Optima Batteries worth the $$$

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I put the red top Optimas in 3 of my cars, including the Barracuda, one time about 8 years ago. None of them lasted any longer than an Autozone battery, in fact, the one in the Barracuda only lasted about a year before it stopped holding a charge. I'll never waste my money on them again.
One battery I have been impressed with is made by Braille. They make light-weight race batteries. I haven't used them on a car yet, but I have one on my motorcycle, and it's lasted about 4 years so far. They run about the same amount as Optima.
 
I had a blue top in a boat for 6 or 7 years, but I am not sure they are worth the extra money in a car that doesn't need a deep cycle to take the abuse of drain and charge cycles over and over (maybe some car owners need this, but i dont). I vote for a decent conventional battery and a battery tender to keep it alive. The worst thing you can do is leave any of them sit...
 
tooslow said:
I need a big *** battery.50 amp fan MSD ect....Are those fancy Optima battery's worth the money or are they just I'm cool Eye Candy????

Thanks
I need a new Battery yesterday
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I currently have a red Optima battery in my Dart right now. The battery is in the trunk and of course it has a long cable running to the engine compartment. The optima seems to not have the cranking power that my old Sears Die Hard had. Of course I bought the biggest baddest Die Hard I could find and I kept it (like the Optima) on a battery maintainer at all times. My Die Hard lasted 8 years and still didn't have any problems when I changed it due to age. I guess we'll see with the Optima
 
you can buy 2 1000 cranking amp Die Hards for the price of one optima???
Do the Optima batteries weigh alot less???
Red tops are purdy though!
 
superchargeddrt said:
I currently have a red Optima battery in my Dart right now. The battery is in the trunk and of course it has a long cable running to the engine compartment. The optima seems to not have the cranking power that my old Sears Die Hard had. Of course I bought the biggest baddest Die Hard I could find and I kept it (like the Optima) on a battery maintainer at all times. My Die Hard lasted 8 years and still didn't have any problems when I changed it due to age. I guess we'll see with the Optima
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Where did you get your blower manifold superchargeddrt???
 
tooslow said:
you can buy 2 1000 cranking amp Die Hards for the price of one optima???
Do the Optima batteries weigh alot less???
Red tops are purdy though!
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You will kill those 1000 amp batteries in a racecar or off-road application.
I was in the auto parts buisness for 18 years, with NAPA.
They came out with this new 1000 amp battery, so I changed out the industrial Napa batt & install on. It failed in a short time, & I replaced it with another. It failed also & I reinstalled the ind. Napa back in.
When the battery rep came around, I told him that his batteries were junk.
He then gave me an education.
First off, I had the battery mounted in the back over the right rear, just like the mopar super stockers. That was wrong, it seems to get a 1000 amps, you have to stuff alot more grids into the battery case per cell. This makes them very thin & prone to cracking.
Once this happens & the grid comes in contact with the one next to it, the cell will go dead.
Vibration & direction mounted in a drag car has an affect on this.
He also recommended to leave my ind. Napa in it.
Thats what I like about the Optima, you can mount it anywhere.
 
I have talked to an owner of a business that rebuilds and sells starters/alternators/ batteries and asked him about those optima batteries. He told me a few years ago they were a good battery but lately they moved production to Mexico and since then they've become such a bad battery that he doesn't sell them anymore.
 
Optimas quality has went down the toilet. If I was gonna get a new battery id go to CAT and get one of theirs or run a Die Hard Platinum.
 
I have a wal-mart battery in my dart ( which I keep on a battery tender) & I have a red top in my 2003 wrangler (put it in 2003)& works great cant complain
 
tooslow said:
Where did you get your blower manifold superchargeddrt???
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Actually I've had the blower since 1988. I bought the whole system from Dick Landy (DLI). B&M (as usual) ignored Chrysler when they built the blower system. Dick Landy did all of the dyno work for B&M so he decided that if B&M wouldn't make it then he would. He took a Offenhauser dual quad mainfold, cut the carb flanges off and mig welded the supercharger flange on. The disadvantage to his system is that the manifold is not a low profile design so it doesn't fit under the hood (hense the six pack hood). The advantage to his system is that he used the big block 174 blower for the small block Mopar.
 
i bought a DieHard with 1000 cold cranking amps and 160 reserve amp hrs in case I lose my alternator. 3yr warranty and it cost me $112.00 w exchange.
Kind of heavy i guess but She will start my engine and get me home in case of an alternator failure
 
Dont those optima's need a special type of charger to resotre them after they have run down?

At any rate the "special" batt from anyone is a myth along the lines of the E3 plug.

Get a good deep cycle batt about 8 or 900 cld cranking amps and make sure you have a good alt.
 
Have one in all my rides (except the 67). It is the only battery I run. My Dart has one in it that I put in my truck in early 2002 and it still cranks the car over every time.
 
Purple Haze said:
I have two Yellow tops in my 4x4 have had no problem with them. Don't buy red tops they suck once you discharge them they are history. Don't know to much about the blues but they should be good. I also like the Exide spiral if you can find one, had one in my Dakota for almost 8 yrs. worked great. Oh one more thing if you get an Optima get it from Amazon got my yellows there for $156 ea.

I own pg2
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You got luckier than I did- Amazon refused to return my Optima redtop after it arrived broken. The interior cell was exposed, they didn't care. Amazon says it's hazardous material, can't be returned, no refund!!! So I filed a shipping claim with UPS and they refunded my money after twisting Amazon's arm, plus another $25! Strange business practice
 
I have a Red top and it hasn't failed to start my car, even after sitting for a couple of months. Is it worth the extra money?!? Tough to say. My old battery did the same thing.
 
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