LLY: Need NEW Batteries.....Is Interstate any good...??

Sourdough

Alaska Wilderness Wanderer
May 19, 2017
31
0
0
Wilderness Alaska
I have had pretty good luck with the batteries from Batteries Plus, both the Duracell and the x2Power Premium AGM batteries.

$820.00 plus core for two of those. Sadly not in my budget. But they have 1,150 CCA that's some serious cranking.
 
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SSchmi5519

LLY Cult Leader
Oct 19, 2008
3,387
1
36
Arizona
Just my opinion...but no matter where I lived I would find the closest auto parts store and get their house brand with the good warranty(5+yr). Autozone, Oreilley, Napa, etc. I would not care.
 

MechanicalReign

New member
Mar 8, 2012
108
0
0
Ohio
My battery is drained thinking about that drive.
I also had bad luck with interstate. I have also had good experiance with the napa batteries. There all ill buy right now.
 

TheBac

Why do I keep doing this?
Staff member
Apr 19, 2008
15,692
1,971
113
Mid Michigan
Moved over to Fluids/Maintenance.

Ive run NAPA batteries for years and years. Never had an issue. Really liked their AGM ones...those lasted me 8 years. When I went to buy new a couple years ago, those were no longer available, so I went with their Legend series. So far, so good.

I bought an Autocraft Platinum AGM for the Cruze after the OEM went south. That seems to be a decent brand too.

I learned a long time ago not to skimp on batteries for vehicles. Suck it up and try to buy the best you can find.
 

sneaky98gt

Member
Nov 5, 2013
109
20
18
One of my co-workers worked as an engineer for an auto battery supplier for over 25 years. Here's a little FYI I've learned from him.

Virtually all auto batteries are made by one of three manufacturers: Johnson Controls, Exide, or East Penn. Johnson Controls and Exide are virtually identical in how they make batteries and where their materials come from (which is US and "global"). I forget the nitty gritty details, but East Penn has some slightly different manufacturing processes, and usually uses all domestic materials. In general, that normally amounts to East Penn batteries being slightly better quality. The recommendation from my coworker is to basically get an East Penn if you can, but don't fret about it if you can't, and don't pay significantly more money for it. In my experience, they're getting harder and harder to find.

This also means that there's no difference between the different store brands. Interstate, Autozone Duralast, Advance Autocraft, O'reilly Superstart, Walmart Everstart, etc. are all the EXACT same battery if Johnson Controls is the manufacturer, or Exide, etc. And in recent years, I've noticed stores having both manufacturers make the same battery. In other words, an Autozone on one side of town having a Johnson Controls Duralast Gold, while a store on the other side of town having one made by Exide.

One other tidbit no one tells you: of batteries with the same CCA, there's no difference at all between the "silver", "gold", "platinum", etc. lines of batteries. They're exactly the same. The extra money you spend on the "premium" battery is simply a longer warranty. The exception of course is an AGM battery, which is made entirely differently. Just how much better they are is difficult to determine.

So, in my opinion, knowing all this narrows the decision making process significantly. If you want the "best" battery, buy an East Penn battery. Otherwise, buy one from your favorite parts store, and decide on silver, gold, etc. based on much warranty you want.

One last note about finding East Penn batteries. Be careful on taking old internet advice regarding where you can buy East Penn batteries from. When I had to buy a couple batteries for my truck last year, lots of places online stated the Napa and certain O'reilly batteries were made by East Penn. After looking at the actual sticker on the battery in my local stores, it turned out that they weren't. So always check the label. In my search last year, I found very few places that actually have East Penn manufactured batteries.

I wound up with Duracell Platinum AGMs. These are (currently) made by East Penn. BatteriesPlus sell these, but I got mine from Sam's Club, which had them for about the same price as I could buy a standard battery from any of the auto stores. I think it was exactly $250 out the door including tax. So that was a no-brainer in my opinion.

I think the Sears batteries were also still East Penn, but I definitely am not buying anything from Sears that I may have to return under warranty at some point...