I need a new battery

Hey everyone,

The majority of car batteries are created by 3 manufacturers - Delphi, Exide and Johnson Controls Industries. Delphi makes some EverStart models sold in Walmart and ACDelco. Johnson Control Industries makes Duralast seen in Autozone stores, Diehard - sold in Sears, Kirkland - the Costco brand, Motorcraft - which Ford sells, some of the EverStarts, and Interstate. Exide makes Exide batteries, Champion, Napa and even a % of the EverStart batteries.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_makes_car_batteries_in_US#ixzz1z7rZMRRC I found the above statement and link online. I recently replaced the battery in my C4 with Interstate...I've used Interstate before and had good luck. I suspect many C4VR members have had good and bad luck from many of the brands listed above. It's interesting though IMO to find there are many brand names, but just three manufacturers.

There is also a performance upgrade if you go to an Optima. Gel filled, it much more vibration resistant and the yellow tops deep cycle much better so for cars that don't move a lot or for ones that do, it is a better choice .... unless of course you're chasing those points. I run a yellow top and have had better long term performance than traditional ones. I keep a Battery Tender on it and I've never had power issues.

great info on manufacturers. i have used different brands and the only thing i do is not buy the lowest grade. i found i have not had any issues if i went with middle grade or the higher grade.

Could someone explain the difference in color tops on the Optimas? I always thought the red tops were better than the yellow ones.

red top is the cheapest of the optima brand 900 cca yellow middle of the road 1200cca and blue top 1500 cca all three in my opinion the best battery's made. they can be salty if you can't find them on sale. have used them mysel for a long time and have had real good luck with them I have a redtop that is twelve years old now and it starts my car every morning.

Thanks martone_1 I wondered about the differences and was thinking about replacing my Everstart with an Optima....now I'm armed with the right info