I was wondering about these grounding types, i have heard differing opinions each. what is the best way to ground should i use the shortest ground wires from each component to the chassis or one large 4 gauge wire and ground everything to that (i believe its called star grounding) i have heard people recommend both, but which is best!?

Rest In Peace Heidi Doggy

Well the best way to groud is to be on BARE metal, using a bolt. The seatbelt bolt works good, just be sure your ring terminal is touching bare metal. You can also use a regular bolt, drilling a hole into the sheetmetal somewhere where you can get at both sides to tighten the bolt. Generally, you want the ground cable to be as short as possible, and the same guage as the power cable. If you have to have several grounds, use a distribution block, or make all of your ground connections at ONE point to avoid ground loops. Also, connect a same guage ground cable from your battery to chassis ground right by the battery, to be sure the frame is properly grounded. I believe there already is one from the factory, but just upgrade it to the same guage wire if its bigger than stock. Also be sure that is connected to bare metal also.

13.5 @108 MPH-2.2 60ft(stupid FWD!)
S16G @ 18 PSI/FMIC/Running on MegaSquirt II (Now with sequential
fuel injection)
My webpage: http://eclipsed4evr.home.comcast.net
-1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS-T- "Toy"
-1992 Plymouth Laser Turbo AWD(SOLD)
-2000 Honda CR-V(daily)

What happens if your ground isn't that good? I used the seatbelt bolt, but I don't think I put the ring terminal right against the bare metal (I put it above the bracket and tightened the bolt down). So there is a layer of metal bracket between the terminal and the actual sheet metal of the car. It's been ok for over half a year, so is it okay to leave like that? I'm only running 250 watts at most, but I have 4 guage power and 8 gauge ground wire...

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2004 WRX - WR Blue Pearl
1997 Eclipse GS - Royal Sapphire Pearl

Yeah, you can survive with a bad ground. Usually the only side effect to a bad ground is alternator noise. But if you are not getting that, and the stereo works, sounds to me like it is a good enough ground. However, I would just be sure that it is making good contact.

Brynden

Since you olny have that much amp power, it won't mater too much. But a bad ground is not letting your amp max out on its amp draw. Basically, when you have a bad ground, it might seem to work ok, but bad grounds will create more resistance, more heat, and not let full amount of amperage go to the amplifier. Like i said, this would be bad if you had many amps or more powerful, power hungry amps, but I would make that ground as clean and tight as you can, it might prevent problems down the road. It can never hurt..

13.5 @108 MPH-2.2 60ft(stupid FWD!)
S16G @ 18 PSI/FMIC/Running on MegaSquirt II (Now with sequential
fuel injection)
My webpage: http://eclipsed4evr.home.comcast.net
-1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS-T- "Toy"
-1992 Plymouth Laser Turbo AWD(SOLD)
-2000 Honda CR-V(daily)