Brandon22685

How did you guys upgrade your stock power wire for the extra current? I looked at my alternator today and to be honest with you it's a really tight fit down there. I have the 2.4L if that matters compared to the 2.0L supercharged motors. I don't see how people are connecting the power wire directly to the alternator. The positive post under the hood where you would jump-start your car, if I were to hook a additional 4 gauge wire there and run it back to the battery, would that do the trick? I'm just needing some help upgrading because I'm trying to get my stereo system together and I just want to do it right the first time instead having to go back over it again, and again. I have two Kinetik batteries: HC800 & HC1800. I am taking out the stock battery completely. The two amps that are going to be ran in the car is the Kicker ZX500.1 & Kicker ZX350.2. Let me know what you think I should do.

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

Just run from the post back. No idea how that **** wires up honestly (although with my bumper off i can look now)

Brandon22685

Thanks Emp, I was looking at the alternator and I only saw like three small wires coming off of it and I was like what the??? I have really never seen anything like it. I know when I had my 97 Dodge it was a piece of cake to wire straight off of the alternator, because you could see the power wire and it wasn't hard to get too. Oh well, I still like my Cobalt though.

Spun

iTrader: (1)

Now that you have that taken care of, you can move on to other things.
Like Dynamat, and lots of it

Brandon22685

Yea tell me about it. The other day when I was gently knocking on all the panels with my hand just to see how hollow it was. It was terrible. I thought Chevy would have done something better than that. It almost looks like if someone rear-ended me that it would be all over for me. I guess they don't use thicker metal on these newer vehicles.

Brandon22685

Hey Emp & Spun, what gauge should I run with? 0 gauge or 2 gauge? If I went with the 2 gauge and also kept the factory 4 gauge and hooked both power wires up to the batteries, would that be alright/safe as long as I had a 2 gauge & 4 gauge ground on EACH battery?

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

2g is sorta overkill.... you probably can run fine off 4g but if your upgrading 2g will be fine. Just remember to get quality wire. To give you an idea of how much of a difference it makes we tested some Lightning Audio 4g vs _____ brand 1/0. the LA wire was heavier but the ____ wire could carry slightly more current. So assuming you got that brand of 2g I'm 90% sure it would be a downgrade from factory... also while that brand isn't really good stuff there's a lot worse.

Brandon22685

So Emp, your saying that I would be better off not upgrading the power wire at all?

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

well ur probably fine on the stock stuff but if u do upgrade make sure its real wire... rockford fosgate sticnger kicker ect not some no name crap

creedin

monster is good too... thick and bulky

Brandon22685

That's cool, I think I found some Monster Cable Power & Ground Wire on eBay for a good price.

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

yup monster is good

Brandon22685

Thanks everyone for pitching in and helping me on this.