We have a black 02 Impala LS which we got last Jun. We took it in this week for a little warranty work and when I picked it up yesterday, the service guy said the battery had ruptured and gone south. Of course I got a new one under full warranty. It seems that sometime in the past someone here has made a comment about problems with batteries in very late model GM cars. Anyone?

Also, the car has P225/60R16 GOODYEAR tires. They have 15,000mi and they have started making noise. I originally though it was rear wheel bearings and took it in a couple months ago for that. No problem found. I ask them to check it again this week and they said it was tire noise and the tires needed to be rotated (ya, right!). Well, I rotated them today, and sure enough, the noise moved to the front. So, I guess IT IS tire noise! Anyone have tire noise with their 16in GOODYEARS?

Delco side post batteries will leak from the pos post. We've been filing product reports with GM for years about this, still having a problem. As regards the tires, cupping will occur if the tires are not rotated every 6k miles. Any front wheel drive car is like this, forget to do it one time and they'll start making noise! They may even out after being rotated, depending on the amout of wear, but don't bet on it. All in all, those are pretty good cars. I have one in my rental fleet, and drive it home any day that its not rented out. BTW, it has 52K on the exact same tires and they're still good!

Tom, SS Dave is right on the money. I have a 96 Lumina with 68.000 miles on the original 16" Goodyears same size as you have, they also make a sound just like a bad wheel bearing at low speed, It is a wo wo wo sound as I call it, like Dave said I missed a 6000 tire rotation or so no doubt and now I am living with the sound, battery I cannot help with except mine must be on borrowed time by now because it also is original.

Jesse Robertson

The original battery in my 96 Silverado puked out the side pos terminal. I went with an Optima.

When I start driving the Chevelle, it will get an Optima too.

OK, thanks for the info. Maybe the tire noise will go away.

The tire noise wont go away. My wifes 2000 Grand Am GT had the same problem.A temporary fix by the dealer was to lube the bead and reinflate the tires. The dealer pretty much gave her the run around until the tires needed replacing anyway do to normal wear. When she got new tires it was SO much nicer.Like night and day!

Originally posted by DZAUTO:
Maybe the tire noise will go away. Tom,
Don't bet on it. I had this problem with my daily driver. FWD cars are very particular about tire rotation and a lot of people don't take it seriously. By brother (a service advisor) and a tire store manager friend make a killing $$$ off of people that don't rotate.

Joe

Boomhauer, the Grand Am noise is a different problem. There is a bulletin telling the dealer to replace the front tires on cars still under factory warranty. NOT a recall, but a bulletin. The noise comes from the bead squirming against the rim as you were told. Dirt gets in there, usually from underinflation and once it starts, it wont go away. Lubing the bead is only to be used as a test to se if that is the problem, You shoulda got a couple of tires :confused:

Tom,
Make sure that they did a good job cleaning up the mess the battery acid made. When the one in my 99 Tahoe gave it up, it ended up running down the cable, dripping on the frame and generallt made rusty mess of everything. I ended up taking the battery tray out and cleaning everything twice to get rid of the corroeion. I also replaced the Pos cable. Had to clean and repaint a bunch of stuff under the truck. All this with about 38k miles on it :( I bought a Die Hard to repladce it, but to be honest with you, I think part of the problem was the fact that the Pos. battery cable bolt is too long. When I reinstalled weverything, I had to cut almost 1/8" off the new GM bolt to get the Pos cable to tighten up properly. I think the bolt was too long from the start and actually punched through the battery when it was installed at the factory. It just too that long for the acid to work its way out to where it caused a visible problem.

I drive a tow truck for a living (duh!) I see problems with side mount battery terminals all the time. :mad: 99% of the time when we get a call to jump start any GM vehicle it ends up turning into a tow,because of the crappy side post delco battery. graemlins/angry.gif Do yourself a favor and get rid of that LOUSY DELCO BATTERY and buy an OPTIMA also wile you are at it switch to top mount terminals. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Very interesting guys!

Very interesting to say the least. I have been using ACDelco batteries for years and have not had any problem with the side positive post leaking. Cannot say the same for the trucks at work, but they do take a pounding on the streets of DC.

FWD cars in general have a problem with rear tire wear; they cup one edge, which eventually makes the car make a roaring kind of noise as it drives down the road. The guy talking about rotation is abslutely dead on the money, it's the only way to slow the process down, ot won't cure it but it will spread the wear out so that it's not as noticeable.

The solid axle ones are the worst.... Chrysler mini-vans, the older GM FWD cars like the Cavalier and Sklark and all those, etc. etc. IRS cars don't do it nearly as bad if they're kept aligned, but of course that's very difficult if not impossible in most solid-dead-axle FWD cars.

The tire noise is definately that, tire noise. I had a 2001 Monte that did it too. As a side note, I fixed a 2000 Venture Van that was whacked in the front, and the battery in it was leaking out the positive terminal too. I thought it was from the wreck, so we replaced it.

I have a 2003 Impala LS with 4500 miles. OK, who makes the Optima battery and what about the cable connections? Use the existing ones?
Thanks,
John
1965 Malibu 283

Ditto's on the battery problem, had the same thing happen to my 95 Roadmaster wagon.

The General replaced the battery in our Cadillac twice within the warranty period due to leaks. I've had Die Hards leak as well but not out of the side posts.

My 96 Z71 had the positive post problem as well with both the factory battery and a NAPA replacement. I don't think it is a batery problem but more of to much cable wieght hanging on the connection. My truck has 2 very large cables that attach to the postive terminal. I installed a red Optima top post battery and used adaptors to hook up the factory cables. It has been over a year and I have had no further problems. Oh btw my Optima battery was purchased in 1999 for the El Camino, had sat unused for 2 years prior to putting it in the truck. These are great batteries.

I have had tire noise problems with several sets of Good Year Eagle GT's on several cars, My 65 Vette, our Grand AM, and others.

I believe Good Year Eagles get noisy when they start to wear. I stopped buying them and switched tires.