Automotive

Canadian Tire Car Battery Motomaster OE vs OEPLUS

  • Last Updated:
  • Dec 29th, 2023 4:59 pm
Newbie
Aug 9, 2019
9 posts
4 upvotes

Canadian Tire Car Battery Motomaster OE vs OEPLUS

Hello, I'm going to buy a new car battery from Canadian Tire. The options for the Motomaster brand are OE and OE PLUS. The OE PLUS costs a little bit more, which I don't mind paying, But according to the specs:

OE:
Cold Cranking Amps (@ -18°C): 850
Cranking Amps (@ 0°C): 1045

OE PLUS:
Cold Cranking Amps (@ -18°C): 750
Cranking Amps (@ 0°C): 925

Why does the more expensive OE PLUS battery have less cranking amps?

The description for OE PLUS seems to tout some extra quality features over the OE, plus a 4 year vs 3 year warranty, but a guy told me the cranking amps is the more important thing to consider.

So I'm not sure if I should be considering cranking amps over all else.

I thought maybe between the two it's not a big deal but 750 vs 850 seems to be a big difference and was surprised to see the more expensive battery have the lower number.

Which one should I go for - cheaper with higher cranking amps or more expensive with lower cranking amps? Do the extra features of the OE PLUS outweigh the lower cranking amp value?

Thanks.
9 replies
Sr. Member
Oct 25, 2020
564 posts
502 upvotes
OE plus has a longer warranty which is the main thing you pay for.

As far as choice go cheaper if you don't care.

I grabbed one of their AGM batteries this past fall. More expensive but in theory longer lasting.
Deal Expert
Jan 27, 2006
21844 posts
15620 upvotes
Vancouver, BC
CCA is a spec that many people go by but IMHO, it's way overrated as almost every 3rd party replacement battery has much higher numbers than what the OEM supplied with the car in the first place - ie a factory battery might have 390 CCA while a replacement battery will be rated at 640 CCA.

Do those extra CCA matter? Yes to a certain degree. As long as the battery stays above the CCA required by your car to start, the extra CCA is just extra. Your car won't start any faster with more CCA but it's good to have a few extra kicking around. The problem with CCA is that it drops as the battery's state of charge drops - the lower the battery's state of charge, the lower the CCA output is. To add insult to injury, the longer the battery's state of charge stays below FULL, the more degraded your CCA will become over time. To a certain extent, this is where those few extra might come into play... as you lose them as the battery is getting used, you have a few extra CCA to spare so not a big deal. However, you can counter that loss by just charging your battery every few months with an extra charger and than will slow the degradation of your battery over time - and keeping those CCA around for longer.

As for the warranty, read the fine print. Longer warranties don't necessarily mean better warranties.
Newbie
Aug 9, 2019
9 posts
4 upvotes
craftsman wrote: CCA is a spec that many people go by but IMHO, it's way overrated as almost every 3rd party replacement battery has much higher numbers than what the OEM supplied with the car in the first place - ie a factory battery might have 390 CCA while a replacement battery will be rated at 640 CCA.

Do those extra CCA matter? Yes to a certain degree. As long as the battery stays above the CCA required by your car to start, the extra CCA is just extra. Your car won't start any faster with more CCA but it's good to have a few extra kicking around. The problem with CCA is that it drops as the battery's state of charge drops - the lower the battery's state of charge, the lower the CCA output is. To add insult to injury, the longer the battery's state of charge stays below FULL, the more degraded your CCA will become over time. To a certain extent, this is where those few extra might come into play... as you lose them as the battery is getting used, you have a few extra CCA to spare so not a big deal. However, you can counter that loss by just charging your battery every few months with an extra charger and than will slow the degradation of your battery over time - and keeping those CCA around for longer.

As for the warranty, read the fine print. Longer warranties don't necessarily mean better warranties.
Thank you very much - I think I'll go for the regular OE battery with the higher CCA then. Though you'd think the more premium OE PLUS battery would have a higher CCA rating than the regular OE battery.
Deal Expert
Jan 27, 2006
21844 posts
15620 upvotes
Vancouver, BC
BlondieLauren98 wrote: Thank you very much - I think I'll go for the regular OE battery with the higher CCA then. Though you'd think the more premium OE PLUS battery would have a higher CCA rating than the regular OE battery.
CCA is not a measure of quality but just of output at a given time.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Feb 9, 2013
2087 posts
2433 upvotes
Ottawa
Neither. Go to Costco and get Kirkland. CT are a bunch of goons when it comes time for warranty claims.
Jr. Member
Feb 17, 2019
167 posts
185 upvotes
Sorry to bump an old thread but just curious if anyone had more commentary or discoveries on this topic.

I was looking at some Group 35 batteries and to my surprise, the Certified, OE, and OE Plus batteries look identical. Only difference appears to be the warranty, of which CDN Tire is kind of a joke as they'll make all sort of excuses to deny it.

It's not uncommon for the actual tested CCA to be 30% higher than sticker...so it's likely they just throw a different sticker on each brand and de-rate the advertised capacities. It would make more sense to do that than to try and source different batteries or have different production lines for each brand. Would have loved to have been able to bring my tester to confirm my suspicions.
Deal Expert
Jun 24, 2006
15771 posts
11167 upvotes
iflyplanes wrote: Neither. Go to Costco and get Kirkland. CT are a bunch of goons when it comes time for warranty claims.
Not in my experience. One good thing I can say about Canadian tire is the solid battery warranty.

I used it once. Walked in with battery, they tested it failed. Walked out with a new one went home and installed it.
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Oct 13, 2008
8428 posts
4673 upvotes
Durham
BlondieLauren98 wrote: Hello, I'm going to buy a new car battery from Canadian Tire. The options for the Motomaster brand are OE and OE PLUS. The OE PLUS costs a little bit more, which I don't mind paying, But according to the specs:

OE:
Cold Cranking Amps (@ -18°C): 850
Cranking Amps (@ 0°C): 1045

OE PLUS:
Cold Cranking Amps (@ -18°C): 750
Cranking Amps (@ 0°C): 925

Why does the more expensive OE PLUS battery have less cranking amps?

The description for OE PLUS seems to tout some extra quality features over the OE, plus a 4 year vs 3 year warranty, but a guy told me the cranking amps is the more important thing to consider.

So I'm not sure if I should be considering cranking amps over all else.

I thought maybe between the two it's not a big deal but 750 vs 850 seems to be a big difference and was surprised to see the more expensive battery have the lower number.

Which one should I go for - cheaper with higher cranking amps or more expensive with lower cranking amps? Do the extra features of the OE PLUS outweigh the lower cranking amp value?

Thanks.
GOTO Costco

Refer to this thread: https://forums.redflagdeals.com/car-bat ... s-2161758/
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