My question is, would 4 small 12 volt motorcycle type batteries be less of a loss than the 4 larger ups batteries.
The loss from leakage would probably be lower. The loss from battery resistance would be higher.
You want a battery capable of handling the full current provided by your panels without taking damage, overheating, or going very resistive due to polarization (gas bubble formation causing a significant part of the plates to lose contact with the electrolyte.) This is in the ballpark of 125 amps - perhaps much higher during wind gusts on a sunny day. Your batteries have to handle the difference between the charge and load currents at all times - and if the line trips out your load is just your dump load, which will probably be either off or full-on.
Imagine the currents seen by the batteries if there's a storm (frantically spinning the mill) which knocks out grid power... Seems to me your car-sized deep-cycles are at the low end of what you'd want for this much generation.
Meanwhile, losses from leakage are pretty low if the batteries aren't at end-of-life.
So I'd stick with the (moderately) big batteries.