remote start prep

howdy pros,
How many of you twist the wires on your rs units during prep? Two of three shops I have worked at spin em up "because its cleaner". I dont disagree that it looks clean in the dash but I was just wondering what others feelings were about doing this. Do you think its a waste of time, or could it pull the wires out of the harness'? I havent personally experienced this, but I have just picked up the compustar pro line and the wires are 20 or 18 gauge, which is smaller than the avox prestige units we were doing(at least they seem smaller, I could be crazy). Currently we do not tape all our wires up after the install(easier troubleshooting? less matierial cost?) and twisting the wires has definetly made it easier to identify the work. What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance.

err
I did search for this topic first but only for ten minutes before i got anxious...sorry if this has already been discussed. thnx again

I think it looks really neat when you twist up the harness during bench wiring. But it makes for a huge PITA if you need to get back into that harness later. I tape all my harnesses but I do not twist them. Yes the tape adds a bit of a pain factor in the future, but not nearly as much as twisting them.

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Installer, IT support, and FFL. I need less hobbies.

I twist wires going to the same place. You just have to make sure that you dont over twist the wires and break them. I tape occasionally but I try to do what the customer wants. What I have found is that the customer wants a nice neat job that works 100% of the time and that is what I try to deliver. Twisting wires definately keeps the install cleaner. Taping has its place as well. To each his own I guess.

i do tiwst wires only a few and the rest i typed them am really good my co workers think is a wasted of time but 1 it looks clean and 2 when some one looks under the dash (a thieve) hes not going to see no wires to disengage the alarm .

i tape  my installs when ever possible,it's cleaner. when you twist wires you loose length, wires tend to not lay as pretty and the wire looses a protective covering.   if the shop im working at starts bitching about using too much tape i'll twist, not a big deal.

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life is a comedy to think, a tragedy to feel

I think I've decided I'm going to twist my rs units and tape my alarms

to each his own. I choose to tape up my harnesses, but i twist alot of wires too, really depends on what im doing. Twisting them makes it look neater but andding some cheap tape (not the scotch 33 :P) give it a factory look, so does loom. After my first few installs in my new shop i used to ask the guys to come check my installs. With everything installed I ask think them to check my wiring work to see if its clean. The only response is," where is it?" which means if an installer can spot it, either can a thief.
cheap tape for looming harnesses = $1.50 (for decent cheap stuff)
scotch 33 for actual connections = $3.57
having a thief not know where to begin = pricless

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RTFM

love spookies' answer but let's face it we are trying to stealth the alarms aren't we? Therefore use tape. I even use fabric backed tape now to match the looms on German and Italian cars.

I definitely lean towards tape - 3M Tartan 1710 (66 cents wholesale) for the wire bundles. Obviously it's good practice to group the wires by location on the car and make multiple connections at one point when you can.
Super 33+ for the actual solder points is a must in my book but the cheap stuff is fine for a harness.

Howie, where do you usually get your fabric tape from? I'd like to get a few rolls of that and the rough tape that Chrysler uses.

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C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two

I think the next r/s I do I'm going to take a pic of my prewire.  I tape everything. Its hard to describe but I think it looks sexy ;-}. Then what I've started to do on occasion is loom certain wires if I feel it needs to be. But thats me.