'68 Tigers

I need a new battery for my 04 coupe. What is the best battery I can get? There seems to be a lot of trouble with the red top, so I'm inclined to stay away from those. Any suggestions would be helpful.

DDaaryl

Only a few companies make batteries in the US with lots of different lables. I get mine a Walmart, same stuff different lable

Mike98SilVert

Got mine at Autozone. Check for their online coupons and discounts.

Vetteman Jack

I replaced my Red Top about 3.5 years ago with a Sears DieHard Platinum. Not a cheap battery by any means, but so far not one glitch.

O4-/-C5

Suggest what ever manufacturer you buy the Reserve Capacity be at least 110.
120 is better yet. I have OEM Delco with good luck.

'68 Tigers

Checked with sears and they don't seem to have the platinum in that size (group 86). Do you have the part number for that battery that you could pass along?

3318C5

OP I've had a Red Top for 4 + years now & no issues. What issues are they having???

Mickeyrx70

AC Delco Professional Series for me.

leadfoot4

HOWEVER, I recently heard that Optima was bought out by someone else, and they're not as good as they used to be....

4 KRUSIN

I've had my yellow top for 7 years (in the car when I bought it). Great battery. If I'm not mistaken, the yellow top will take a deep discharge better than the red top. I will definitely buy another when the time comes.

callie454

tbrent helped me make my decision. Here's the post-
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1581560404-post6.html

Here's the battery:
[IMG][/IMG]

Here it is installed:
[IMG][/IMG]

Hope this helps!

bosshoss bill

4 Krusin wrote

"I've had my yellow top for 7 years (in the car when I bought it). Great battery. If I'm not mistaken, the yellow top will take a deep discharge better than the red top. I will definitely buy another when the time comes."

I give this a +1!
I also have had my Yellow Top 7 years and still going strong.
I do keep it hooked up to a battery tender in the garage, but it's been flawless despite once having it discharged and then bringing it back to life about 3 years ago.

knewblewkorvette

+2 except I believe mine is about on it's 10th year. I abuse the heck out of it too. Between my C5's stereo and running strobe lights at car shows, the battery is still alive.

killain

Man this topic comes up a lot. Try a search, theirs a million opinions on this subject. but I've had my red-top for six years, not one problem in all that time. This year I decided to put in a new Optima Red Top 75/25 so I expect the same life time out od it. But I do keep a float charger on it religiously. The tricky thing with a Red Top is doing a recharge on one if it's voltage has dropped below 11.5 volts.

Then you have to recharge with another battery and a charger. It's a PITA, . . but I like the Red Top because I'm worried about a leaking battery. I saw a 1999 coupe that had a leaking AC Delco Battery and man you don't want to have to repair that much damage. That why a AGM battery is my only choice.

But If your not into Optima's, I read last year that "Consumer Reports" who did a test of all major lines of automotive batteries, ands the best they could find was the Batteries from Walmart ?

leadfoot4

That's why I've had nothing but a RedTop in my car for the last 9 years. (I put one in when the OE battery was 3 years old.) I store the car in the winter, and since my garage is attached to my home I will NOT use a battery tender. I do however, charge the battery for 15-20 minutes each week. Having said that, I'm getting 3-4 years out of my Optimas, which isn't a lot, but if it saves the computer from getting bathed in acid, I can live with it....

killain

Your doing the right thing, but why don't you put the float charger on the car on like a Saturday morning and let it charge all day. do that once a week. Then in the evening after dinner go down and take the float charger off. I'm assuming you use a float charger, but it doesn't really matter in your case. So long as you keep the charge above 11.5 your fine. The draw from the car I believe is like 5 micromillivolts ( I know this is wrong amount or how I spelled it ) an hour, very very low draw, just keeps the CPU awake.

My garage is detached so I have a very good float charger that only charges the battery to 12.5 volts then shut of the charge and it turns on a high frequency current option of the charger that starts to cause the scale that clings to the lead battery walls. It does that till the voltage drops to 11.5 then the charger turns itself on again to charge the battery. Been doing this for years and my last Red Top was still going strong after six years.

bighank

Check out the CCA and RC. About $85

stingraymyway

I just asked the same thing to my friend/mechanic today. The AC Delco in my Vette was there when I bought it, 6 years ago. He suggested the AMG or a Red Top to insure against possible acid spillage.

oldschoolvette

+xxx I have them in everything. I have used them in race cars, street cars etc

leadfoot4

At my "advanced age", remembering to go back out to the garage could be a bit of a challenge. Secondly, and more seriously, I have more than one car in "hibernation", so there was only room for one charger in the budget....