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Whats the concensus on the Optima Red Top battery

Is the Optima Red Top a good choice for my 408W?

  • Great choice !! Go for it !!

    Votes: 5 100.0%

  • Keep looking, there are better choices.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    5
  • Poll closed .
Mach1Mark

Mach1Mark

Ramrod extraordinaire
Donator
Im making a buyin decision for my coupe and from what Ive been able to determine this is probably the best choice for high compression V-8 applications. Lots of cold cranking power (1000 CCA !!). A little on the pricey side but apparently worth it. Ive never bought/used one hence my
 
Ok . . . I forgot to consider Motorcraft batteries. Id rather have a traditional looking cell under my hood than the funny looking Optima even though it seems to be a workable option. Suggestions?
 
I've had my yellow top for 14 years (its on a trickle charger).

Edit the yellow top just died and I replaced it with a smaller (correct size) red top. Long live the red top!!
 
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No question. Go Red Top and never look back. Had the one in my car for a few years now. Sat on the shelf a LONG time. Battery went out in my daily driver truck so dropped it in and fired right up. Used it there for about a year then brought it back in to go back on the shelf and eventually it found its way to its intended home where it fired the new engine up no problem. Nothing better.
 
The Red Top in my Mustang has been there for at least 10 years, no problems. I recently ordered one from Amazon for my Mazda. It was very well packaged and works great. Don't throw away the "cover", that's a spacer to put under the battery if you need to raise it.
 
NTS: battery tray dims: 10 1/2"x7"
Motorcraft Tested Tough Max 36R
 
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I've had three red tops so far. One was scrapped. It died from being in a car where the glovebox light was stuck on. It went dead and I was never able to revive it. Tired everything. I was severely pissed. Number two did the same thing but one of the Optima revival tricks (parallel charging) actually worked. Eventually. It lived. Then a year later while receiving its regular trickle charge it decide to drool acid out of the vents. I pulled it when I saw it and rinsed it off. That was a year ago and it hasn't done it again or screwed up in any other way. I regard it with great suspicion though. If it drooled acid like that in the trunk of my '67 I would NOT be pleased. I still use it. Red top #3 has yet to have an issue. It's about six years old, the others older.
I (and Consumer Reports) like Interstate Megatron Plus batteries a lot. I would put the Motorcraft 1000 amp batteries right on par with them and worth their premium price tags. (To me) I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't come from the same factory. I gave up trying to keep track of who made what batteries years ago.
 
I've got a red top in my '66 and one in a '48 F-1 and one in a Subaru WRX.
The 1st red top I put in the Mustang went about 7-8 years and I was getting
ready for an open track in 2005 and replaced it...... but there was no indication
that I needed to. The replacement lasted about 5 years (unused), just sitting
in the car inside my mother-in-laws garage after that open track. In 2010 I
went to get the car and the battery was totally dead and I couldn't bring it
back to life. (I don't think I tried the parallel charging trick) The 2010 replacement
red top has been in there now for 7 years and all is well.
The red top in the WRX has been in there now for 8-9 years.
 
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