Not to change this thread, but the USA being the best country in the world, why are we importing more than we export ???

Cheap 50 cent per hour labor, which means low quality. And if you research a little, most big USA company's are buying MACHINES this year, rather than HIERING PEOPLE,... to help our bad economy !

So, our USA business company's sell "We The people" out,... to other countries to make their products, then import them back,... to the USA !

There's just something wrong with that. :JEKYLHYDE

Very sad.

With EPA regulations, taxes, tree huggers, save the owls, the whales, blah blah I am surprised we still produce milk from cows.

They don't have all the blame. We The People share a lot of that blame. How many cars (in general) have you seen with Pro-Form parts? They are cheap Chinese copies of American developed parts. Why do people buy them? They know the quality is low. And they know it costs Americans jobs. Poeple buy them to save a buck. You know pwople will choose one part over another simply because it's $10 cheaper; we've seen them do it.

Look in your neighborhood - or maybe your own driveway. How many made in America cars do you see?

Wal-Mart has been a booming business by selling cheap cr ap from China and Bangledesh. Why? Simple - because people will buy it.

American companies are outsourcing and mecanism the work force because that's what Americans want. They're in the business of supplying a need/want/desire. And they're doing a fine job of it.

Personally, I'll spend extra money to get an American made product.

All of this stems from the new philosophy that permiates everything today; corporate America, individuals, families, businessmen, young people and middle aged people.

And that is: "Whatever Is Good For Me Personally Is The Right Thing To Do"


.

If we would have tariffed that stuff coming over here so they were priced at a competitive level with American products then we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.
When manufacturers can't compete then they seek the obvious which is move to cheap labor because they can get into the country without a high tariff.

Hersh:)

We have not seen the worst yet. If Cap and Trade goes through then we can shut down almost all of our manufacturing.

it's not too late to adapt this tactic. The big corporations will all squeal of course, but can "the people" stand up to the corporate ad blitz ?

Z.

We have large corporations building plants over here for all kinds of products. Mostly cars like BMW, Mercedes, Kia, Honda and lots of others. If the American companies would adapt their business plans similar to these then I know millions of people will be back to work and keeping our money in the USA. Unfortunately many of the unions won't budge on pay scale reductions so companies seek alternatives to stay alive.
During WWII Ford motor Co. went from building cars to building tanks and bombers in less than three months. This would not be possible today even with all of our technological advances.

Hersh:)

I hate to say what brand and type of battery (Odyssey Drycell :eek::eek:Sealed PC625)I have in the lower noise of my Redfire toy. Levy put two motorcycle batteries next to each other (long and narrow 6.7" X 3.90 X 6.89 & Weight 13.2 lbs each) in a perfect location.
Hard to even see :cool::rolleyes:them and they work great.
Changed them out last year just to be safe but could have left them in there but notice the Stereo :Dwas pulling down the juice faster then in the past.

I knew it would be the unions fault somehow.

Z.

Z, I shouldn't have broad stoke painted the unions. There are many unions that still have the core of what a union is. I think unions that are in manufacturing have lost thousands of jobs due to innovations with robots. The army of robots grow everyday and it means someone will be out of work. That's a hard thing for a union to fight. Progress takes it's toll but provides more tech jobs because somebody has to fix them things when they go haywire.:3DSMILE:
Now, about them batteries, I am going to try an Odyssey next time if they are USA made. I like the coil type batteries.

Hersh:)

Can we get back on subject? How did "tree huggers" cause this battery issue?

Bob

(....... First of all, thanks to all for putting up with this want-a-be Cobra owner. I hope to change that status this decade, & have more relevant posts to contribute....)


I have to add that you do have a point, that there needs to be some give & take & creativity on the unions part. Which isn't there in some cases. I just get my "hackles" up with generalization union bashing. I know the unions have abused power in numerous cases, but I also see the flip side: The GI Bill, and the unions, together, were responsible for creating a strong middle class in this country. We need to recognize that, & see what can be done to re-create this for our times.

The activities of companies like Wal-Mart, who have been militantly campaigning against unions in their US stores comes to mind. The result is not more than a small percentage of their employees can make a decent living, and forget about benefits that have any substance.

There are Wal-Marts all over the world, in China, in Europe, etc. that have strong unions in place. Those Wal-Marts are still making a healthy profit. And the workers are treated decently. Why can't we get the same respect here in the best country in the world ?

But, as you say, back to batteries. I shopped around after my 8 year old Optima died. Think I'm going to get the Autolite reproduction like this:

http://www.virginiaclassicmustang.co...1603C1065.aspx

Z.

Great Battery. I bet that makes the original car guys happy.

Hersh:)

odysseybatteries.com

You would have to call about manufacturing info, but they are sold out of So.Cal...

Hello, I noticed your conversation about our batteries and wanted to offer some assistance. Thank you FUNFER2 for posting the link to the Hot Rod article and Xavier for posting the link to the other thread. For everyone’s convenience, I will post a link to our YouTube video, which explains how to recharge a deeply-discharged battery- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIoaL3DWWEg

Many chargers will not charge any battery that has been discharged below 10.5 volts. This is not unique to Optima, in fact, some other manufacturers have decided to void the warranty of their batteries, if they have been discharged below 10 volts. We would rather encourage folks to maintain their batteries properly and watch our video on parallel charging, but you can view our warranty information here if you’d like- http://optimabatteries.com/optima_products/warranty/

Since someone mentioned the “g” word, I should clarify that Optima batteries are not gel batteries, they are lead-acid, AGM batteries. “Gel” or “Gel/AGM” charger settings will not fully-charge and Optima and could damage it over time. Even though our batteries have a “sealed” design, all lead-acid batteries can vent gas. Under normal operating conditions, an AGM battery will not vent gas. Since alternators or chargers can fail, the safest and correct mounting method for trunks and passenger compartments is to make sure that any possible gas venting will escape to the outside of the vehicle. All vehicles with original equipment battery locations in trunks or passenger compartments will have a vent provision that should be used.

Our group 27, 51, 78, 34C, and 31 batteries all have ports for connecting a vent hose. Although people do it anyway, we would never recommend installing an unvented battery in any enclosed space, because there’s a legitimate, albeit unlikely, safety risk involved.

For example, IF there is a voltage regulator failure, and IF the battery is severely overcharged, and IF this goes unnoticed, and IF the battery vents because the internal pressure exceeds the release pressure of the vents, the gasses are both flammable and toxic. This may sound like a lot of “ifs,” but attorneys and engineers get paid to plan for every worst-case scenario.

I know many of you have watched this video before, but I do like to point out the battery tenders in use on the vehicles in this collection- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMQMgwouKlU Even someone who can afford to buy new batteries every weekend would rather keep them properly-maintained and that is really the key to long battery life, regardless of brand. Excaliber is absolutely correct about sulphation diminishing battery capacity and lifespan and this occurs when batteries are allowed to discharge below 12.4 volts and sit that way for extended periods of time. That makes a quality battery tender or maintainer an excellent investment for any vehicle that is not driven daily.

Most alternators are designed to maintain batteries, not recharge deeply-discharged batteries. If your battery needs to be charged, it’s better to do it with a battery charger. Asking an alternator to recharge a deeply-discharged battery can lead to a series of dead batteries and jump-starts, until either the battery or alternator fails. If anyone has any questions about our batteries, I’ll do my best to answer them.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

I have had good luck with them. Though my current one will not start the car if I let it sit a couple weeks, but then again it wasn't purchased in this century. I did use a solar powered tender on it while we lived in California. Here I would need an AC powered one.

Jim,
Nice to have you here fielding questions in an up-front manner. I posted a question in the previous Optima Failures thread, post #10, seen here:
http://clubcobra.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=106562
Can you confirm if there is a quality difference between the older US made part and the current Mexican made part? Or are current failures more a function of consumer misunderstanding of correct battery maintenance?

Hi Chas,

I apologize for the slow response. I was in Bowling Green all weekend for an event and I’m just getting caught back up with my work now. I can confirm a quality difference with our newer batteries- they are better and many of the “bad” batteries returned to us now are just deeply-discharged and work fine, when properly recharged. The quality of the batteries produced in Colorado was excellent. Our new facility is state-of-the art, with increased automation and newer equipment and improved processes to further improve quality and reduce variability. These improvements have further increased quality, consistency and the reliability of our batteries. You can view a video of our production facility here- http://www.optimabatteries.com/contact_us/mexico_video/

If anyone has any other questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries