Thread: Painless wiring

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Would anybody know whether prices for Painless wiring harnesses vary much among their retailers? Would it be worth my time to shop around?

I live near their manufacturing facility (Fort Worth, Texas) and thought maybe if I snuck over there thinking I might get a better deal that way than I might get from a retailer.

In a word, NO.

Actually, I respect them for that. They don't want to be competing with with their outlets. I'm sure they don't want to risk having a company like, for instance, Summit tell them to buzz off. Understandable.

Any suggestions?

Jim

I've never used Painless wiring but have used EZ-Wiring kits on 4 cars... My T, a buddies 37 Chevy truck, 52 ford panel, and 38 Chevy... we got them all running and working without a hitch and were done in a day and a half... Very affordable package... (note: Didn't use fusible link, used maxi-bus fuse)

I think that some of their retailers do give small discournts, while others follow the company line. The best price I ever got on a Painless kit was from RB's at a Goodguys's car show. Offered price was about 20% off msrp.

Most mfgr's won't discount their products due to wanting to keep their retailers happy. But the retailers have a little more leeway.

I've been looking around lately and I've heard the EZ wiring kit seems to be the best for the money. I wonder if anyone else has any comments on these. The 21 circuit is only about $165 and it has some really good instructions from what I saw.

Sean

I sort of remember seeing posts in various places about the Painless kits not being the easiest to install, AutoWire and Ron Francis seem to be more favored. We used a Summit wiring kit on my Son's T (I think Painless makes it) and it was a good thing we had lots of previous wiring experience, the instructions were zero help and very confusing. We had to put our heads together on a few areas to get it figured out. I've done wiring from scratch, and Dan did it for a living at one time, and we still had to guess on many parts of it.

I mention this because you may want to take a look at some other kits that are more user friendly.

Don

My earlier response was in regards to getting a price on Painless. What I didn't say was that I didn't actually buy it. I bought RF because it offered everything I wanted plus the wires were not terminated at the fuse block. Since I was rewiring a car, I wanted to be able to run selected wires and not have to worry about hiding wires that were not going to be used. RF kits allow for that, but Painless does not.

And you are right, Don, I have heard that Painless is not painless to install.

That is the exact statement I have seen posted Bob........Painless is not painless.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

That is the exact statement I have seen posted Bob........Painless is not painless.

Don

There was a post on another forum as to the quality/sizing of some of the Painless wiring gauge sizes, specifically the head lights. The wiring was too light gauge for the load. While the conductors may have been sized ok for a standard 35W sealed beam, they were marginal to too light for many of the after market halogens in the 55 and up wattages

Originally Posted by IC2

There was a post on another forum as to the quality/sizing of some of the Painless wiring gauge sizes, specifically the head lights. The wiring was too light gauge for the load. While the conductors may have been sized ok for a standard 35W sealed beam, they were marginal to too light for many of the after market halogens in the 55 and up wattages

I put in a Painless kit. It is as Painless as wiring can be from scratch, which is not that Painless. Every wire was labeled and everything worked first time for me. Yes I do have PhD EE.

The headlight circuit is fused at a rather common 30 amps. As with ANY KIT you buy you will have to check this if you plan on running high current Halogen lights etc. In fact some of these will require you to purchase a relay to perate them any way. I find that most street rodders are not overly concerned with high performance headlights.

Kitz

Originally Posted by kitz

I find that most street rodders are not overly concerned with high performance headlights.

Kitz

.......they aren't?? Most that I see here in the Northeast have some form of halogen 55+ watt headlamp.

I have halogens in both of my cars and the wiring seems to be sufficient in at least the 57. In the 34 I probably should rewire the headlights as they are a bit soft. Unfortunately unlike some of you I seem to be aging every year, so getting as much light on the road is a priority for me.

Although I know a lot of people don't like them, if I could get HID's at a reasonable price and make them fit my application I would add them on the 34. I really like being able to turn night into day because old tired eyes are such a bitch.

Ive used painless (once) and e-z wire (once) both were pretty straight forward, all the wires were labeled, and had basic plans. I like the price of the e-z wire sets better, but for a novice like me, there pretty good for basics. If you want a custom wireing setup, i would take the others advice, and go with ron francis.

Originally Posted by IC2

.......they aren't?? Most that I see here in the Northeast have some form of halogen 55+ watt headlamp.

30 amps at 14.5 volts is 435 W.

Kitz

Originally Posted by kitz

30 amps at 14.5 volts is 435 W.

Kitz

I can figure Ohm's Law as well

Your decision, obviously - but 16ga wire on a light circuit on a homebuilt automobile IMO is at least one awg size too small. But then, I feel that Painless circuits are all at least one awg size lighter then I prefer on a moving, vibrating non controlled temperature device(automobile).

To each his own. But then I'm only a BSME

Keep talking, I am trying to learn. I bought a wiring kit from "Its a SNAP" and am about to plunge into it. I got it because it matched up with the instruments and the cost was reasonable. Anybody here used the kit from "Its a SNAP"? Depending on my mood I find the challenge hopeless at times and at others it looks like I can just chug away and do it. The wires are all labeled every few inches. Tomorrow I plan to beef up the grounding of the 1" steel framework inside the 'glass body with a 00 gauge cable to a motor transmission bolt and then ....... I have wired microelectronics before but I am worried about fire with the fiberglass. Keep talking about wiring!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder