Well as its getting colder my battery started stuggling when starting.

Brand, CCA, Cost and Place to Buy would be greatly appriciated

 

same thing here

 

Go to Sears and get a DieHard. They have many different grades. Unless you have the need for a bigger battery like an Optima Red Top or Yellow Top (Big stereo)

 

~limsandy

 

Maybe not the best battery, but definitley the best value for the money are the Everstarts at Walmart. Comsumer Reports has reccomended them.

Ted

 

optima yellowtop is a popular brand amongst max guys....esp. stereo heads. not that i have a "hook up" but i bought it off an ebay member for $128 shipped, and last time i asked, he would honor that price if i ever brought someone to him. i bought it march 2k3 with a march 2k3 manufacturers date, so it's not one of those old ones.

 

I purchased a Sears Die Hard Gold at the beginning of October and it is great. The Die Hard Gold has 640 CCA and you can get them at Sears and NTB. Price varies (Sears sometimes has sales) I paid $79.99 at NTB. Hope this helps. . .

 

Well I left work this evening and I believe that was my last start before having to jump it....So on my way home I stopped @ Sears and got the Die Hard Gold for $79.99...So far so good...

thanks .org members

 

Good choice. I have Diehard Gold on 2 of my 3 Max. My 2003 Max still has OEM battery, which seems to be working fine despite recent sub zero temps (knock on wood). If and when it goes, the Diehard Gold will be its replacement.

 

Yeah, I use the Everstart batteries in my winter beater truck.
They're pretty good.
I'm still on my OEM battery for the max, but when time comes to replace that, I'll probably go with Optima Red.

J.

 

My battery sucks, the oem battery died and i had to use some POS from my fathers junk car... So i had to go shake it the otherday to get the car to start... lol Car jus went on with all the lights and no noise at all not even a clickin noise, lifted hood and shook the terminals and boom my baby starts right up

 

Most places i went to, they didn't offer much with CCA over the OEM CCA, so i measured the dimensions of the battery and found one that was 900 CCA. Its funny because the computer didn't show that battery as an option for fitting my car. Works great even in really cold starts and trust me Jersey has been having some pretty cold weather lately.

 

Check out this site, lotta good info http://uuhome.de/william.darden/

from asking around over the years, I've found out that most batteries are the same inside. For instance, if you are buying higher end diehards for the guarantee, you really aren't paying more for better components as one would think. The extra cost is really tied to buying extended warranty coverage. I found that to be misleading and always bought the better battery thinking I was getting a better design, but that's not the case.

I've learned over the years to buy the cheapest battery with a 3 year warranty. The "Pro Rated" warranty on a 60 or 72 month battery will not pay you back $1 for $1 for what you spent extra on the battery when it fails, the vendor makes more money.

You're better off saving the money now and just putting in 3 year batteries, which I've been told are the same as 72 month batteries inside. The 3 year and the 72 month will last just as long in the same conditions, you are just paying for what is basically an extended warratny on the 72 month, and we all know what consumer reports says about extended warranties...they don't make financial sense...ever.

 

Itdodd, that is interesting info. If all batteries are the same inside, why (even within the same brand but different series) do some have higher CCA? Are the manufacturers making false reps?

 

I didn't say all batteries are the same, I said most. I didn't even try to address CCA, I was talking about warranty.

The way they achieve varying degrees of CCA is by manipulation of the electrolyte formulation, cell design, and/or plate material, obviously affecting price. Keep in mind that CCA is not the only consideration when buying a battery. Warranty is a consideration, and that's what I tried to make a point aout in my post. Just because a battery has a higher CCA doesn't mean it'll last longer.

Here's a goos site I found that explained some of this http://www.bondauto.com/templates/sc.../article_id/22


Hope that helps calrify