ws6turbo

Ok so I'm doing the engine bay in my car with coil covers and basically just clean in up some things for appearance.

I just swapped all my gay red and blue fuel line fittings with black ones from aeromotive, looks so much cleaner already.

Here's my question guys...

Is the optima red top good for my car, ?

I have a new yellow top and now I need to turn it red or black for looks(cover and paint can be over 100)

...or should I exchange my yellow top for a red top and get $40 in return(the red matches)

If the red top will be good enough I'll gladly make $40 and exchange for a red top or should I pay out of pocket $100 and have a cover painted for my yellow top?

That's a extra 140$ which would pay for my coil covers. ..

So is the red top good or bad? I only have experience with red tops from my last motor with a aftermarket alt. (And the red top would last a couple weeks) after selling the alt to a friend he had the same problem and fixes the alt in 20 minutes. .. so it's fair to say my experience with red tips is minimal at best...

1 FMF

iTrader: (1)

red top is fine, it's a regular starting battery. i have one in my car since 2008.
the yellow top is a deep cycle, which is also fine other than being more expensive for something you most likely don't need.
so if you can then exchange your yellow top for a red top and save money and get the color scheme you want.

i find it hard to believe it costs a $100 to have a plastic battery cover painted, why not get a $10 can of dupicolor for plastic parts and prep/paint yourself?

1 FMF

iTrader: (1)

unless you drive the car often, or if your car sits a lot then no matter what battery you get it will go dead. you need to invest $50 into a good battery charger/maintainer and keep that on the battery when the car is parked.

ws6turbo

Thanks for the input. Its actually over 100 with the cover included depending which cover u get...optima makes a printable one for 30 but it's cheap looking.

I just left Napa and they had to order me a red top will be in Wednesday (****** availability in the mountains sucks)

And the yellow top was $80 more so I'm getting back a new red top and $80 Wednesday

I do need a good charger that I can leave on it too since I drive it rarely. ..

HINSON Motorsports

I use the red top in my GTO and a yellow top in my trucks for accessories. Both are great batteries and last much longer than traditional shelf batteries. All of my Optima batteries are several years old with no issues. If your looking to swap so your battery fits the theme under your hood then go for it. I think either battery is a great battery for your setup and will do everything you need it to do.

ws6turbo

Great to hear, red top it is. . thanks

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

Take a look at the CTEK 7002 battery charger, you can find them for under $110 new online.

mebuildit

Optima's started turning to crap after they moved their plant to Mexico. I always bought the blue tops for my trailers and could easily get 8 years out of them. Once I switched to the Made in Mexico blue tops, 2 years and they were done. I talked to them at SEMA a year ago, and they said that they haven't had any problems like that. My question was, how long have you had them last from your Mexico facility? Oh every bit of 8-10 years with the new plant. So then I asked how long have they been building batteries down there. Oh 2 years now. Guess, he stepped into that one. From now on I buy Braille

ws6turbo

Well my yellow top performs great I just hate the color and I've had bad luck with red tops, but that was because I was running them dead, so I am going to give the red top another chance since I fixed my charging !

The 06 gto alt has NO lip on the pulley so when I'd hit high rpm the belt would fly off, obviously draining the battery very fast(which I guess you can't do to a red top like you can a yellow..but now my belt is good so I'll switch back to red top and I'm sure it will be good,

I got a pulley with lip, green gates fleet belt (won't stretch under load and is stronger than the blue gates racing belt), and a alternator adjustment rod from March performance to hold up on the front of the alt

I agree the quality has gone down, I had a buddy with a red top in his Audi TT. His battery was from 2005, his battery was dead after 8 months of not driving, he gave it to me to swap hos new one in assuming the old one was bad, I charged it up and it was 100% , at the time I had one so I gave this one to a buddy (he still uses it to this day in his bmw)10 year old red top still going... we will see how long the new ones holds up

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

I've heard that Braille make a excellent battery, but the downside with the Braille battery is that you likely can't just go down to your local auto parts store and get one like with a Optima battery.

ghardester

Had a Red Top in mine for 3 or 4 years, no issues.

t_raven

iTrader: (12)

There was a video a few years back where an Optima rep explained differences. Red was for normal auto applications, yellow for the big stereo guys, and blue for boats.

As far as quality I have heard it's gone down in recent years compared to the originals. I Had a red top for 8 years. The one that replaced it 5 years old now, I have another that's 3 or 4 years old, and a couple that were bought in the last year. There's bound to be some bad ones that don't last as long, but over all they are way better than standard lead acid batteries. I buy them from a seller on ebay for $150-$160 shipped

Nickmoore240sx

red top is what i would go with

ws6turbo

UPDATE,... put a new pulley with a lip on+ a march performance adjustment rod<to hold extra tension..., belt no longer flies off!

So I took my yellow top back and got $80 and a new red top! Been working great since I havnt drained this one dead yet.

Also now my (low power to pcm) CEL went away(I think without that adjustment rod my belt would slip when I romped the gas)...hasn't slipped one time with the adjustment rod!

McGinnis

Optima's are decent, but it's like the Amsoil of batteries, you are paying more for a name and lots of marketing. In 2008 they started making them in Mexico, when Johnson Controls purchased them. Yellow Optima's have thicker plates, and give you more RC, while slightly lower cranking amps. Regular Red Tops gives you good cranking but there RC is about the same as most regular batteries. The real advantage to AGM is that they are spill proof, and hold up in heat more, and last a little longer. The acid can't as easily evaporate or boil out either. A decent brand lead acid battery will give you near the same CCA. Only different internally is the acid is soaked up into a mesh with an AGM, instead of acid just sitting loose inside the plates. They are the same chemistry basically. Many people confuse AGM and GEL batteries. Gel batteries are mainly for high end deep cycles applications, and have a different discharge voltage, and their fully charge voltage is lower closer to 12.6v instead of a regular/AGM batteries 12.8v. The older Optima's would commonly last 8-10 years. The newer ones only seem too last 3 years, and there warranty is only 2 years with now proration anymore. I would either buy the best standard battery, or East Penn makes an AGM battery that has a 4 year warranty that can be purchased under different store "stickers" for $130-170 that is a decent battery. If your really worried about a battery dying put a battery tender on in when you park it in the garage. IMHO the best brand batteries are made by Odyssey, Braile and Northstar, but cost around $300, and don't always come in common sizes.