Low end Walmart battery decent?

I've been buying Walmart batteries for years, but always the mid-level or upper level battery. My truck is fine, but I might purchase a battery for my sister's old Saturn (for me to drive), and I'm looking at the el-chepo low-end Walmart battery. CCA is still above OEM according to their catalog. Will it be fine for commuter use, or am I asking for trouble?

It's for a Saturn, but I'm posting it here, since a battery line isn't vehicle specific.

454cid said:

I've been buying Walmart batteries for years, but always the mid-level or upper level battery. My truck is fine, but I might purchase a battery for my sister's old Saturn (for me to drive), and I'm looking at the el-chepo low-end Walmart battery. CCA is still above OEM according to their catalog. Will it be fine for commuter use, or am I asking for trouble?

It's for a Saturn, but I'm posting it here, since a battery line isn't vehicle specific.

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I bought two of these and put them in my plow truck. The truck sat for 8 months once and cranked right over. I weighed them compared to their mid-level battery and they weigh the same. I'm guessing they just use a different decal and not giving a good of warranty. Both were made by Johnson controlls.

BIG_KID said:

I bought two of these and put them in my plow truck. The truck sat for 8 months once and cranked right over. I weighed them compared to their mid-level battery and they weigh the same. I'm guessing they just use a different decal and not giving a good of warranty. Both were made by Johnson controlls.

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That's good. I've got the old battery on the charger, but it doesn't seem to be doing much. It probably froze this winter, as the car wasn't being driven. During that polar vortex both of their vehicles that were being driven wouldn't start! I had to jump start both, and the Traverse wouldn't start the second time. It needed a new battery.

Here, if I don't buy top of the line they won't last 3 years in the heat. I even throw a trickle charge in them every so often.

I bought the cheapest side post battery at Wal-Mart last January.to go in my 04 Sierra with a 4.8 and have now moved it to my 94 with 5.7 and it's still going strong.
I usually don't buy cheap or small battery . I go for a premium battery at 1000 cranking amps.

I've run quite a few valuepower (now everstart value), they're great batteries for the price and wal-mart is very good about warranty issues. I've had better luck with $50 walmart batteries than with MTP series interstate batteries.

Mine lasted 5 years and was venting fumes out around the top posts heavily the last year or 2 of its its life.

Supercharged111 said:

Mine lasted 5 years and was venting fumes out around the top posts heavily the last year or 2 of its its life.

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How could you tell?

454cid said:

How could you tell?

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Excessive corrosion on the terminals would be my guess.

Consumer reports reviews car batteries regularly. last time i checked, walmart purchased their house label from the same company that makes interstate batteries (and thats what the current walmart msds references too). these were the top rated batteries at the time and I put them in a couple of my cars. the one in my burb lasted a little over 5 years when I replaced it, and that was mostly because i was sick of the stripped and corroded side post terminals mimicking a dead battery.

One thing I’d recommend is consider getting a Group 34/78 battery with top and side posts so you can use the terminal adapters if the side posts crap out on you.


interstate’s wiki says their batteries are currently made by exide, johnson controls...and others