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Who Makes Their Batteries?

All my interstates are still dominating. And have had tough lives.

Dmax just got 2 new interstates.
 
All my interstates are still dominating. And have had tough lives.

Dmax just got 2 new interstates.


I have had great luck with the interstates from Costco. Plus the Costco no question warranty is nice.
 
Weird the napa near me said Johnson control makes theirs and also claims that's the same as interstate batterys? I got two of their 81month bad boys and beat the hell out of them.. best batteries I've bought.
The 92 has an agm platinum from vato zone.. it's been good too.
 
Dmax just got 2 new interstates.

I'm on my 3rd pair of Interstates in 7 yrs for my Dodge.

Warranty swaps are easy and the guys are always nice but it's still a pain in the a$$. I could care less how nice or willing they are to cover the warranty when my wife is stranded (with a battery that SHOULD still be good) and I'm 30 min away.
 
Well, an update.....

If you look at my last post you'll see I was warrantying the battery in our Jeep, guess what's bad AGAIN.

I thought I noticed a trend so I went thru the paperwork, for 3 out of 4 vehicles we're averaging 3 yrs per battery.

When a warrantied BOTH batteries in my Dodge back in January (second set warrantied for that vehicle), I asked about different levels of battery for a possible upgrade. The counter guy at the actual Interstate store (not parts retailer) he said all their batteries are 60 months regardless. Seems fishy, I think they're labeling everything the same.

I'll be changing brands now, probably going with O'Reilly's.

I go to the same place ( Going on 20+ years now ) to buy my batteries. He did tell me he sees a 3 year cycle in his sales, so your not alone. I've seem to get about 8-9 years out of a Deka battery.
 
Johnson controls is HUGE and makes most of the batteries in the U.S. They OWN Interstate, it's their house brand. They supply batteries for Napa, Advance, Carquest (now owned by Advance), Centennial brand, and tons more.

I go through a LOT of batteries and keep a rack here in the shop that is serviced by Battery Systems that use Centennial. They are basically the best priced JCI batteries I can find.

Battery quality has gone down in the last 20 years. I remember as a kid changing batteries in equipment that had a date of 8-10 years old. My dad says the same thing, batteries don't last as long as they used to.
 
They used to be made to last 7 years plus. Now you're lucky to get 3-4 years out of most. But they get you by prorating the warrantee now instead of replacement.
 
I end up buying an O'Reillys battery and getting a lesson on the current battery market.

I was unaware that the 5-6 year prorated warranties were a thing of the past. I checked and AutoZone, Advance Auto and O'Reillys have all gone to a max of 36 month warranty with 100% free replacement for the entire warranty, no prorating anymore. Core charges have gone from $5 to $20 too.

Absolutely crazy.
 
Indi
I end up buying an O'Reillys battery and getting a lesson on the current battery market.

I was unaware that the 5-6 year prorated warranties were a thing of the past. I checked and AutoZone, Advance Auto and O'Reillys have all gone to a max of 36 month warranty with 100% free replacement for the entire warranty, no prorating anymore. Core charges have gone from $5 to $20 too.

Absolutely crazy.
I didn't know that that had changed. It's been about 4 years since I bought my last battery. I guess I'm due for it to die soon. Thanks for that knowledge.
 
I posted here in 2012 about 5 duralast golds in. I made it to 8 replacements. They sold me two new ones for the discounted price of one so I bit. The two new ones have a black top and are rated for less CCA. I was told they were revised, and it seems to be true. These are about 2 years old and still going strong. So while I wont be buying them again it at least seems like the Duralast Gold batteries got a bump in quality.
 
Using Interstates still. Still having good luck with them.
 
Update on the Interstate batteries in my Dodge, purchased January ‘16.

 
My last Duralast battery was nine years old when I replaced it. Was still doing fine I just freaked out when I was doing some maintenance and saw the date sticker on it, Decided it was time to change given it was my daily driver and didn't want any surprises.
Always had good performance out of Diehards too but now that Sears is gone not sure if anyone still sells (makes) them.
A thought on battery life from years ago till today. Used to be when you turned your car off the battery drain was minimal or not at all. Now the computer controlled vehicles have constant drain on the batteries to keep the electrical systems functioning even when the vehicle is turned off. Might be a cause of reduced battery life. I say this because the batteries in my older vehicles seem to last much longer than the batteries in my newer vehicles. Again, just a thought.
 
I think I have over 10 Optimas laying around that are all bad (reds, yellows, and blues). I have been using the Wal-Mart batteries in everything. I generally buy the 5 year batteries and have had good luck with them. I know some will tell me they are crap and blah, blah, blah. I have 2 cars, 4 Diesels, Tacoma, Hemi truck, 3 Jeeps, 2 Blazers, and 4 buggies so I tend to always be charging or switching a battery.
Plus when I am wheeling or travelling there is a Wallyworld everywhere so replacement is easy.
My battery charging area
20190224_181110.jpg
 

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