Optima Red or Yellow?

Hey Frenchie,
fill your old battery with maple syrup. It'll make your car go faster.
Will

No more maple syrup. I gave it to the old bag from Ontario who smacked into you. My gift for a job well done.

Hi David,

You must have found the secret to making these things last a long time. My experience has been terrible in my Jeep Wrangler that I use everyday. I had the first red one that lasted 2 years. The store was good enough to give me a new one and that was four years ago, and now the most recent one is going south in a hurry. And it is the car I use everyday and my alternator is really putting out, if you know what I mean.

If you have had luck with Optimas I salute you. On the other hand, I will never own one of those things ever again -- and never is a long time.

Best of luck,

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by David B:
No more maple syrup. I gave it to the old bag from Ontario who smacked into you. My gift for a job well done.

Too bad it wasn't worse.

Well, the old bag smacked into you, didn't really do much and you got to test out your insurance under fire. Glad they came through with flying colors and it all worked out so well.

As for my battery, I went to Interstate and the dude explained why I should stick with Red. So I did. I gave it a little top-up with my CTEK, dropped it in the cat and tore up the roads for a bit.

Car is back to bitchen.

The yellow overview said it was better for cars with alot of electronics, which your car has.
Why is the red better?

Yes, I thought the same thing looking at the specs and their online recommendations.

But the electronics they refer to are those big time video games and giant audio systems in modern SUVs that dudes like to play while they sit parked at an event or at a friends.

Since my battery is disconnected whenever it's not running, I am better to go for the high starting and reserve power.

The yellow tops need to be cycled, run down and recharged for optimal performance. That would never happen the way I use mine. It stays fully charged al the time.

It would never have failed had I not forgotten to disconnect it and left it discharging for weeks. So after 7 long years of great reliable performance, I'll stick with what I know.

David,
I had a red in my cat that lasted 2 years. I replaced it with a yellow about 4-5 years ago and still going strong. My experience is that the yellow can take a very deep discharge and still come all the way back up. I have accidentally left the battery connected for long periods of time with no problems charging and going. I haven't noticed any significant difference in the cranking power between them, although I know the red is rated at a higher cca. Yellow has worked better for me.
Mike

i had the same experience with the red.... within 2 years , ok, once "fully" discharged, it didn't came back to life...didn't try the yellow, went back to Bosch....and remember me that "red" was rather expensive.

I won't buy Optima anymore, since the manufacturing has gone offshore their reliability has sucked. The last one I took back (Summit Racing)the guy said it was the third one that day and Optima have stopped the full replacement warranty, only a pro-rated, so if your battery goes south after 2 years you get 6 months on the new one.

The CTEK is an intelligent charger and won't overcharge so no excuse not to keep it hooked up all the time the car is parked. I have the short permanent attachment to the battery and just hook it in when I park back in the garage.

Julian