Car batteries: Walmart any good?

My Crown Vic at work came with an Optima. Seems like a piece of junk. If I don't drive the car for a week I risk having a dead battery.

After reading this thread the only thing I can conclude is no one gets the same result even when the use the same batteries!! I used to always get Delco because that's what CostCo carried. And none of them lasted longer then 3 years and some only lasted a year. One year I had the delco batteries in both my cars go dead on the same day. The only good thing about them was the warranty.

*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 not your battery, it's your car that's a piece of junk.

I think it's sad. These days my purchases are based more on how long I'll have a warranty instead of the lowest price or company reputation.

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.

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.

Could it be that such widely varying service lives of batteries is due to inconsistent quality control?

That's been the problem with batteries in my experience... i.e. that they fail with no warning and unexpectedly

agree

weird

DEFINETLY agree

sad

same as happened to me last Sunday!!

I have never seen a 'pep boys' here in Canada. Only 4x4 shops were selling those pieces of Junk called 'optima' when I got suckered by their 'hype' and got two blue tops for my off road and daily driver Jeeps. I 'really' know better than that too, but had a really good contract payment come in and was a typical 'fool with their money'....

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile... Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

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.

There are some interesting names in the pacific rim though:

Bob

From October 2006 Consumer Reports testing ....

All of these batteries will start and run the vehicles they fit. Our Ratings emphasize life-test results over reserve capacity and cold-cranking performance; you?re likely to find the trade-off worth it.

Some battery compromises are a function of design. For example, specialized North and South batteries emphasize cold starts or heat resistance and are sold only in those regions. While several regional batteries did well, so did many nationwide models.

CR rates auto batteries by overall performance within group sizes and footnotes models that are sealed and maintenance-free, a plus if your vehicle?s battery is hard to reach. See Select the right size battery for your car to choose the right group size for your vehicle. Then see Quick Picks (below) which focuses on specific needs and value. Group size is indicated in parentheses.

Quick Picks Best for cold climates: EverStart $60 (65) AC Delco $90 (65) NAPA $70 (65) AC Delco $90 (75) EverStart $60 (75), CR Best Buy Interstate $90 (24/24F) EverStart $45 (24/24F), CR Best Buy EverStart $60 (34/78), CR Best Buy Nascar $100 (34/78) NAPA $60 (35)

Batteries from EverStart, Kirkland, and NAPA are good values. If you live in a warmer climate: NAPA $80 (65) Duralast $60 (65), CR Best Buy AC Delco $90 (65) NAPA $70 (75) Nascar $40 (75), CR Best Buy AC Delco $90 (34/78) Duralast $60 (35), CR Best Buy

All of these scored relatively well in life and reserve capacity and are either national or Southern regional batteries.

I've never had a battery die in the winter. They have always failed in mid summer.

Over the years I have hadtwo of Wal Marts best batteries. Had no problems with either. Only reason I bought a second one is that i traded the first car. They have 3yr 100% warrany. Since most WalMarts are open 24 hours a day, you can get a replacement anytime, anyday. Thats a big plus since batteries seem to go out in the middle of the night or Sundays etc.

Notable who is absent from either list: Diehard. Figgers.

Actually, historically, according CR, the CV is one of the better Merkin cars. And what would a crappy car have to do with a discharging battery, anyway?

How old is it? 5 years? More?

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.