24F Battery Recommendations

Speaking of AAP stock, look at their stock chart that share price has been flat for the past three years. Not exactly a growth stock. I would not be surprised at a shareholder rebellion after their dumping $200 million into an aged battery brand. Buying “Fram” brand name to put on quarts of motor oil also seems dumb, I hope they didn’t pay much for that branding. I own a particular stock I bought half of my shares two weeks ago, the other half one week ago, and my holdings are already up 25%.
 
Advance Auto Parts paid $200 million for the DieHard brand name and it will be interesting to see when, if ever, they can recoup that $200 million. They could hardly have picked a worse time to do it. People are not too keen on paying $170 for a car battery these days, with no discounts.
Must be why we can't use a discount code any more. I bought an Everstart for my Subzru and will probably use Walmart batteries in the future.
 
Thanks for the info guys. I am a Sam's Club member (not Costco) so the Duracell is an option. I can tell you the Everstart Maxx and the Duracell 24F are the exact same East Penn Battery down to the CCA. The Everstart was just rolled back to $89 with a 3 year warranty identical to the Duracell 3 year. Normally it's $102, and I could wait for the $82 sale, but it's only a $7 difference for the same thing.

It sounds like most of you like the East Penn ones so either of those options should work for me, and they are pretty cheap. It's hard for me to switch because I've had nothing but good experiences with the JCI batteries. But I'm not going to spend $170 for a JCI Die Hard just to stick to the brand. I was just wondering if $106 for the Toyota Truestart JCI is worth the extra $17 or not. But it sounds like JCI's aren't necessarily superior to East Penn.
 
No the Toyota battery is not worth $106. it will certainly not be fresh.

And the Everstart Maxx is not worth $89 unless you are quite certain it will fail in years 2 or 3.

Both the Maxx and the $48 value start will easily last 3+ years if properly cared for. With the Maxx you are paying for a warranty that you will not use unless you plan to completely neglect the battery (let your car sit for weeks without charging it, etc). The Value start has 1yr free replacement which is plenty long enough to catch mfg defects. After that there would have to be an >85% chance it fails in the next 2yrs for the $40 price premium of the Maxx to make sense. Walmart and the battery companies know the math, and that's why they want to sell you the Maxx --- that $40 is almost pure profit for them.

Now, if you're the type of person who can't be bothered with keeping a battery charged. or if that extra 2yrs warranty gives you a warm safe feeling, then spend the xtra $40 on the Maxx. but if you are looking to max out your value (no pun intended) then get the value start.

to be clear, the Maxx probably does have a couple pounds more lead in it, but that in no way justifies a $40 premium.

and don't even think about those $170 batteries from the other places that's just for suckers.
 
No the Toyota battery is not worth $106. it will certainly not be fresh.

And the Everstart Maxx is not worth $89 unless you are quite certain it will fail in years 2 or 3.

Both the Maxx and the $48 value start will easily last 3+ years if properly cared for. With the Maxx you are paying for a warranty that you will not use unless you plan to completely neglect the battery (let your car sit for weeks without charging it, etc). The Value start has 1yr free replacement which is plenty long enough to catch mfg defects. After that there would have to be an >85% chance it fails in the next 2yrs for the $40 price premium of the Maxx to make sense. Walmart and the battery companies know the math, and that's why they want to sell you the Maxx --- that $40 is almost pure profit for them.

Now, if you're the type of person who can't be bothered with keeping a battery charged. or if that extra 2yrs warranty gives you a warm safe feeling, then spend the xtra $40 on the Maxx. but if you are looking to max out your value (no pun intended) then get the value start.

to be clear, the Maxx probably does have a couple pounds more lead in it, but that in no way justifies a $40 premium.

and don't even think about those $170 batteries from the other places that's just for suckers.
CCA is different too. Value battery is 585 and the Maxx is 725. So there is definitely more guts to the more expensive battery.
 
CCA is different too. Value battery is 585 and the Maxx is 725. So there is definitely more guts to the more expensive battery.
don't get too hung up on the CCA numbers. its more marketing than anything. higher CCA doesn't mean the battery will last longer, in fact it could be the opposite if the CCAs come from of thinner plates. the OEM Toyota battery is 582cca. anything over ~400 is plenty to crank an engine. the 585cca Value start measures about 670cca in practice. still not worth $40 more for Maxx.
 
I'd just do the Walmart battery. All over the place, no membership fees, and you might be able to buy at any time of day (not sure on that one, the auto section might not be to handle returns at o dark thirty). I am up to 3 of the 24F's.
 
on the CCAs... which one is the better battery?
interstate.JPG
 
Batteries I see in stores all have plastic caps covering both of the terminals. They might take a dim view of somebody taking the caps off of multiple batteries and taking readings with a multimeter.
Aisle 3, acid cleanup. Aisle 3. :)

I think you still get a probe under the cap but really I think Bitoggers might be putting too much effort beating The Man. I ordered up an AC Delco at my small town auto parts store. The battery arrived the next day totally covered in dust, with no date on it. It still tested at 12.6 V. I can check any time and it’s 12.6 volts. Not too worried. Also, the first thing I do is put it on a smart charger. I got it to 13.03 but it settled out to 12.6 anyway.



E733C412-FC60-4890-9357-905772A1859B.jpegA0F1DB0E-F445-49C7-9988-1B8A152822B7.jpeg
 
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CCA is different too. Value battery is 585 and the Maxx is 725. So there is definitely more guts to the more expensive battery.


That 585 is just what that sticker says....

Does not make it accurate or true...

The group 24f Valuepower battery made by East Penn I had bought said that nonsense too.

However... That battery weighed 41 pounds and it had 115 min reserve capacity. Which made it the East Penn 624fmf battery which really had 650 cca... It was the Gold series mid tier East Penn group 24f battery with a Valuepower sticker slapped on it.

I weighed the battery when I got home and that proved that at that time the Valuepower battery made by East Penn was actually the higher tier battery. They just put the Wally world sticker on it with the lower cca. The lower tier 524fmf East Penn battery weighs 37 pounds...

I don't know if that has changed... But the Valuepower may still be the 624fmf battery.

Even if it is the 524fmf lower tier East Penn battery it would still be a good battery to get.
 
don't get too hung up on the CCA numbers. its more marketing than anything. higher CCA doesn't mean the battery will last longer, in fact it could be the opposite if the CCAs come from of thinner plates. the OEM Toyota battery is 582cca. anything over ~400 is plenty to crank an engine. the 585cca Value start measures about 670cca in practice. still not worth $40 more for Maxx.
Can you expand on this a little further? Would you not want to install a battery that meets OE CCA instead of a smaller one? Yesterday, a battery supplier tried to sell me a 470 CCA to replace an OEM 550 and I refused to go smaller. The next one up was a 750 CCA, so I took that one instead with an upcharge of $25.
 
Can you expand on this a little further? Would you not want to install a battery that meets OE CCA instead of a smaller one? Yesterday, a battery supplier tried to sell me a 470 CCA to replace an OEM 550 and I refused to go smaller. The next one up was a 750 CCA, so I took that one instead with an upcharge of $25.
The Everstart 24F from 2014 in my wife's minivan measures 415CCA and it still cranks hard, and that van is a power hog. the batt was rated at 700CCA when new but that was 7 years ago. I suppose the OEMs factor in a huge performance margin because whats the most important thing a car has to do?? it has to start. I'm reasonably confident most cars driving around have batteries that are 50% depleted, and yet they still start. use a smaller battery and keep it fully charged you are better off than most.

but your new 750CCA will give you great service. just take care of it. put it on a maintenance charger every now & then to top it off. I learned the hard way to not let a car sit for 2+ weeks without charging the battery.
 
Okay, I now understand your rationale behind a smaller battery being sufficient. Maybe that's why a co-worker used to load test ALL batteries at 200 CCA, same school of thought as you, assuming about 400 CCA should be enough.
 
I can confirm the OEM battery was 582 CCA and it still works at 6 years. Last time I had it tested it was still putting out 400 something. Which I why I like JCI batteries, which is what it is. I have always had them work up to 5 years plus, then changed them when they tested marginally. So a 585 CCA would be fine, in fact, the Toyota Truestart dealer replacement is only 575 CCA. I am not as worried about price as I am performance. I would prefer a battery that lasts 5 years that I don't need to worry about and start testing at 2 or 3. If the Valuepower will last the same as the Maxx then sure, why spend the extra money. But if there is a difference in longevity, I'll pay a few bucks to avoid the hassle.
 
I can confirm the OEM battery was 582 CCA and it still works at 6 years. Last time I had it tested it was still putting out 400 something. Which I why I like JCI batteries, which is what it is. I have always had them work up to 5 years plus, then changed them when they tested marginally. So a 585 CCA would be fine, in fact, the Toyota Truestart dealer replacement is only 575 CCA. I am not as worried about price as I am performance. I would prefer a battery that lasts 5 years that I don't need to worry about and start testing at 2 or 3. If the Valuepower will last the same as the Maxx then sure, why spend the extra money. But if there is a difference in longevity, I'll pay a few bucks to avoid the hassle.
Last Everstart Value I tested. Resistance was higher than a fresh Costco 24f. CCA was significantly lower.
 

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that is bizzare, korean battery. the one I just bought is definitely JCI/Clarios it clearly says so on the label. measures 670cca and appears to be the same as the Interstate MT-24F.

oddly the OEM Toyota appears to be the JCI Interstate M-24FHC same weight and case.

I'm 90% sure the Maxx 24F is the top level JCI 44lb battery.

I'd avoid the Korean made battery.
 
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