Anything special for grounding running lights?

[Jemo]

I have a newly painted truck, getting everything together and am pretty sure I have a grounding issue with my running lights. They're not real bright in the first place and I notice when I leave the lights mounted in the grill bar and lean it over to touch the bumper, the lights get about 50% brighter....still not as bright as they should be but this tells me there must be a grounding problem. They're mounted in the grill bar and the grill bar screws into the painted panel behind the grill. Not sure if I should run a ring terminal to one or two of those mounting bolts and bolt the other end of the wire to the frame or what? Is this common? How did others fix this?

[G&R's57GMC]

Be sure to use star washers when mounting lights to the body also ground the engine, Cab, bed, front clip and hood to the chassis.

[Jemo]

Wow, well I really didn't do a good job then. I used an AAW harness and used the grounds in the kit. I also grounded the engine to the frame, frame to the cab, and cab to the frame. I didn't think to ground the front clip. May I ask why the hood should be grounded?

[G&R's57GMC]

Radio interference.

Oh and for the lighted hood ornament

[Jemo]

ha...ok. Well I welded the antenna hole closed and don't have a stereo in the truck. Thanks a bunch.

So as far as the grill that bolts to the sheetmetal behind it. The sheetmetal has a welded nut on it. Would it make a difference to use a star when it's a welded nut it threads into? I guess it could be a combo of that and the front clip isn't grounded.

[G&R's57GMC]

Couldn't hurt. Don't forget the headlight & horn grounds.

[JR25]

Chase the threads on the welded nut with a tap to make sure no paint is in there, if the nut has been there a long time, chances are that the threads on the bolt will not fit tight enough to clean all of the paint out. Also, wouldnt hurt to put a dab of diaelectric grease on the bolt threads, if you can use a lock washer on the bolt. I always try to use diaelectric grease anytime i am depending on the threads themselves as a path for current, it will help keep down corrosion. Not sure if Locktite has any conductive properties or not, if so, it would be even better. You could also use a little longer bolt and a jamb nut if a lock washer cant be used!
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[mr48chev]

One of the inherent problems when you do a car or truck up nice and paint it nice is that the paint acts as an excellent insulator for electricity. When you are leaning against the grill and the lights get brighter it's because your weight against the grill is pushing the grill into contact with bare metal.

You can clean the paint off the threads so that you get good contact or you could run a ground wire to a good ground which ever works best in your case. The star lock washers are a good idea too as they will give edges to cut through the paint and make contact with bare metal.

[Jemo]

Thank you all. I took the grill off again and looked at it and found some spots that were too nicely painted. I scuffed it up a bit and added star washers on 2 of the 4 bolts holding the grill to the sheetmetal panel behind it. I also realized that there is another piece the lights bolt on to that is riveted to the grill. I took those rivets out, scuffed the metal up good, and put it back together with small bolts, nuts, and star washers. Should be good now. Battery was dead so it's charging and I'll check it tomorrow.