StingU2

Optima batteries... who of you have them installed in your cars? What is a good size for a C2... Red Top or Yellow Top. Pro's and Con's.

vintagecorvette

I have a red top Optima in my Resto Rod 1957. I got it at Costco on a deal. I am not sure of the size. I will check if you want.

oWEN

StingU2

oWEN... let me know what the size is.

Bruce

62Jeff

I just put a red top in my 62, 2 weeks ago.

part number 8004-003, model 34/78. It fits perfectly even with the factory battery hold down and heat shield.

Oops, brain fart - you asked about the later cars.

BlackbirdZ07

They used to be really good, but no more. I believe another company started making them for Optima a few years ago. I've had three fail within two years. Some swear by them, some swear at them. I had one of the old ones in a Cobra replica (not driven much) for over seven years and it was still going strong when I sold the car, but they're not the same anymore.

LT1driver

don't walk away from them but RUN, they are no good especially if the car sits for a period of time, check out c5 forum and see the problems they have

ctjackster

bad, misinformation there. not your experience, which I don't question, but your advice as to the manufacturer of Optimas

Optima Batteries are made by Johnson Controls and have been for at least the last 7 years - JC was also the company that made the Die Hard batteries for Sears a number of years ago, when those were good batteries. Then Sears switched for a time, and the DieHard brand suffered. Now, I believe the Sears house batteries are again made by JC. They also make some house-brand batteries for other places, and it is not a bad idea to buy batteries made by JC.

As for the OP's question, I have a red top Optima in my 65, a red top in my wife's 03 Envoy, a red top and a yellow top in my 08 Avalanche (and ran the same set-up in my 02 Av), and two Blues in my Sea Ray. Never had a problem with ANY of them. Can't say the same for the batteries I used before I became an Otpima fan in 02. I have no tolerance for failure in batteries - that cannot be overcome with any sort of McGuyvering!

62Jeff

I've found that once an Optima gets drained, it's hard to recover it, so I use battery cut-off switches in most of the cars that have the optimas

However, I also find that I can leave my cars in storage, unattended, for 6, 8, 12 months at a time and as long as I disconnected the battery when I parked the car, the car will still start right up the next time I need to use it.

Tripleblack51

I put an Optima Red Top in my C5 a year ago. So far,so good.
With batteries, cars, or anything else on a large forum like this one, there will be a few people that had a bad experience.
Overall, I believe the Optima is a good product and have one.

That being said, I have a Sears Die-Hard in my '67...another good product!

Good luck with your decision!

1snake

I had one in my C5 and it had to be replaced twice in 2 years. The local auto parts store quit carrying them because of warranty issues. They said about half of them came back. Some love em', more hate em'.

Jim

ctjackster

Sears Diehard also now made (again) by JC.

Here's the thing - before any poster slams a particular brand of battery as being bad, or prasies one for being really alot better than some other brand, be it Optima, Sears, Duralast (AutoZone), Interstate, Kirkland (Costco), Motorcraft (Ford), Champion, Napa, EverStart batteries, whatever - you need to know that all batteries are basically made by one of three main manufacturers - Exide, Johnson Controls, and Delphi. As for Exide, they were the company that made the Diehard for a while in the 90s, when that brand suffered a terrible loss of reputation. It has usually been a good rule of thumb to buy a battery made by Johnson Controls - they are viewed by many as the best of the three. By the way, all three companies make the Everstart (Walmart) batteries . . . .

StingU2

Thanks Tripleblack

I spoke with a friend that has an Optima Red Top in a '69 for four years with no bad issues. He said the salesman told him that the Optima was maintence-free with a long service life. also the battery is very functional even after months of non-use.

Klondike

Is there any way to tell by looking at markings on the battery, which company made it? My buddy put an Optima battery in his C5 about 3 years ago and it was still strong when he sold the car. He just put one in his Pantera about a year ago and the thing is constantly going DEAD! The C5 has all kinds of things that still use the battery while the car is turned off, but that old Pantera is totally disconnected when it is off. I'm thinking he got one made by the good guys and the other made by the turkeys.

Kensmith

I used both red and yellow top. Had problems with the red, but the yellow never failed. I vote yellow top

ctjackster

Optima has always been made by JC, it's their high end house battery I believe . . . .

ironarms

i have a red top in my 66 put it in last spring, so far so good

roger newman

I have an account at Interstate Batteries, an when I went to get a battery for my Vette the tech asked about used Red Tops.
As it turns out here in Portland the ambulances change there batteries every year no matter what.
He charged me $25.00 for a red top and have no problems. Except when I broke my engine in at 2500RPM
for 25 minutes with a cheap set of headers and no heat shield on the battery. I now have a few blisters

Tonytz06

$58.00 Wal-Mart battery, I have three of them in different vehicles and just replaced one aqfter four years.

Brian VH McHale

Don't forget these people, www.eastpenn-deka.com

midyear1

The NAICS system has replaced the old SIC system for industrial classification and manufacturer. Preparation for the coming merger of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as an EU competitive economic entity. Here's the system explanation:

http://www.insitepro.com/hedden1.htm


Here's the deciphering of the numbers on the UPC barcodes:

http://www.tkb-4u.com/code/barcode/upc.php


The Johnson Controls barcode ID should be 21112, according to the information here:

http://upcdata.info/?code=721112775357

Seems the Moody Blues were prophets, we are all "magnetic ink".