I wouldn't bother with them. What are they now, $189 a piece? I've been using Duralast Gold batteries for 2 years with zero issues. I believe they are $70-80 a piece now.
Only if you have a demanding audio system, run lots of lights, run a winch or your vehicle is every on it's side or upside down. I would get them again but that is my personal preference. I'm too lazy to check my batteries.
I have been running my Optimas for 3 years... i have had to trickle charge them once when my charging system wasnt working right but other than that no issues
Ive run optimas in different vehicles for years. Love them when I can afford them.
First was $89 I think and the last one was $189.
Havent done anything wild with the what the diesel battery wise but no cranking problems. My gmc had a problem that lasted about a year with the distributor and it was very hard to crank, the spin times that optima had to do would of killed a normal battery. I like them myself.
Yep Interstates.They are called econo.Interstate doesnt let batteries sit on vendors shelves for a long period of time, so they take em back, go through them making sure they are fine.Then resell at a discounted rate bc of the age.I paid $74 and change about 6months ago for them and the ones i took out were 4 yrs old, also econo from Interstate.
You might check with a local battery shop to see if they have some refurb. A friend of mine does this and has not had a single problem out of his refurb optimas...
Paid $70 for one Red Top 750cca from my buddy & it spent almost a year in his 97 F250 with a 5.8l then I put it in my 94 F150 with a 5.0l then into the 95 12v Cummins then back into the F150 then finally as the main battrey in my 93 IDI.
It was -16* below 0 out the other night & it started just fine. Going on 2 winters now, but not sure if I would spend $190 on a new one. Heard quality dropped too. :shrug:
That was kinda my point cat... but not in favor of the optimas. They very well may be great batteries but the duralast gold batteries have spent 2 cold winters in my truck... no problems down to 20 below or very near twenty below... Both of them together were about $130... Putting down almost $400 for two optima's, what would the difference be except an extra $270 out of my wallet?
For people that live around Milwaukee check out Remy battery, off 43rd and Lincoln I bought 2 batteries for $75 a piece. Both my batteries are 1125cc amps and have started my truck in -15*F with out the truck being plugged in over night. They are sealed maintenance free batteries, plus a 3 year warranty where I can take them in and they will check them out and test them/replace them what ever for free
I have had bad luck with optima's. Mine went tits up right after the warranty was up. Won't do that again. If I had to mount my batteries down below the truck and didn't want to take up much space...then I might be more likely to use them....
1125 CCA each. More CCA and reserve than an optima can offer. Who cares if it can't sit sideways. Plenty of other places to mount a battery on a pickup!
One other note on the optimas or gel type batteries in general. I like not having to clean the battery terminals EVER and not having to add water to the battery EVER.
I cant afford to run them in everything Ive got but what I have them in, I like them.
It doesn't matter what I am in real life or on paper. When a person asks a question as simple as the one asked here there is no reason for him to be buried in the amount of ignorance that crowz piled on him.
There aint' that many places in the US that make batteries, period. Most of them come from the same plant and just have different labels put on them. Of course optimas are a different animal. I have no experience with them and probably never will, I have made it just fine on Interstate most of my life. Right now I have a couple of Car Quest in mine. They are toast and will be Interstates in the morning.
Just like most vehicle audio amplifiers are made by 2-3 build houses oversees. People constanly bring that up about batteries but they all have different specs, build materials, build plans and etc..
I have used Motorcraft, Optima, Odyssey and even a Wally World battery. I honestly could not tell the difference in any of them for a stock truck demands.
Hmmmm.... An Optima might be worth it to me if I could run just one battery. How cold have you started your truck with just that one battery and no overnight plug in?
In reference to the corroded terminals, I had that same problem so I bought four of those felt battery terminal pads, put dielectric grease on the bottom of them and then stuck them over ther battery posts and put the leads back on. No corrosion since then. My fiance's Honda had the same problem and the felt pads with dielectric grease worked there too. Also helped to clean then battery posts up real good when I had them apart.
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