Hi - need to replace my battery. What's the best brand? How much cranking power is needed?
Thanks

 

OEM is good

 

It all depends on what your looking for. If you mostly track your car and want to save weight then get something like this(cheap it ain't)
https://shoraipower.com/lfx36a3-bs12-p126
or if you drive the car as a D/D then do what most on here do, go to Costco or walmart and buy a wet cell battery. I'm on my second Costco battery but I've had our S for 10 years. Got six years out of the first one I bought.

I would not go under 500CCA for the battery.

Rod

 

You apparently have to buy the appropriate terminals before running the Shorai and a custom tie down or is that not absolutely necessary?

 

The tie down would be a easy fix. I've seen a standard battery post that screw into the top of the battery so you can use your existing battery cables. But if you're trying to save weight I would modify the battery cables to fit the battery.
Here is one that you put a stud in the battery and this goes on the stud with your stock cables.


Rod

 

As a Daily Driver, I simple use my trusty german brand VARTA from my local parts store or would highly recommend the japanese OEM brand YUASA. I think you could get YUASA worldwide, these batteries are top quality. Even better than my Varta, but harder to get here. I dont like to mailorder my batteries.

I am still doubtfull about these new generation of smaller batteries, i havent read ONE single good expirience with them in motorcycle forums, long term wise.
The only reputable brand fo these smaler batteries is HAWKER, the "Hawker Odyysey" line. These batteries are made to aircraft standards, as far as i know, and have a very good reputation among motorcyle riders.
But the ones installed in the BMW motorcycles of a neighbor and a friend of me also dont perform to well... not better than the standard Yuasa in my Kawasaki, but costs are double.
So, no thanks, until now, no smalller new generation batteries for me.

 

Motorsports batteries work well for a cheaper light weight solution if you dont mind dealing with less capacity. I had one in mine for a long while until it died on me. I then just got a decent OEM equivalent. Sure, not as light, but really doubt it mattered that much with the small weight difference overall and I did not want to worry about being able to start the car. The motorosports battery worked pretty well, but if you left anything on in the car it would drain past the point of cranking pretty quickly.

No need to go super expensive just to go a little lighter unless you are bulding a no f***s given racecar and are shaving weight everywhere.

And avoid LiOn like the plague. Definitely something you dont want unless you really are just making a racecar and dont mind dealing with the things that come with them, like not being able to just connect to another car and charge it off the charging system if it runs completely down. We almost watched a car burn down because of that at an event. Managed to get the already burning battery out of the car before it got too bad luckilly, since regular fire extinguishers are useless if one starts to burn

 

Thanks for this warning.

 

The best quote I've heard once... "Save weight everywhere else... except the battery."

Stay OEM equivalent if you want it to be reliable.

 

I always replace with Honda battery- they're not pricey and work just fine. I find they're cheaper than most all other batteries.
darcy