I'm ready for a new battery for winter. I see that Pep Boys ON LINE ONLY have a 25% off on any item til the end of Nov. I've gathered over the yrs. not to use their shop for repairs & thats fine since I would be installing the battery myself. Does anyone have past experience with their batteries? Especially the Max 48. Or does anyone know who makes their batteries such as Exide--Johnson--etc.? If it's other than Exide it seems like a good price. The 48 series for our Xfire's is $146.00 less 25% or $110.00. Quite a savings since the price of batteries has taken off dramatically in the last couple yrs. Thks

 

I was at walmart today and the H6 was $120, have no Idea who builds it. I just recently purchased an Exide from menards for $75. We will see how it compares to the OE Varta which was still good when I removed it last month. Worried about driving around with a ten year old battery. I think the group 48 is being phased out and the new designation is H6.

 

Any battery I buy any more is going to be an AGM, been using since 2003 and yet to have one fail. Agree batteries have jumped about 40% in the last year.


ps what is winter ?

 

Agree 110% on the AGM (gel). I had slight leakage from the oem batteries that caused a little corrosion to the battery tray and on the sheet metal, so I switched to an Autozone AGM and it seems to work fine. Both oem batteries were still fine (I store on a float charger for the winter), and I hope to get better than the 36 month rating out of these. Time will tell.


There are only a few companies that actually manufacture batteries, regardless of the label. They are a commodity these days.

 

A little follow-up on the Pep Boys battery. Our series H-6 is a BOSCH mfg. When I went a little further to find opinions of past users & more of a technical description it shows that it is not only shown as BOSCH but under Wikipedia it is known as BOSCH-EXIDE. This takes me out of the running as a possible purchase. Usually if the price is too good to be true etc. etc. My Wal-Mart Max 48 is 5 yrs. old & still shows a strong spec. gravity reading equally across each cell. Should be able get some more use out of old reliable.

 

I'ts funny about batteries. I've had the cheapest Grand Auto battery last forever and the most expensive Delco/Interstate etc fail before warranty. I have also had the cheap batteries fail early and the expensive batteries last forever. There seems no rhyme nor reason to it. We will see how the $75 Exide does. AGM is probably the way of the future as noted above, or if you have really deep pockets...Braille.

 

AGM battery info, AND a ton of other good info.... Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) Battery Information - Battery University

 

More good battery info... Battery Basics: A Layman's Guide to Batte | BatteryStuff Articles

 

I would highly recommend the AutoCraft Gold Battery, Group Size 48, 730 CCA from Advance Auto Parts.
This battery is made by Johnson Controls, who also make the OEM White Varta.

Buy AutoCraft Gold Battery, Group Size 48, 730 CCA 48H6 at Advance Auto Parts

These are Engineered with PowerFrame positive grid technology.

Discover the PowerFrameŽ grid technology :: PowerFrameŽ TRUE STRENGTH

AdvanceAuto also has the AutoCraft Gold AGM made by Johnson Control.
Notice that the group size for AGM is called H6, which is same as Group Size 48.

AutoCraft Platinum AGM Battery, Group Size H6, 760 CCA H6-AGM: Get the best at Advance Auto Parts

AGM battery technology | Johnson Controls Inc.

UPDATE on 11/9/2014: Use code M42 for 15% off purchase, plus get $25 credit toward next online purchase of $50+. Good til Nov.15
Must be purchased online but can be picked up @ local Advanced Auto -or- delivered. And they will install it @ the store for FREE!

 

I worked for both Exide for 13 years in sales of industrial batteries and GNB for over 8 years which was the first to make AGM batteris for forklift batteries now Exide and GNB is part of Exide, I have been retired for a little over 16 years, AGM is the way to go.