Some grounding advice for welders

Question:

My question is about MIG welding on newer cars. Is removing the ground cable on the battery sufficient? What about the computer and air bags?

Answer:

If you disconnect the ground wire from the battery, you don’t need to worry about damaging the various components on your car when welding, provided you keep in mind that—no matter what age your car is —you will want to clamp the ground wire for your welder as close to where you intend to weld as practical. People have been known to attach the ground lead from the welder to the front bumper and then weld in a new tail on the car. This strategy has been known to pit wheel and other bearings and generally cause problems with all sorts of components.

Also, do keep in mind that on a contemporary car your radio and other settings such as seat position, etc. may return to default when you disconnect the battery, so you will have to reset such components after you reconnect the bat- tery. And on some cars the manufacturers have designed the radios so that you will have to obtain a code from your dealer in order to reprogram it. That’s so thieves who steal such components will not be able to use them.