I have a question. I get shocked every time I step out of my car. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this may be? Is it because of having too many ground wires to on single ground screw or because of the placement of a ground screw. On both sides of the car when I get out I still get shocked. Let me know what you guys think.

ive had a few cars in the past that did this.

the xB did it for a little while after i did 3M protectant on the seat, but doesn't do it any more.
try this to see if its just a static thing.
put your feet on the ground befor touching the door frame.

I used to have the same problem, particularly in the winter. I made 3 or 4 ground cables (Can't remember for sure) and basically ran them from the shock towers to the engine to the battery ground on the radiator support. It's been about 6 months and haven't been shocked once. The better test will be when the humidity drops and it starts cooling off around here.
If I remember correctly, (These days I can't remember crap) Thomas (or someone else) did a ground check on his car a couple years ago and found some fairly decent differences in the grounds from the battery to the engine and both strut towers. The addition of these extra ground cables made a difference.

Yeah, I have that too every winter. You need to ground the car in the engine bay. I forget exactly how to do it but I know the info is out there. You can make one yourself or buy one on ebay. there are multipul ones out there but here is the cheapest one out on ebay right now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Parts-Acc...06.c0.m245

The problem is the rubber tires rolling on the pavement set up a static electricity charge (Ever rub a hard rubber stick with a silk or wool cloth in grade school science? Ever rub a balloon on your hair to get it to stick to things with a static charge?)

There is also the additional problem that women have more than men of sliding across a synthetic fabric seat in clothing made of synthetics or some natural materials.

Finally, just the synthetic coating on the car (paint) and it's large external plastic parts whizzing through the air generate a static charge, too.

Anyway, the car body, insulated from the ground by the rubber tires and the grease in the bearings develops a static charge that needs to be drained off before your body completes the path direct to ground.

There are a number of ways to do it, but by far the simplest, cheapest, and most effective method is to get an anti-static strap from an autoparts store and attach the metal end under the car to a part of the body, and let the other end (conductive rubber strap) drag in the ground.

I've used these since the early 60s, and they always worked quite well.

These days, most tire compounds are made to be somewhat conductive, but many are not quite conductive enough to drain off the charge in a short enough time if you jump out soon after stopping. Besides that, the film of grease in the bearings that is supposed to prevent metal-to-metal contact, sometimes actually does prevent that contact and acts as an insulator.

Bottom line is you need something other than your bod to drain off the static charge from the body of the car.

This post was last modified: 09-23-2008 04:42 PM by Tomas.

This happens to me in the winter time A LOT. I've just figured it was because of how hairy I am. I will for sure try the straps.

Winter = colder air = drier air = larger static charge and slower dissipation

(Also often more layers of wool, silk, and synthetic rubbing against each other...)

This post was last modified: 09-23-2008 09:34 PM by Tomas.

I think if you setup a proper grounding kit it should help prevent the shocking, but unfortunately I have had no experience w/ grounding a car so not sure if you should buy a kit or make one.

Unless your "grounding kit" is grounded to an actual "Earth ground" the static charge on the vehicle will still exist, isolated from Earth ground until your body completes the circuit, and the multi-thousand-volt difference between car and Earth is equalized - through your body. Zap!

The unibody needs to be grounded by something other than you touching it and the ground at the same time if you don't like those little snaps.

This post was last modified: 09-24-2008 05:02 PM by Tomas.

So Tomas did you put straps down on your box?

Yes, they are far enough under the box that you can't really see them unless you almost crawl under.