At least when I sold batteries years ago, 90% of all brands were made by Johnson Control. Interstate was their premier white-label with 100% new components, the auto-zones, pep-boys, wal-marts, etc were made at the same plants but were made from recycled parts.

This was made all to painfully evident when one of Johnson Control's plants had a massive fire sometime in 2000-2004 and suddenly nobody in the north-east could get stock of any brand of batteries.

 

Dang, and I thought I was pushing my luck at 6-7yo . I'll go check now to see how old it actually is.

 

i dont know how you guys batteries to last that long. i trickle charge every couple months for good measure, but drive often enough not to even need to.

if youre a AAA member? the battery service they provide is awesome. they deliver to wherever the car has left you ( lol ) within about 15 mins and bring an h7 Interstate and I've never found a better price ( $160 sounds about right? ). if you have issues with it, the two year warranty can often get you a free replacement as it has for me on more than one occasion. plus i dont even have to do the R&R.

 

On my daily vehicles, they don't seem to last that long. On my bikes and turbo, I use a battery tender every time I'm not riding or driving and it easily doubles the lifespan.

I have AAA as a backup but prefer to prevent issues since I'm not always in a place with cell reception.

 

and 10 years is installed time... should check to see if production date is still on it.
Key is keeping batteries clean and don't trickle charge... winter storage = bi-weekly high-amperage charges

 

especially up angeles crest hwy, eh?

i'm just sayin, that as far as batteries are concerned, i'm 100% AAA. it is after all, only a battery, and all that we need is the correct CCA's on a replacement. ( H7 ).

i never "pre-emptively" change my battery! strange also, to read that a "trickle charge" is "ill advised".