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I had an Optima go bad in less than a year. I returned it to Advance Auto. They refunded my money and said they could no longer get them. On line I discovered several said Optima has ceased producing red top 6 volts. Is that true? I see several sources still offering them but fear they might be old stock. Advance said the only one they had was made in 2017.

Their website indicates that they still make the 6v red top.


https://www.optimabatteries.com/products/redtop/

Amazon says they can have one at my house day after tomorrow.


$249 and change.


Maybe the issue is Advance Auto.

Good Morning...I purchased one yesterday in Fountain Hills,Arizona at O'Reiley's Auto Parts. $249 plus tax and it was in stock. I replaced one in our 1949 Deluxe that was installed in 2012. It seems to me that all battery companies produce a dud now and again! Ernie in Arizona

I actually went to one of the plants where they make the lead plates for batteries, to fix some of their equipment once. It's owned by the company that makes Optima batteries so probably they were making Optima lead there too.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/JhSQcbWuCivwVVAQ6

And I just bought one from Amazon for the same price as the national chain item Ernie talked about. I’ve concluded that if there ever was a shortage it’s over now.

Most of the Optima batteries I’ve bought in the last 10 years or so have been made/assembled in Mexico. Because of 6 infant failures (case cracking in < 1.5 years), same car, same battery group, I had the opportunity to talk with the Johnson Controls engineers in Milwaukee. In one case a replacement battery was immediately returned because of an improper final machining operation. Milwaukee seemed to be quite exasperated with their plant in Mexico. In that case I concluded the batteries did not do well because of the thermal environment . . . most every day the car was parked hot with the battery side of the car facing west.

My question is whether there’s a cover for an Optima 6V to mimic the look of the battery found in the 22nd & 23rd series cars? If that answer is ‘No’ then can 3D printed parts be successfully ‘glued together’, and retain sufficient strength to survive the application?

dp