Car batteries: Walmart any good?
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From: Rich Grise on 24 Jul 2007 17:48 On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 23:13:34 -0700, GOSUBARUWRXSTI! wrote: > > *NO!!! NOBODY IN WALMART KNOWS WHAT THERE TALKING ABOUT WHEN IT COMES TO > BATTERYS! My Dad's '69 Impala's battery died, so he took it to WalMart. > They told him that no company made batterys for his car anymore. He > then took it to Pep Boys, and within the hour, had a brand new battery > in his car.* It's true, at $5.15/hr you probably can't count on them to do your technical research for you. ;-) Anyway, the whole point of Wally World is to save money, right? ;-) Thanks, Rich
From: Steve on 24 Jul 2007 17:58 Ashton Crusher wrote: > > My Crown Vic at work came with an Optima. Seems like a piece of junk. How old is it? 5 years? More? > If I don't drive the car for a week I risk having a dead battery. My Satellite sits un-started for 6 months at a time. The Optima starts it EVERY time without a charger, and with enough cranking to get fuel pumped to the carb (and displace the preservative oil I put in the carb every time I shut it down for storage.) No other battery I've ever had would do that.
From: Steve on 24 Jul 2007 18:03 me(a)privacy.net wrote: > Steve <no(a)spam.thanks> wrote: > > >>I've never had ANY battery last as long as the 4 Optimas I've had in 3 >>different cars over the last 10 years. > > > Could it be that such widely varying service lives of > batteries is due to inconsistent quality control? Likely. I've also been wondering if the fact that their sales volume at any given outlet is pretty low translates into "sat on the shelf a long time." :-/ I've had utter confidence in buying new Optimas up until *this* thread :-p
From: Steve on 24 Jul 2007 18:08 Bob Urz wrote: > > > aarcuda69062 wrote: > >> In article <q6q9a3hbqvp5pos596c2tn3dd54kbahugo(a)4ax.com>, >> me(a)privacy.net wrote: >> >> >>> My battery in my Mazda died the other day. >>> >>> Strange, I've never had a car battery die in the >>> summer. Its always been the winter when low temps and >>> load is present. >>> >>> Anyway..... I bought a replacement battery from >>> Walmart cause it was an emergency (no time to shop >>> around). >>> >>> Are their batteries any good? >> >> >> >> Walmart has their vendors build to meet a price point, this is usually >> accomplished thru substituting cheaper materials. >> >> I've seen a number of Walmart batteries fail when less than 1 year >> old. All were bought based upon price. >> >> >>> What brand/model car battery IS good? >> >> >> >> I have an Interstate workhorse in my 'cuda that's been in there for >> over seven years. Some winters during storage, it doesn't even get >> disconnected. Great battery so far and I'm NOT a big fan of Interstate >> batteries. >> My wife's Intrepid has an Optima red top for 4 years, three of those >> her drive to work is less than 1 mile. No trouble so far. >> My Dakota pick-up has a NAPA version Exide that surprisingly after 4 >> years is still doing fine considering that the truck gets a lot of >> short trip usage. >> >> >> My preference to sell is East Penn. Very high quality, test way over >> their rating. Haven't had any premature failures. >> >> I've routinely seen Delco batteries last over 10 years although there >> were some instances a few years back where they had problems with >> leaking side post terminals. > > > There are only a handful of US battery OEM's that make the batteries > anyway. With i believe Johnson controls being the biggest. > With Exide, Enersys, Interstate and delco being in the mix too. > But there are (or at least were a few years ago) a surprising number of low-volume battery builders. Neil already mentioned "East Penn." One brand that I had *really* good luck with in the ast was Continental out of the Dalla/Ft. Worth area. Their specialty was batteries built specifically for the desert southwest and south. They had a wider plate spacing, weaker acid blend, thicker plates, and several other minor tweaks to give the best life and performance in hot weather. The downside was that their sub-zero temperature reserve capacity was a bit lower than other batteries, but it wasn't uncommon to have a Continental last 5-7 years here in Texas where they were at their best, and they had plenty of capacity when winter temps were anything above 10 degrees F.
From: Rich Grise on 24 Jul 2007 18:10
On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 09:17:46 -0500, me wrote: > Steve <no(a)spam.thanks> wrote: > >>I've never had ANY battery last as long as the 4 Optimas I've had in 3 >>different cars over the last 10 years. > > Could it be that such widely varying service lives of > batteries is due to inconsistent quality control? Probably more like inconsistent care. ;-) Cheers! Rich |