Has anyone ever used or have any experience with American Autowire wiring kits? I'm told they have good quality products but I'm looking for some other opinions.
We sell them and we install them I would rather install a american autowire kit that any of the competors and yes we sell and install all the others also but I allways try to push the autowire , the price is higher but the simplicity of the install will make the difference in labor hours and headaches Andy
The guy ,Larry, has a garage over at hubgarage.com. He seems like a pretty good guy so drop him a note there. It's Larry's American Autowire garage
I'm installing their Highway 15 kit in my Chevy pu as we speak, I really like the quality of all the components in the kit.
The ones we use on the tri 5's are outstanding. Have used only a couple of their universal units and their real good also. $0.02
I have used two of their kits. The last one was a Highway 15,the first one was their "budget" kit, the one that has the wires attached to the panel from them.I like them for the ease of installation, quality of the components, the diagrams are very easy to read. I carry them in the car with me to refer to if I have problems on the road. I strongly reccomend them
we've used francis, painless, and autowire at the shop and autowire is by far the best. you wont be dissapointed by em.
wired my roadster with one about 5 years ago.By far the best and easiest one Ive used.The quality is unmatched.
If it means anything I have used most on the market,,, and truly believe the American Autowire highway 15 is the best kit avalable ,,,it does cost a little more than some but you get everything you need in the kit. I have installed 4 of the American Autowire wiring kits in the last 2 years and I bought 4 kits at the nats south this past year. One for my wifes wagon, one for an unnamed future project and 2 for project cars that belong to other folks. I'm sold and won't use anything else. Period.HRP
I am wireing my 41 ford as we speak with a hi way 15 kit well detailed and easy to understand and install.
We install at least 2 a month awsome kits, Great service, Really easy to follow diagrams (even though it is a bit repe***ious now) And they include all of the switches, conectors, hell they even through in some wire ties! They also carry the oem style non adhesive tape works well and looks much beter than split loom. I use the old style loom where it's visable on a traditinal car also. Josh
I have not used thier entire kit but have bought small parts from them, thier service is first cl***. I would buy a kit from them based on my experiance with them.
Ditto....we're a dealer and have installed several of them. They're REALLY quality kits. Most of our experience has been with the Highway kits.
Put one in my '57 Chevy. Put another one in my '62 Suburban. Besides what everyone else has said (which is all true) I found something that spoke VOLUMES about the company with my '62. The kit is for '60-'66 Chevy trucks. I can't say what the gauges are like on the '64-'66, but those differ from the '60-'63, and the instruction sheet included details on how to wire both styles. But more than that: The instrument clusters for '60, '61 and '62 were all different: some had two turn signal indicators, some have a single turn signal indicator. Some had idiot lights for everything but the gas gauge, some had full instrumentation, some had one gauge and two idiot lights, etc. etc. In short, depending on what year, and how the truck was optioned, the instruments were different. Autowire included a detailed wiring diagram for EVERY possibility. The other thing was that they included photos in the instructions that showed actual installation sequences on a '60-'66 Chevy truck, proving that they actually installed the kit on a vehicle. A lot of companies don't do that. I'm sure other companies sell a decent product, but I'll only install American Autowire kits on my stuff. -Brad
Wiring is what I do all day long for my own business. Pre-72 or extreme custom applications only. My business rep demands I do each one to the best of my ability and I wouldn't do them any other way. However this doesn't make me an expert. There are pros and cons to all of them, I have my favorites. American Auto Wire: From what I have seen when it comes to tri-5 Chevies and similar pickups there is none better. Hands down the most complete and best(read easiest and packed with all the OEM style connectors) specifically made for certain vehicles. As far as their universal kits, they are made of high quality materials, like what you would find in any higher end wiring "kit". Also, their customer service is excellent as it should be. Aside from material quality, wiring harnesses can only be as good as the installation. Pay attention and think things out before you install and as you are installing. Just because it isn't "seen" doesn't mean that it should be done cheaply. Brant
Absolutely the best - used them for everything and well worth the extra $$$. Cheap is cheap for a reason and the moment you find out why, you get instant buyer's remorse.
I've used francis, painless and autowire, and the autowire is by far the best in my opinion. The have very high quality componants and user friendly diagrams/instructions. My number one reason for trying them in the first place was CUSTOMER SERVICE. I had a painless kit that was incomplete and painless basically... well I wont go there but autowire has never once had any issues with products with me and they are always very helpful when ordering parts/kits or with technical ***istance. AUTOWIRE IS THE TOP NOTCH!!
I've used Francis and Painless. Nothing real bad to say about either. American Autowire is used exclusively by the professional rod shop I affiliate with (doing some suspension and frame fabrication and tube bending) and after over 20 years of custom installations and all of the top selling brands they now use American Autowire exclusively. This shop has turned out about a half dozen Great 8 Ridler finalists at the Detroit Autorama over the years. Thier clients have the $$$'s to buy any product and all insist on the best regardless of the cost. I won't use any other brand on my own builds. Frank
A friend put one in his 33 Ford and he swears by them. I'll be useing one in my 40 and my 55 when I rewire them.
I too have installed them all and only use only the Autowire harness now. They might be a little more money, but you get a better product and it comes with everything you need. I like them because you aren't commited to someone elses idea of the best routing of the wires as you are in a prewired panel, it makes for a much neater and cleaner install.
Two things I haven't seen anybody else mention; First, you not only get an overall wiring diagram, but several separate diagrams for individual circuits. If you've never wired a whole car before, this makes things much more clear. Second, the wires are way longer than you're going to need. You don't have to worry about coming up short because of the way you may have to route them. When I was done with our car I had tons of wire left over. I still dip into that stash of leftover wire whenever I need something. Wiring our car was the first time I'd ever done a whole car and the American Autowire kit made it easy. And believe it or not, everything worked the first time I powered it up and now, nearly five years on the road, and there have been no electrical issues at all. When the time comes to re-wire the '47 Mercury I'll use another American Autowire kit.
the way i look at it, American autowire is pretty much a copy of Ron Francis? the panels look the same.
I use only American Autowire kits. I wired my '35 sedan in 2003 and haven't had an electrical concern since. Any kit is only as good as the installer but if you pay attention the their suggestions and apply the proper load and protection to each circuit you can't go wrong. I am also a firm believer in using power relays for higher draw circuits. The American Autowire panel is the best.
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