Thread: Wiring harness
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Old 09-25-2018, 12:04 PM
79 Camaro 79 Camaro is offline
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I've used about a half dozen Painless kits on various cars. They were priced higher than AAW and 10 years ago they seemed a better kit. I used the universal kit for my projects.

The last one I purchased was last spring and wired my 68 C10 project.

A few things that seemed odd and very dated.

1. Directions not included in the kit. You had to down load them from their web site. All the previous kits I purchased included them in the box. They were exactly the same as ten years ago. What is Painless just trying to save paper?
2. The kit includes a plastic tray with blue crimp type terminals. Those look cheap and are cheap. I didn't use a single one. I went to Fastenal and purchased the heat shrink terminals. The only thing that is really useable are the ring terminal after you pull the blue plastic off and then heat shrink tubing to cover the crimp.
3. The instructions are same for the last 10-12 years. Not updated like the Pro series above. The look is very dated. Also the asterisks can be confusing.
4. I understand it's a universal kit but if you have to down load the instructions. Create instructions for GM, for Ford and Mopar and get rid of all the extra stuff that's not required for that brand of car.
5. Some wires were very lightly marked and hard to read. Some of the wires going to the back of the truck were marked backwards. I asked the Painless tech line why that was and they said basically "stuff happens".
6. The rebate thing always irritates me. Seems like I never buy a kit while the rebate is available. Why just not lower the kit price and be done with it?

I installed the kit. Had a few questions and the tech line was good.

Everything works as it should.

I haven't used a AAW kit but typically they are less expensive. I don't think Painless is worth the higher cost any more.

No intent to flame Painless here. I've met the owners at their plant in Fort Worth and they were very pleasant. Also at a car show they were kind enough to give me a relay when my fan relay failed.
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