Best place to buy car battery?

[Pogre]

Oh you are not from Arizona originally? Guess, I missed that. So, where is back home if you don't mind me asking? Just curious is all. No pressure my friend!


Cheers,

Phil

I guess I never really mentioned it before. I don't mind at all tho! I had some tough times there when I was young. I lived in Allens Mills Pensylvania for the first 20 or so years of my life. I was born in Brookville, went to high school in DuBois.

Allens Mills... you're not likely to find it on any map. It's mostly a community of farmers and my father owned a slaughterhouse in the middle of it all. We (Allens Mills) used to have a gas station but it shut down in the 70's. I can still remember going there to get candy when I was little. After it shut down the next nearest one was about 7 miles away. Nearest real town was about 8 or 10 miles away. My bus ride to school took an hour and a half. That sucked.

I grew up in the boonies in coal country. A lot of old, neglected buildings and stuff and dilapidated towns. It was depressing. Lots of history tho. We had our own well, a couple of acres and a slaughterhouse with holding pens right on property. I was born into the business. My grandfather was a butcher, my dad was a butcher, so I started working in the slaughterhouse when I was 12 years old. That's something that I hated and am grateful for at the same time. That trade supported me and my family for the last 35 years.

Think about it, you're 12 years old and all your friends are playing ball and having fun. I'm in a slaughterhouse, shoveling shit, blood and guts, cleaning the guts, salting hides... I hated it, but it was what I knew. I finally had enough with the corporate bs that comes with managing a butcher shop for a big grocery chain and got out. Home inspection, here I come!

 

[MR.MAGOO]

As a AAA member I use their battery replacement service, they come to your home and replace it! Mine have lasted at least 3 years.

 

[speakerman39]

I guess I never really mentioned it before. I don't mind at all tho! I had some tough times there when I was young. I lived in Allens Mills Pensylvania for the first 20 or so years of my life. I was born in Brookville, went to high school in DuBois.

Allens Mills... you're not likely to find it on any map. It's mostly a community of farmers and my father owned a slaughterhouse in the middle of it all. We (Allens Mills) used to have a gas station but it shut down in the 70's. I can still remember going there to get candy when I was little. After it shut down the next nearest one was about 7 miles away. Nearest real town was about 8 or 10 miles away. My bus ride to school took an hour and a half. That sucked.

I grew up in the boonies in coal country. A lot of old, neglected buildings and stuff and dilapidated towns. It was depressing. Lots of history tho. We had our own well, a couple of acres and a slaughterhouse with holding pens right on property. I was born into the business. My grandfather was a butcher, my dad was a butcher, so I started working in the slaughterhouse when I was 12 years old. That's something that I hated and am grateful for at the same time. That trade supported me and my family for the last 35 years.

Think about it, you're 12 years old and all your friends are playing ball and having fun. I'm in a slaughterhouse, shoveling shit, blood and guts, cleaning the guts, salting hides... I hated it, but it was what I knew. I finally had enough with the corporate bs that comes with managing a butcher shop for a big grocery chain and got out. Home inspection, here I come!

Interesting-never knew this. Have a good feeling your new business venture is going to take off. Just want to wish you good luck in that regard. Thanks for the info.


Cheers,

Phil

 

[Alex2507]

I'm biased toward Interstate batteries. One for my truck was about double the price from whatever Walmart had and about twice the size. My nearly antique fofo recently got it's 2nd battery from an upper crust parts store called Napa. The last one lasted 10 years from a similarly well regarded parts store. I'm biased against Auto Zone and Walmart. That's all I got.

 

[KEW]

I'm biased toward Interstate batteries. One for my truck was about double the price from whatever Walmart had and about twice the size. My nearly antique fofo recently got it's 2nd battery from an upper crust parts store called Napa. The last one lasted 10 years from a similarly well regarded parts store. I'm biased against Auto Zone and Walmart. That's all I got.

Wow! 10 years is amazing! I felt good that I got 5 years out of the original battery!

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I usually trade in my car every two years so I have never needed a battery. Heck, I don't even know where the batteries are in our cars but they are not under the hood. It tends to piss off people, who need a jump start when I tell them I have no way of getting to my battery.

In my race cars I always used dual Odysseys or dual Optimas.

Good Lord, I just looked up the Odessey battery for my care and it's $401

http://shop.odysseybattery.com/p/pc1350?pp=12

 

[its phillip]

$400 is one expensive battery.

Here are the batteries I get for my car:

As you can see they are significantly cheaper at Costco. Costco also offers a 36 month replacement/warranty rather than 24 months. I am unfortunately on my third battery though. I did buy anti-corrosion washers this time so maybe they'll last longer.

Original battery lasted from Jan 2013-Feb 2016. Last battery only lasted 18 months from Feb 2016-Aug 2017 (Costco refunded 100% of the money). Replacement battery carries a new 36 month warranty.

 

[Alex2507]

Wow! 10 years is amazing! I felt good that I got 5 years out of the original battery!

Get those fuzzy wuzzy things (felt) for the posts and a terminal cleaner. There's also a red spray paint type thing you can use to inhibit post oxidation. All the high tech battery talk is above my pay grade but preventive maintenance has served me well enough. My preferred mechanic just this morning made a remark indicating his surprise that the fofo was still running.

Knock wood.

 

[j_garcia]

Use the spray. The fuzzy things make it worse, not better. At first it protects but after a while it collects any fluid and increases the corrosion in my experience. Never had an issue with the spray.

Interstate is a solid battery, but I still like Optima simply because they're sealed. Currently have an Interstate in my car and an Interstate black top (higher CCA, same size). I prefer the highest CCA battery you can get that fits, though Optima normally only has one choice for a given vehicle.

 

[panteragstk]

I usually trade in my car every two years so I have never needed a battery. Heck, I don't even know where the batteries are in our cars but they are not under the hood. It tends to piss off people, who need a jump start when I tell them I have no way of getting to my battery.

In my race cars I always used dual Odysseys or dual Optimas.

Good Lord, I just looked up the Odessey battery for my care and it's $401

http://shop.odysseybattery.com/p/pc1350?pp=12

Now I'm curious what your race car is...and where you drive it. I know a guy who runs an exotic car driving experience at a track in Ft. Worth. Maybe you drive at the same track.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Wow! 10 years is amazing! I felt good that I got 5 years out of the original battery!

With some care (and a car that doesn't have a parasitic load problem, my like wife's Porsche Boxster did), ten years is easily do-able with conventional batteries. For example, we have a 2008 Porsche that still has the factory battery in it. In my 2005 BMW X3, I finally changed the battery after ten years only because I was worried it might not be up to a Northwest winter. It tested fine when I removed it, but I was being conservative for my wife.

By proper maintenance I mean checking the acid solution level for non-sealed flooded batteries (rare nowadays) and keeping the charge level up, either by a battery maintainer when the car isn't driven for several days, or periodic charging (like every other week) for cars mostly driven short distances. Or you can just ignore the battery and replace it every few years, but as we've already discussed that's going to get expensive for certain cars that need a dealer to replace the battery.

 

[slipperybidness]

Battery tends to be the least reliable part on the entire vehicle!

@Irvrobinson I agree with the other guys, 10 years is amazing!

 

[j_garcia]

My last Optima red top was 7+ years in two different cars. Buddy of mine has had his in his car for 11yrs.

 

[slipperybidness]

My last Optima red top was 7+ years in two different cars. Buddy of mine has had his in his car for 11yrs.

Yeah, but that is Optima!

Not the average consumer level battery.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Now I'm curious what your race car is...and where you drive it. I know a guy who runs an exotic car driving experience at a track in Ft. Worth. Maybe you drive at the same track.

I have been done with racing for 12 years now. Did drag racing for 30 years and I have had several cars during that time. The most notable ones were:

Outlaw: My most fun being a 76 Vega with a 426 cu/in small block on nitrous, ran 8's in quarter mile. Front tires never touched the ground.

Pro-Mod: my fastest was a tube chassis Lumina(not really a year model as it was all carbon and fiberglass with a 716 cu/in big block, ran upper 6's in quarter mile.

Outlaw Street: my most driven was a 76 Camaro that ran a 598 cu/in on nitrous, ran a special class where the car could only be back-halfed and tracks were 1/8th mile. It ran low 5's in the 1/8.

After I was finished with racing, I did sports cars for a wile and then slowly switched over to just sensible SUVs. I have had an itch for speed lately and that's why I have a 600 hp SUV now. I want to add a coupe but my wife is still on the verge of killing me over the SUV.

Is your buddy's track in Cresson? I have never been into race cars that turn but I did run to Austin and do the AMG course so they would raise my top end to 177 from 150 for being AMG certified driver.

 

[Hi Ho]

I have only ever bought one car battery and I bought it at Costco. My 2007 Mazda 3 came with a Panasonic battery installed. It lasted until 2015 (9 years!) when I lived in AZ and it finally stopped holding a charge. I blame the heat. I did some research and found that Panasonic car batteries are some of the best available except that they aren't really available to buy in the US. Only cars imported from Japan seem to have them. My 2016 Mazda 6 has a Panasonic battery and I don't expect to have to replace it for many years.

 

[highfigh]

Replacing a battery on a car is no longer a simple matter. Just like replacing coolant and motor oil is now also a complex matter.



I have three tractors, four vehicles, a stand by generator and a boat. All having different requirements for batteries.

I use a marine Gel battery on the boat. The last one lasted 14 years and that is a severe environment. Before these batteries you were lucky to get four years of use under marine conditions. The Gel batteries take the severe pounding of marine use. Their long life easily justifies their higher cost. I reckon they last at least three to four time as long as standard lead acid batteries.

I have seen a lot of negative comments from boaters about Optima and would bet the reason these batteries didn't work for them is because they chose the wrong battery for the application (far too many boaters do this) and because they think this type will work in an old boat. Using deep cycle batteries for everything when the boat has a car/truck engine is another issue and most boaters think 'deep cycle' means
'kill it, recharge and keep boating'. The DIY boaters are incredibly uninformed.

 

[highfigh]

I have been done with racing for 12 years now. Did drag racing for 30 years and I have had several cars during that time. The most notable ones were:

Outlaw: My most fun being a 76 Vega with a 426 cu/in small block on nitrous, ran 8's in quarter mile. Front tires never touched the ground.

Pro-Mod: my fastest was a tube chassis Lumina(not really a year model as it was all carbon and fiberglass with a 716 cu/in big block, ran upper 6's in quarter mile.

Outlaw Street: my most driven was a 76 Camaro that ran a 598 cu/in on nitrous, ran a special class where the car could only be back-halfed and tracks were 1/8th mile. It ran low 5's in the 1/8.

After I was finished with racing, I did sports cars for a wile and then slowly switched over to just sensible SUVs. I have had an itch for speed lately and that's why I have a 600 hp SUV now. I want to add a coupe but my wife is still on the verge of killing me over the SUV.

Is your buddy's track in Cresson? I have never been into race cars that turn but I did run to Austin and do the AMG course so they would raise my top end to 177 from 150 for being AMG certified driver.

We used to go to Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, WI when I was a kid and I had a good time seeing many of the great drivers. IIRC, the fastest times were in the low 7's or upper 6 second range, but this was the mid-late 1960s. The last time I went to a drag strip was in '86 at Firebird, in Phoenix. I remember lord helmet Lahaie ran 5:13 to win top fuel for 1/4 mile and now, they can't even go that far because the speeds are too high to brake in time. That's amazing, considering the displacement limit is 500 cu in.

Before I was born, my parents would go there and my dad used to say that my mom couldn't get close enough to the cars. She never denied it, either.

 

[panteragstk]

I have been done with racing for 12 years now. Did drag racing for 30 years and I have had several cars during that time. The most notable ones were:

Outlaw: My most fun being a 76 Vega with a 426 cu/in small block on nitrous, ran 8's in quarter mile. Front tires never touched the ground.

Pro-Mod: my fastest was a tube chassis Lumina(not really a year model as it was all carbon and fiberglass with a 716 cu/in big block, ran upper 6's in quarter mile.

Outlaw Street: my most driven was a 76 Camaro that ran a 598 cu/in on nitrous, ran a special class where the car could only be back-halfed and tracks were 1/8th mile. It ran low 5's in the 1/8.

After I was finished with racing, I did sports cars for a wile and then slowly switched over to just sensible SUVs. I have had an itch for speed lately and that's why I have a 600 hp SUV now. I want to add a coupe but my wife is still on the verge of killing me over the SUV.

Is your buddy's track in Cresson? I have never been into race cars that turn but I did run to Austin and do the AMG course so they would raise my top end to 177 from 150 for being AMG certified driver.

Ah, the straight line racing. Always wanted to try that. Nice cars. 716 cu in BB? Wow. I bet that sucker was fun to build.

I think that's where it is. I never got to go before I moved. It's one of my good friends best friend so a friend of a friend sort of things. I'll find out where it is.

 

[Pogre]

I really don't think a car battery would survive 10 summers out here. I used to think the cold was bad for batteries, but the heat out here kills everything. I've never bought a super battery tho, so maybe?