OEM Battery VS Aftermarket?

DIGItonium

Has anyone bought aftermarket batteries and replaced them? It's a stupid question since we've only had our cars since '09. Well, the OEM battery in my 370Z is probably one of the shortest lived batteries since I've owned a Z. It quit on me quick over the weekend and left me stranded. That's barely 3.5 years or so.

I don't know if I should get an aftermarket cheapie from AZ, O'Reilly's, etc. or step up to a gel battery. I read about Optimas, and the worse complaint I've seen is either the battery prematurely failing (due to old stock) or only lasting 3 years.

As for my audio system, I recently dropped the dual NINE.2 amps for a single tiny JL XD500. It was installed last week, but I have not had the chance to power it up before the battery died over the weekend.

I did a test to make sure there were no shorts, and the voltage measured 12.64 or so. Doesn't seem like a short.

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