A lot of sellers of x-clamp repair kits on eBay promise a cheap and easy fix. Not all of them deliver!

Nylon washers vs Metal washers has to be the biggest question of all when buying a kit.

Hopefully this guide will give you the definitive answer.

1) Microsoft use metal all the way through on their x-clamps to help ground the console to its case - they do not isolate with nylon anywhere. There has never been an Xbox 360 that shorts straight from the box!

If metal caused shorts then the original x-clamps (metal!) which touch the metal case and connect with metal plugs to the metal heatsinks (which on the CPU touches the top of the metal case!) would blow up as soon as you plugged it in!

2) The Xbox 360 is not a PC and so doesn't require the back of the motherboard to be isolated from the case to prevent shorting. This is the point that confuses a lot of people as they assume the xbox is just another computer. However, unlike a flat PC case, the Xbox 360 has a custom made case stamped out so that the soldered components on the underside of the motherboard do not touch the metal of the case.

The nylon washers that some competitors sell sit on copper rings. If Microsoft wanted to isolate the motherboard they wouldn't use copper rings at the point that the nylon washers sit!

3) There is no floating earth in the Xbox 360. Whoever says there is is a fool! Only v. old equipment like vacuum tube guitar amps use a floating ground. MS would be mindful of being sued for electrocuting everybody if they used such an outdated system.

Look up 'floating ground' on wikipedia for proof.

4) The CPU heatsink touches the top of the metal case and grounds itself there. The metal plugs ground through Microsoft's metal x-clamps to the metal case on the underside. If you were to try and isolate these grounding points you would have problems. However, even a system with nylon washers still uses metal screws/bolts which touch the case on the underside so there is no isolating effect by using nylon washers!

I have sold over 12,000 kits (more than anyone else on eBay) so have the perfect kit for the job. Anyone pretending that nylon is a good idea is fooling you. Nylon washers don't cope with the extreme heat and will only be a short-term fix. Metal washers won't squish or expand with heat. Don't be conned by the jokers trying to offload their nylon washer kits. Their kits will work... but only for a few weeks!