$80 is insanely high for a bunch of wires and terminals IMHO. Yeah, crimping 4 gauge wire is not fun, but if you have the right tool, it's not that bad.
as far as a technical explanation for you, joe, let me try to hypothesize. I don't have any data to back this up, but it seems like solid reasoning to me (a puny senior in chemical engineering
). here goes:
there are probably 2 factors involved:
1.) almost all metals are good conductors; however, not all good conductors are equally good at conducting electricity. that's why expensive wires use copper. perhaps the conductivity of the car chasis and engine is not as good as that of the grounding wires?
2.) with geometric irregularities in a conductor, there form eddy currents. eddy currents are like whirlpools that form in a river because of certain formations in the path of the water. these can prevent optimal current flow.
from basic electrodynamics, we know that in normal metal, valence electrons become delocalized in the conduction band and roam around the lattice. as an electric field is applied, electron velocity increases, but the electrons collide with one another and scatter. because of this fact, there is a maximum velocity that the electrons can attain. the amount of electron scatting determines the materials resistance. the actual material and the geometry of the material will determine how much electron scattering occurs.
in other words, the chasis and engine are not ideal conductors in the electrical circuit because of its resistance. they may even be a source of losing some electrical energy to heat, causing work to be performed by the circuit. it would be like adding more lights to your car and draining more power.
this makes sense, because as the temperature of a conductor rises, so does the resistance due to electron scattering. as we all should know, our engines get pretty darn hot, making for a bad conductor.
IDK. I tried.
by 2004Sport » Tue Feb 10, 2004 10:04 pm 
