Battery Recomendations

kn0x47 · Jan 6, 2016

Sil2DrV6 said:
but does a car battery really age, even if it's not been used, BNIB?

yes. All batteries naturally drain that's why even AA batteries have expiration dates. I forget what the policy was at advance auto exactly, but I think after a year or two they're supposed to be sold at a discount. Our store never kept batteries long enough to deal with that.

personally i wouldnt want a battery over 6-8 months old. The newer the better

puzzlemaster94 · Jan 6, 2016

kn0x47 said:
yes. All batteries naturally drain that's why even AA batteries have expiration dates. I forget what the policy was at advance auto exactly, but I think after a year or two they're supposed to be sold at a discount. Our store never kept batteries long enough to deal with that.

personally i wouldnt want a battery over 6-8 months old. The newer the better

Ive picked up a battery at Walmart just because, and battery acid leaked out everywhere onto the floor.

Fun Fact: It eats through floor tiles. And they still tried to sell it to us

kn0x47 · Jan 6, 2016

puzzlemaster94 said:
Ive picked up a battery at Walmart just because, and battery acid leaked out everywhere onto the floor.

Fun Fact: It eats through floor tiles. And they still tried to sell it to us

yeah i wouldn't buy a walmart battery. that was the most common battery we got back as a "core." it wasn't abnormal to see them go out after two years or less

puzzlemaster94 · Jan 6, 2016

kn0x47 said:
yeah i wouldn't buy a walmart battery. that was the most common battery we got back as a "core." it wasn't abnormal to see them go out after two years or less

I wasn't going to, glad I didn't though. My NAPA one has been holding strong for about 3 years now

Sil2DrV6 · Jan 7, 2016

Thank you for the discussion, gentlemen.

spacemonkee23 said:
Shouldn't be an issue. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Optima doesn't want to sell off their website and is more hassle to sell just one when they can bulk pack and sell pallets through a distributor channel. They sell direct at a mark up because its probably more hassle and $$ for them to handle low quantity sales themselves. At least this is concept we used when I worked for an unrelated manufacturer, similar business model though. Sell pallets not parts...

Also they sell at a lower percentage profit margin so the distributor can still sell at their own mark up. It probably costs them under $100 to manufacture and sell it in bulk at roughly %20-%30 margin. Lets say for example a distributor buys a pallet for $100 each in bulk and mark up off that cost to make a decent % of margin off of each one. They in turn are feeding the economy and getting better distribution at the same time.

Hmm.. I've bought it from them before, and the site's shopping cart still seems to be available for individual customers to this date. :hmm:

kn0x47 said:
interstate are great batteries and have the most loyal fan base. Your best price on batteries are going to be at sam's club or cosco. I have advance auto batteries in my cars but i've had the one in my honda warrantied out twice already.

I actually bought Interstate's for my parent's Subaru last year, and it's running good, too. I'm just leaning towards Optima b/c I'm satisfied w/ it. I'm a Costco member, but I don't see them selling batteries atm.. :computer:

kn0x47 said:
yes. All batteries naturally drain that's why even AA batteries have expiration dates. I forget what the policy was at advance auto exactly, but I think after a year or two they're supposed to be sold at a discount. Our store never kept batteries long enough to deal with that.

personally i wouldnt want a battery over 6-8 months old. The newer the better

That's what I thought. This was exactly what I was hoping to hear; Thank you for the clarification, Jon. Repped you, sir.

puzzlemaster94 said:
Ive picked up a battery at Walmart just because, and battery acid leaked out everywhere onto the floor.

Fun Fact: It eats through floor tiles. And they still tried to sell it to us

james'99 · Jan 7, 2016

Sil2DrV6 said:
I actually bought Interstate's for my parent's Subaru last year, and it's running good, too. I'm just leaning towards Optima b/c I'm satisfied w/ it. I'm a Costco member, but I don't see them selling batteries atm..

Really? I'm surprised! I don't know how your Costco is laid out but did you try the tire center?

blacknight · Jan 7, 2016

In my Accord, I've NEVER had a problem with the sears DieHard
Even with my Grand cherokee, I had an Autozone Duralast in there and it was fine

spacemonkee23 · Jan 7, 2016

Sil2DrV6 said:
Thank you for the discussion, gentlemen.

Hmm.. I've bought it from them before, and the site's shopping cart still seems to be available for individual customers to this date.

I didn't mean they stopped selling them direct. I was simply stating they prefer to sell them in bulk which is why the mark up is so high when purchasing one direct.

Sil2DrV6 · Jan 17, 2016

^ Oh I didn't see what your really meant; My bad. But thank you anyways for the info tho. Well, I bought it directly b/c I wanted a fresh one, so it's all good.