Benzy_550

Greetings All,

I am in the market for a new battery. My local Benz dealer recommends their Fleece model, heave duty. Cost is $285.

I was hoping to get some other suggestions. I don't mind spending the $285. I want to try and ensure I get the best value possible.

Thanks,

Ray

lightfytr

I know when I had my BMW 530 the dealer said I had to put a bmw battery and have it "electronically registered". After researching I found I could use the appropriate battery from walmart which came with a great warranty and no registering was needed. If I have a battery problem, i will start there.

mleskovar

Never heard of "Fleece" but that doesn't mean it's not a good battery. My only advice is if you buy a battery from the dealer have the road service technician install it.....for free as opposed to paying the dealer $190 (or whatever) to do it. I'm pretty sure they still do that for free from road service. Does anyone know if that policy changed?

KEY08

Everyone keeps bringing up this road service battery replacement option, yet I have not seen one person actually post that they did this recently. I'm not talking 5 years ago. I know the policy of road side assistance is now based on dealer service intervals. If you have not been to a dealer in 18 months I believe the assistance is not available to you.

El Cid

Roadside Assistance replaced my battery last year for a cost of almost $300. It was an MB battery, but I didn't actually see the label.
It would have been free if within the 4 year warranty period-missed by one week.
The new "MB" battery carries a TWO YEAR ONLY warranty. I confirmed this with dealer and MBUSA. After that, zero if it dies.
One concern I have is previous posts have noted that battery must be registered or something at time of installation or car's recharging system will not work properly.
What is the story on that? In the past, I have gotten batteries for other makes from Advance Auto Parts with no problem. Kid takes old one out and drops new one in.

mleskovar

I haven't heard anything "official" about MB batteries needing registering....like my wife's BMW. But I have noticed that both her car and my car exhibit the same battery charging characteristic: The battery is maintained at state of charge between 25 and 50%. Supposedly reducing a battery charge state to minimal increases gas mileage because less power is required. There's questionable stories on the BMW forum about catastrophic electrical problems caused by not registering a battery but if you put in the same type (flooded, AGM, Gel) with the same ah it should be fine. But it begs the question of "what the heil is this new charging model?"

Critter

BMW cars need to be acquainted with a new battery, the car engineers really thought outside of the box on this topic. The cars computer or ECM needs to be readdressed to the new battery and to charge it accordingly, crazy set up and only dealer can do this. Hence the wild bill for this service.
Driving a BMW for short runs to the store on a constant basis will kill the battery as it will not charge because the car says no, we will burn more energy now, lets wait ( so to speak) then the battery goes flat and will not start the car. BMW the over engineered German engineered sedan, Bling bling bling
Our Benzs on the other hand only need certain resets like windows, radio etc.

lightfytr

Critter, there was a lot of mixed feelings on this topic in the BMW forums. I never had BMW register my battery, got it at walmart and worked perfect. I wasnt aware of any member who had a problem either that was solved by registering the battery. Seemed like a ploy to get money from most forum members...

mleskovar

The BMW battery "registration" has you identify the type....flooded cell, agm, or gel...battery that's installed because they charge each battery type differently. I call on this because it's never been a problem in the past so why should it be different now? This is obviously a WAY over engineered charging model that may save miniscule mpg but can't be better for the battery. I don't know of any battery type that is more efficient when charged to the minimum level.

MBSebas87

so back to the OP question, any other options or suggestions?

ezshift5

.......could reference to fleece be referring to paying almost $300 for a repl battery?


ez

lightfytr

Yes, Walmart, 5 year warranty...

belarus27

i was recently checking out prices at some indy shops in Sacramento CA and interstate was about 250 and i need to call dealer but im sure its gonna be at least 300-350.

rediesel

Newer BMW have a computer module in the battery that should be paired with the car/computers. I had an 08 335 convertible we didn't drive often/far and it ate a battery in under 3 years from new. Dealer said it was because we didn't drive the car enough and that we would have to pay for it. I told them off - basically I don't drive this car so there are 100 things dealer/BMW won't have to warranty; now go replace my bat under warranty/goodwill. What year was your 530 lightfytr?

blackbullit

I had MB roadside assistance replace my E550 battery about 3 months ago. Cost about 300 and he checked sunroof and radio, neither of which had to be reset. Only beef I have with MB battery is this is my second since car was purchased in December 2009. Now at 80k. Not much longevity.

mleskovar

Mine was replaced at 3 years under warranty. I wasn't having a problem but mentioned to the dealer during a service visit (wood) that it always maintained a low charge level no matter how much I drove it. I think the new "smart charging" being used by German cars isn't so smart. I trickle charge to top off the battery now about every two weeks.

lightfytr

I had a 2007. It was my daily driver. I was very happy with putting the walmart battery in it. Saved money and did what it was supposed to!

thefisch

disconnected my battery to do some charging and was pleasantly surprised when I reconnected it that nothing needed to be reset. I had left the windows all the way up so maybe that helped. Auto up-down worked without a hitch. All the settings, memory, etc. were maintained. The only thing I noticed was the trip screens for 'since start' and 'since reset' had been reset on their own. The trip meter (above the odometer) had not been reset.

Other than the small spark when the negative was connected last, it was an easy process. Better than having to enter some lock code. I could see it being very easy to change the battery yourself if you needed/wanted to.

KEY08

I finally changed out my Battery to a Duralast Platinum H8-AGM this week. My current battery had met a slow death. $175 at Autozone.
This is a 900 CCA Battery with a 160 reserve and is a monster.
There is no magic to swapping in this battery other than it weighs a ton and swinging into place is a back breaker. Took 15 minutes.
My clock needed to be reset and that was the extent of it. No lost information, presets, or anything else. An easy job for anyone and no need to pay a higher price for a dealer to install. It has a 3 year full replacement warranty, which is good for me and better than the 2 year MB warranty.

mleskovar

Wow, monster specs is right. Curious what level the charging system keeps it at. Should start out at about 12.62V new and stay there as long as it's driven decently. If you have the time and a DVM could you check it like weekly and report? Just pop the hood, wait 5 minutes, and measure between ground and the + charging post under the red plastic cover. My alternator puts out 14.5V but the battery slowly loses charge level and it hovers between 25 - 50%. No cold weather starting here.

thenew3

Had the battery in the 2011 C300 die two weeks ago while in a shopping mall. Called the MB 800 #, they sent the local MB dealer out in a customized ML350 (rear section modified to hold tools/parts etc).
They replaced the battery on the spot and was going to charge $325 until we reminded them the car is less than 4 years old and should be under warranty. They made a call and said that's right so they waived the charge.

Car was 3 year and 9 months old, but only has 24k miles on it as it doesn't get driven very much and mostly only on short trips.

Cintoman

Was just looking at this battery at Autozone, as well as Advanced Auto Parts' AutoCraft Platinum AGM Battery. Originally wasn't sure whether I should go with AGM or lead-acid, and if I pick AGM, which of the two above. But I found a coupon code for $50.00 of $125.00 at Advanced. So even though the Advanced one is $195.99, knock $50.00 off that price, and I think it's a real good deal.

Cintoman

KEY08

Yeah, that is a great deal. I believe it is the exact same battery as the Duralast and made by Johnson Controls.

mleskovar

AGM is lead acid. The difference is flooded cell vs. absorbent glass mat.

champaign777

All batteries are made in China now so y better get one with a good name on it
i use Interstate batteries on all my Bimmers/Benz and Infiniti, same price but better quality
No regret