I'm in the process of re-wiring the interior of my car, pretty much from the ground up, to get rid of some ugly stuff done by the previous owner and his "alarm" what do you guys think about wire grades? I have access to large amounts of free THHN wire, (the kind used in houses), but painless wiring likes to brag about how thier THX wire is worth the price difference, and i gather that stock, the wires are grade GPO.

Think the grade really makes a difference? Should i head to a yard, pop the cash for a spare wiring harness to use for wires? or should i just use the THHN house wires? I guess the only real difference is in the insulation eh? And inside the interior i doubt it would matter.....But if one of you guys tore off your console and found a bunch of THHN house wire, would you think it a ****y non-proffesional job?

 

if you really feel like undertaking this task (believe me it sucks, and i'm an electrician) good luck, find out what type of current your stuff will be pulling, you need to be using certain gauge wiring and fuses are a must.... this might help you http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

 

heh actually i am an electrician as well, that's where i get my access to unlimited supplies of THHN wire (house wires heh)..

I'm just wondering about the actual insulation, if anyone has ever had problems...Like I know THHN cant be used very safely in the engine compartment and going to the fuel pump ect, because gasoline disolves it, when we wire in situations where they will be exposed to oil/gas a different grade of wire is needed. Inside the car though, i dont see the wires taking much abuse...Anyone know what grade factory cars use? GPO?

 

make sure the wire that you use in your car is stranded and not solid core, most of the time solid is used in houses because there is no vibration to break it. stranded must be used in your car for this reason. if it is stranded go ahead, and you wont need much more than 16 or 14 gauge for most of the wiring (except for the starter and alt and some other high current things like the fans).

 

That's exactly what I was about to say, use stranded wire because solid copper is too brittle and will break in no time from the vibrations in a car. Its not really that critical on the thickness of your insulation or the quality, its just a street driven car, so pretty much any stranded wire will do, just don't use speaker wire like some idiot who had my car before me