What battery should I use for my e30

[cory58]

Batteries are all over the map in terms of quality, from what I could glean with a bit of digging we get three primary 12V automotive battery manufacturers, and the large brands like Optima have changed ownership/manufacturing locales in the last 5 years.

East Penn
-possibly exclusively US manufactured
Deka
Duracell

Brookfield/Clarios - Acquired Johnson Controls battery lines
-multinational - primarily US/Mexico/India/Spain
Everstart
Interstate*** split in some way with Exide
Duralast
Continental
Varta
Optima

Exide/Battery Systems
-seemingly localized production, but still multinational
Interstate*** split in some way with Clarios
Bosch
UNK other brands - possibly OEM focused

I tried to dig in to who might make OEM batteries, but that quickly went nowhere.

The takeaway seems to be just buy whatever and keep the receipt.

Great info. I do know that any Duracell you get other than the the small batteries is just a rebrand, but did not know that East Penn makes Duracell-branded auto batteries. Thank you.

[jeffnhiscars]

I've become a fan of East Penn. If you go to their website it shows who they private label for and there's Napa, Oreillys house brand and a bunch of others.

[roguetoaster]

I've become a fan of East Penn. If you go to their website it shows who they private label for and there's Napa, Oreillys house brand and a bunch of others.

That does seem accurate based on my reading today, but we can safely say that they probably do not produce Advance or Auto Zone house brands. I have also been very happy with the one Deka I bought. Then again, all of my current vehicles are running Clarios products, and they are both over 3 years old, so they'd technically be Johnson Controls manufactured.

[Vincenze]

Some Duralast Gold batteries from AutoZone are made in Germany.

[nando]

I had a Napa branded battery that lasted OK - maybe 5 years. but it was only like $100, so not too bad. Maybe I'll try Deka next - you'd think for $300, you'd get at least a year out of a battery, lol. I don't mind paying more if I can get one that doesn't die in a couple years..

I can't even blame letting it sit this time, as I was driving the E30 regularly. It maybe didn't get driven for 2-3 days, which shouldn't be enough for the battery to go flat, much less as dead as it was (4-5v IIRC). At first I thought maybe I had a drain, but the battery drains itself even disconnected from the car, and I can still charge it to 12v. So I'm pretty sure it's just crap.

[digger]

i bought a 90AH Exide battery from BMW here for 220USD. hopefully i get 10years from this one to

[dnguyen1963]

I had a Napa branded battery that lasted OK - maybe 5 years. but it was only like $100, so not too bad. Maybe I'll try Deka next - you'd think for $300, you'd get at least a year out of a battery, lol. I don't mind paying more if I can get one that doesn't die in a couple years..

I can't even blame letting it sit this time, as I was driving the E30 regularly. It maybe didn't get driven for 2-3 days, which shouldn't be enough for the battery to go flat, much less as dead as it was (4-5v IIRC). At first I thought maybe I had a drain, but the battery drains itself even disconnected from the car, and I can still charge it to 12v. So I'm pretty sure it's just crap.

What the hell, Nando? All of my batteries last at least 6 years. And I did not pay more than $130 each.

[nando]

Does your car sit 90% of the time or do you drive it every day?

[roguetoaster]

Does your car sit 90% of the time or do you drive it every day?

Your question made me think how many hours a car with say 200,000 miles has been in operation. My guess would be just north of 5,000 hours of operation, and maybe a billion engine revolutions.

[dnguyen1963]

Does your car sit 90% of the time or do you drive it every day?

Daily year round except when I get more than 5" of snow. When I park for more than a week, I plug in a floating charger.

[nando]

Well there you go, I don't think that is a direct comparison.

[jeffnhiscars]

That does seem accurate based on my reading today, but we can safely say that they probably do not produce Advance or Auto Zone house brands. I have also been very happy with the one Deka I bought. Then again, all of my current vehicles are running Clarios products, and they are both over 3 years old, so they'd technically be Johnson Controls manufactured.

You're aware that Deka is an East Penn brand ?

[roguetoaster]

You're aware that Deka is an East Penn brand ?

If you look at post 45 you will see that I do know that. Wasn't saying that I had a Deka running in anything at present either, just said I bought one previously.

[reelizmpro]

Nando...warranty that Yellowtop! They are too expensive not to, especially after only 6 months! Also, that Deltran battery tender I used kills batteries. I too used to keep cars on a tender for months and the batteries would fail prematurely. I thought perhaps it was a defective battery until it kept happening. It killed a Yellowtop out of warranty! I think the tender isn't float charging (perhaps it wasnt designed for AGM) so I got a modern smart charger for AGM's. It has an LCD display that tells you what it's doing. To be safe, I don't leave it connected for more than a day just to make sure it doesn't overcharge the battery, then either charge or drive the car every week. This practice has been working for me. You can also put the tender on a timer if you aren't around to unplug it.

[nando]

I would but I lost the receipt, because I am an idiot. It specifically says the warranty is only good with the receipt..