30 PM to get it all done. It's not that the directions were difficult, they were right on the money. The problem was that I kept dropping things in my engine bay. This was my first attempt at a DIY on a car. Right at the beginning, I dropped my wrench near my fluid containers. Too lazy to get it out at the time, I grabbed another wrench. I dropped that one too! Thinking I can get to the wrenches by pulling out the coolant container, I find several more pipes/wires in my way. I had to eventually pull the wheel well off to get to them. Over the course of the night, I lost 3 wrenches in my engine bay, spilled coolant (from removing the container), nearly stripped one of the holes on my plenum, lost a chrome bolt cap, & lost a 10mm bolt. I never recovered the bolt or the bolt cap. Hopefully they will just fall out. I rinsed the spilled coolant with water.

While I pack my things up, I start my car but I don't really pay attention. So the claim of having a stronger/faster start went unchecked. I came back to my car and didn't really notice a smoother idle when I got in it. I planned on running over to Wal-Mart to buy some distilled water & coolant. The increased HP/torque is a claim I can't really check because I never dyno'd my car. However, I decided to test the claim of a more responsive throttle. I decided to take a highway to test it. I shifted through the entire RPM band up to redline up until the start of the 5th gear. You can call my claims subjective, but what I felt was a smoother/more responsive throttle (which is what I hoped). I had to stop my tests when I saw police lights behind me. I checked my speedometer and it showed 90-ish.

Regardless of if these grounding kit does all the things it claims, I know one thing for sure. The engine bay just looks a lot nicer & I cannot stress enough about how good these cables look. I think one thing is for sure, even if there is zero increase in performance, the cables' appearance alone was worth the price.

leemik

iTrader: (2)

Congrats, that's good news.. I think I'm going to have to reorder a new set of wires for my ride..

I wish I had gone with Z-Xtreme originally instead of maxground.com.. In only 4 months my bright red wires turned a nasty brown (oxidized) .. and my car is not a daily driver either.. I posted on another forum and the owner replied that "It has nothing to do with "cheap" wires".. but that I should have gotten his "max ground" kit instead ($$).. I never hear from him again.. ie. too bad sucka, they still ground don't they?

--mike

Faluzure

Hey thanks. I really like them. That really sucks about your cables. I originally was going to go with maxground, but I didn't really like the way they looked. I think when I first saw Randall P's engine bay, I saw a color-schemed engine. So I wanted to definitely go that route. Maxground didn't have any blue wires. As for turning brown... that's horrible. The way the maxground wires looked, it seemed to be a regular colored sheath with white cloth-like braid around it? Z-Xtreme uses (from what I can tell), high quality cables. They aren't Monster Cable like other DIY people use, but they are great nevertheless. Here are the specs on them (a quote by Mr. Szita himself): "The cables I use are high purity, oxygen free copper wire, 4 gauge, high-amperage power cable. 105-degree C high temperature / chemical resistant, non-gripping jacket."

I'm not an electronics guy but all that stuff seems impressive. What's more impressive is that he's been doing this since November of 2002 & has quite a bit. I've never heard anything bad about his stuff, so definitely no discoloring of the cables. If you go with him, you won't be disappointed!

Z CRUZN

Standard cables, whether they come from Z-Xtreme or from Warren at Maxground, have a plastic sheathing that covers the actual cables - most plastic sheathing WILL react to heat, weathering, etc. & will fade/discolor with time. I can only speak for the "translucient color" sheathing that most sets come in - have never had the "solid color" sheathing. This is no comment on the quality of the cable sets - both fellas do a great job on the construction of their sets (I've had both). It may occur within 2 months or 6 months or longer, but the plastic will fade/discolor eventually, usually on only a couple of the wires due to their location and proximity to heat - happened to me in about 5 months with 2 different sets - it depends on how much you drive, the heat generated in the engine bay, the climate you live in, how picky you are in appearance, etc. I eventually changed to the true MaxGround kit that Warren sells thru Courtesy Parts in TX - they have a chrome mylar web-type covering over the plastic sheathing that masks the fading that will eventually occur.

DrVolkl

Just to make you feel better, I've had my Z-extreme on my car for almost a year, daily driving and there's no fade. Still nice and orange like day one!
Love it!

solidsnake

iTrader: (14)

Where did you order then from? How much? Got pics?

Faluzure

A fellow member on this forum (insaneamine) makes them. He has a website up where you can see what he has to offer. www.z-xtreme.com

A 5-wire kit costs $75, a 6-wire is $80, and a 7-wire is $85. Here's a quote from insaneamine directly:
6th Wire: The 6th wire is and additional chassis ground. The bottom line is
that IF there is a performance increase it is too small to notice when added
separately. As a whole kit you will definitely notice a difference in idle
and acceleration. Anyway, some people have been purchasing the 6th wire
because they think it looks cool, because they want to be different, because
they honestly believe it makes a difference or because the JDM Nissan
Earthing kit has 6 wires.

7th Wire: The 7th wire is the transmission ground, which will require you to
get under the car! This wire has been found to smooth shifting in the
automatic transmission (5AT). It is not recommended for the standard
transmission (6MT).

My roommate has a camera at home. I promised pictures to several people in different threads already (I got chrome bolt caps, grounding kit, and autotecknic CF plate all within the last 3 days). I'll upload them when I get a chance. Here's a sample picture of the wires though from his website:

Z CRUZN

DrVolkl - You must have gotten a "magic" set then - ha! Here's a pic - new set from a vendor I mentioned earlier along side of the same set after 5 months on Z - didn't look too bad to me while on the car until I compared them to what the new set looked like (memory plays tricks on us, you know). Went ahead & changed them...did it twice in a year in fact - faded/discolored both times. You may not notice the fade until you place a used set next to a new set............

Maybe some colors don't fade as quickly as other colors....I don't know - just going from the few pairs I've seen do this. I've just seen red do it (on my Z) & clear ones discolor (on a friend's). Just wanted to give a head's up to people so they don't freak out if they do fade/discolor after a while.

Z CRUZN

A bigger pic for clarity........

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...blecompare.jpg

Faluzure

Interesting. Z Cruzn's probably right. You wouldn't notice it over time unless compared to a fresh pair. I wonder if 3M or some other company makes a chemical that would help resist colorfading... I wouldn't mind coating the cable with it..

Z CRUZN

I thought about the same thing....but couldn't come up with an idea. Thought about clear-coating them, but the heat would screw that.... I think this is the reason why Warren (Z-Enterprises) ended up making the grounding cables with the mylar covering I mentioned before (MaxGround kit) - the covering "masks" over the sheathing in order to not see the fade/discolor if it occurs (at least not noticeably)...just my theory anyway.........

Faluzure

They just need to add more coloring options. I'm sure they would sell better. As for me, I'll probably just buy another set from Z-Xtreme if it ends up my blue starts fading really bad. You got it easy Z Cruzn, your engine bay is themed with silver/red/black!

100122923

iTrader: (4)

+1

Z CRUZN

+2....great vendor to deal with!!!

BoostTed

Faluzure, please step away from the engine bay


J/k dude I drop stuff in the engine bay all the time. I even somehow got a black eye on the very first time I did an oil change 10 yrs ago, but I wont get into that haha.

FairladyZ

Thats who I got it from. One of the originals. Mine is still on the car and I had the kit well over a year, close to two. No fading.

Faluzure

Haha! I seriously reconsidered doing extensive DIY projects... I thought to myself... would I rather have it done professionally for $70-$100 an hour or do I like chasing after tools for 2 hours?

z327

Unfortunately all vinyl covered high end stereo cables will fade over time. Its a question of how much heat and how many heat cycles they see. Every high end power cable uses the same words (above) to describe their cables. I've tried every major brand out there and they all will fade over time. Z-xtreme makes a quality product but he also has problems with fading. I replaced a faded blue Z-Xtreme set with a MaxGround set last year on a local Daytona Blue 350Z.

One individual posted that Tsunami cables don't fade. I was going to give them a try until I looked at their show car at the Dallas Autorama and saw how badly they were fading. Vinyl is just a problem like most plastics when it comes to heat cycling.

Faluzure

Yeah, I think it's unavoidable that the sheathing will fade. After seeing Z Cruzn's cables in person, you could definitely tell. Personally, I went this route just because he offered a blue that resembles the DB color. Regardless, I think these cables serve their purpose and are well worth the money, even if they do fade. Plus, iff I ever decide to mod my car enough for show car, I could always buy another set and keep it as a show-use only set.

Anyway, here's my bay showing off the cables & stuff. I don't have much, but I think I'm off to a good start. My bay is kind of dirty, so apologies for the skanky look. I have big plans for the bay in the future. Chrome fluid caps & JWT Popcharger are next on my list. The only problem is my money shortage.

FairladyZ

very nice!