How reliable Wal-mart battery compare to Sears auto?.

The $40 Wal-mart battery I have is warranted for 72 or 84 months, with
100% coverage during the first 24 months. Sears Diehard batteries are
warranted about the same, but the 100% coverage period sometimes lasts
as long as 36 months.

The same company makes Wal-mart and Sears batteries, Johnson Controls,
but quality varies, and the last time Consumer Reports tested car
batteries, one of Wal-mart's premium yellow batteries rated about
average, but Sears Diehards usually rank high.

> "larry moe 'n curly" wrote:
> The same company makes Wal-mart and Sears batteries, Johnson Controls,
> but quality varies, and the last time Consumer Reports tested car
> batteries, one of Wal-mart's premium yellow batteries rated about
> average, but Sears Diehards usually rank high.

I've often wondered why CR always favors Sears although the same
manufacturer that makes their brand makes their own. Sear's Kenmore washers
always used to beat out Whirlpool although they were the same model, just
different brand logo. I wonder if Sears has some input (financially or
otherwise) into CR? I know it ain't supposed to be, but.... I can't buy
the "Built to our design" sales pitch -- like Sear's has a bunch of
appliance engineers in the background doing a better job than the
manufacturer.

Dunno, but I've gone through quite a few Die-Hards before their warranty
expired. All were pro-rated and seemed like I was buying a new battery at
the way the pro-rate was calculated. More like a scheme just to get you
back in there.

Latest was some Pep Boys story. Salesman actually steered me from their
expensive brand as they has too many come back in that particular series
number. The one he did sell me wasn't the most expensive but it has held up
well, even though my car did get "tow-truck time" last Friday afternoon to
get a new starter put in (battery made it through the ordeal). Thank you
AAA!

B~

CR is very good at hiding their bias. A few years ago they did a big
article on vacuum cleaners. They took about thirty and tested them out.
Then did their ratings. There were three models they tested that were
made by the same company and were functionally identical except for the
brand and color of the plastic and the shape of the outer plastic
(interior parts were the same just a different outer shell that covered
it all) CR rated them all different and said that they worked different
as well.
They have also done this with many other items. I wouldn't trust CR on
anything.
As to the Built to our design, it does have some merit in certain items
BUT in the case of Kenmore/Whirlpool it wouldn't . The only difference
is the logo, they are built on the same line in the same plant.
Kind of like the folks who brag about how much better built their GMC
P/U is over the same Chevy model. Other than cosmetics they are the same
vehicle.

--
Steve W.

"B. Peg" > wrote in message
...
> > "larry moe 'n curly" wrote:
> > The same company makes Wal-mart and Sears batteries, Johnson
Controls,
> > but quality varies, and the last time Consumer Reports tested car
> > batteries, one of Wal-mart's premium yellow batteries rated about
> > average, but Sears Diehards usually rank high.
>
> I've often wondered why CR always favors Sears although the same
> manufacturer that makes their brand makes their own. Sear's Kenmore
washers
> always used to beat out Whirlpool although they were the same model,
just
> different brand logo. I wonder if Sears has some input (financially
or
> otherwise) into CR? I know it ain't supposed to be, but.... I can't
buy
> the "Built to our design" sales pitch -- like Sear's has a bunch of
> appliance engineers in the background doing a better job than the
> manufacturer.
>
> Dunno, but I've gone through quite a few Die-Hards before their
warranty
> expired. All were pro-rated and seemed like I was buying a new
battery at
> the way the pro-rate was calculated. More like a scheme just to get
you
> back in there.
>
> Latest was some Pep Boys story. Salesman actually steered me from
their
> expensive brand as they has too many come back in that particular
series
> number. The one he did sell me wasn't the most expensive but it has
held up
> well, even though my car did get "tow-truck time" last Friday
afternoon to
> get a new starter put in (battery made it through the ordeal). Thank
you
> AAA!
>
> B~
>
>
>



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On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 07:49:03 -0600, "HLS" > wrote:

>
> wrote in message
oups.com...
>> Wal-mart auto centre, charge $40, 2-year warranty
>> Sears, charge $60-70, 5-year warranty, but no time, got replaced from
>> wal-mart, how good is this?. Does anybody have any idea?.
>
>What does the guarantee really cover? Will Sears replace the battery at no
>charge for the entire 5 years period, .....or, do you have to pay a fee
>which increases greatly as the warranty period progresses?
>
>The subject of battery quality has been discussed a number of times on this
>group, and the general opinion is that battery quality, across the board, is
>not
>as high as it once was. There may be some exceptions, but as usual mostly
>anecdotal accounts rather than hard data.
>

wal mart are *******s to their employees, and they sell so much 'made
in China' stuff that the US is in fact paying for China's growth and
modernization. oh, that and they are *******s. if anyone cares.

B. Peg wrote:
> > "larry moe 'n curly" wrote:

> > The same company makes Wal-mart and Sears batteries, Johnson
> > Controls, but quality varies, and the last time Consumer Reports
> > tested car batteries, one of Wal-mart's premium yellow batteries
> > rated about average, but Sears Diehards usually rank high.
>
> I've often wondered why CR always favors Sears although the same
> manufacturer that makes their brand makes their own. Sear's
> Kenmore washers always used to beat out Whirlpool although they
> were the same model, just different brand logo. I wonder if
> Sears has some input (financially or otherwise) into CR?
> I know it ain't supposed to be, but.... I can't buy the
> "Built to our design" sales pitch -- like Sear's has a bunch
> of appliance engineers in the background doing a better job
> than the manufacturer.

The Sears models are often a bit different, and I remember Mom not
wanting a Whirlpool-made Kenmore washer because its tub was smaller
than a similar model sold under the Whirlpool brand. And a couple of
years ago, Sears claimed that one of their refrigerators consumed less
electricity and ran quieter than the Whirlpool equivalent. The
official government energy stickers bore this out in regards to the
former, but I went with the Roper (Whirlpool) brand anyway because it
was 1/3 cheaper.

In the case of car batteries, apparently manfacturers produce them with
different amounts of lead in the plates, depending on the model and
brand.

> Dunno, but I've gone through quite a few Die-Hards before their
> warranty expired. All were pro-rated and seemed like I was
> buying a new battery at the way the pro-rate was calculated.
> More like a scheme just to get you back in there.

Sears would tell me that my dead battery wasn't really dead and wasn't
covered by the warranty, even though it was about four years old and
one cell measured much lower specific gravity than the others, but they
didn't care and said that they had to go by their automatic tester.
Fortunately I found that the warranty improved greatly if I came back
about five minutes before closing time.

I miss those $30 Wal-mart batteries because I'd just replace them every
three years, but they cut way back on the number of sizes at that price
and are now trying to sell $40-50 batteries instead.

"larry moe 'n curly" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>
>
> Sears would tell me that my dead battery wasn't really dead and wasn't
> covered by the warranty, even though it was about four years old and
> one cell measured much lower specific gravity than the others, but they
> didn't care and said that they had to go by their automatic tester.

That happened to me once. The diehard developed an internal short that
would drain the battery overnight, even if you took one of the battery
cables
off the battery. But it would pass a load test. Sears refused to honor the
warranty on the battery claiming it was good, and blamed the vehicle
electrical
system even after I explained that the battery would go flat overnight, and
their own tester didn't show that the electrical system was overcharging the
battery or drawing too much current. I have never bought a DieHard from
them again and never will.

Ted

"Steve W." > wrote in message
...
> CR is very good at hiding their bias. A few years ago they did a big
> article on vacuum cleaners. They took about thirty and tested them out.
> Then did their ratings. There were three models they tested that were
> made by the same company and were functionally identical except for the
> brand and color of the plastic and the shape of the outer plastic
> (interior parts were the same just a different outer shell that covered
> it all) CR rated them all different and said that they worked different
> as well.
> They have also done this with many other items. I wouldn't trust CR on
> anything.
> As to the Built to our design, it does have some merit in certain items
> BUT in the case of Kenmore/Whirlpool it wouldn't . The only difference
> is the logo, they are built on the same line in the same plant.
> Kind of like the folks who brag about how much better built their GMC
> P/U is over the same Chevy model. Other than cosmetics they are the same
> vehicle.
>
> --
> Steve W.

A long time ago I worked in TV repair. We knew which TV sets were crappo
with respect to quality, durability, repairs. (And believe you me, there
were some of these sets that we didn't want to see coming. Fix one thing
and another would go bad. We couldn't win)
CR regularly rated some of this trash very highly.
And in later years, I have seen them repeat this 'cheerleading'.
I can't bring myself to trust anything they print.

I had a similar problem one time in that the battery would discharge over night.
I even unhooked from the car. Same problem! Turned out to be an invisible
electrolyte film formed on the outside of the battery. Caused a connection
between the two posts. I washed the battery off with water and baking soda and
the problem disappeared!
After that I glued several pennies between the posts to absorb the electrolyte
activity that is apparently taking place invisibly! They seem to be working at
which they're greenish in color. Corrosion is already taking place
--
Remove *flaps* to reply
"Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
...
>
> "larry moe 'n curly" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
> >
> >
> > Sears would tell me that my dead battery wasn't really dead and wasn't
> > covered by the warranty, even though it was about four years old and
> > one cell measured much lower specific gravity than the others, but they
> > didn't care and said that they had to go by their automatic tester.
>
> That happened to me once. The diehard developed an internal short that
> would drain the battery overnight, even if you took one of the battery
> cables
> off the battery. But it would pass a load test. Sears refused to honor the
> warranty on the battery claiming it was good, and blamed the vehicle
> electrical
> system even after I explained that the battery would go flat overnight, and
> their own tester didn't show that the electrical system was overcharging the
> battery or drawing too much current. I have never bought a DieHard from
> them again and never will.
>
> Ted
>
>

Every three years or so Sears puts its battery contract out to the
highest bidder. Just because it says "Dieshard" on the side one year,
doesnt mean that the next year that "Diehard" is made the same way or
by the same company. As far as I know, most every major brand does
this. Johnson Controls and GNB (and have both made Diehards at one time
or another) are two of the larger battery makers. Sure, Sears backs up
their product and has it made to their specifications, but the battery
itself, if you took all the stickers off of it, might be the exact same
battery at Walmart.

So, what do you do?
Shop at the store that you choose. Make sure you are getting the same
battery specs from each store. (ie both batteries are 750 CCA) and then
compare the warranty.

Most every car battery will, and should, last 3 to 5 years. If you have
a 5 year old battery in your car now, dont be surprised if it fails
soon.

I have the original battery in my 1994 Corolla..
never failed me once.. started in the coldest temperatures..
as low as -30 C.
Many times the car was not started for 7 to 10 days..
and it started on the first try.

That is quality of the highest order.

--
Longing to be closer to to the sun, the wind and the sea!
Spiritually at: Latitude 21 degrees 19' 9" North. _!_
Longtitude 157 degrees 56' 31" West. Aloha! ___o_(_)_o___
q