Hi all,

I think this is a repeat topic but I couldn’t find anything helpful on the last one.

anyone tried those plastic car ramps you can get?

been eyeing up a few but not sure wether to pull to trigger and I’d like to know peoples experience with them.

ive seen the ones Halfords sell and they look solid but they’re completely useless to me as the only support up to 180mm tyres. Not great for a focus with 215mm or an A4 with 235mm.

 

the plastic ones seem to be wider but not lift quite as high but that doesn’t bother me much as I’ll only using it for fluid changes.

 

seen a couple on Amazon with good reviews 🤔more inclined to try the sealey as they’re a brand I’ve heard of.

I’m not a fan of jack and jack stands plus the drive we have doesn’t really allow it as it’s sloped.

Interested to see people’s input

thanks!

What I have used is two long lengths of timber - get it wide enough for your tyres, and thickness a third of the height increase you need.  Then three lengths of each piece, ie long, medum and short, screwed together to make a stepped ramp, chamfer off the steps, and then add a stop to the end of the top piece.  Probably cheaper than £64....

I had steel ramps which were OK for a Mk1 Escort, but no good for anything with a low ground clearance. 

I've used my wooden ones for about thirty years....

1 hour ago, Paulkp said:

What I have used is two long lengths of timber - get it wide enough for your tyres, and thickness a third of the height increase you need.  Then three lengths of each piece, ie long, medum and short, screwed together to make a stepped ramp, chamfer off the steps, and then add a stop to the end of the top piece.  Probably cheaper than £64....

I had steel ramps which were OK for a Mk1 Escort, but no good for anything with a low ground clearance. 

I've used my wooden ones for about thirty years....

I did think about making some.

start with a meter of wood then 20cm shorter wood up about 3/4 steps to the end. Totalling about 2.8m of wood per ramp, making it out of scaffold board. But tbh the price difference was negligible.

 

either a similar price of even more costly if I can get the correct amount of wood.

And I had only just drawn this !  It was probably cheaper when I did mine, as I had access to some "Scrap" !

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Paulkp said:

And I had only just drawn this !  It was probably cheaper when I did mine, as I had access to some "Scrap" !

 

 

 

Yeah when I looked up the prices of wood it was about £31 (think it was wicks or somewhere similar) for 2.8m long planks so by the time you’ve got them and built them it ends up a similar price if not more expensive than just buying a set

How many jobs do you do where the wheels don't need to be removed?  I inherited a set of metal ramps many years ago but never found a use for them.  It's really only an oil change that they're useful for.  Can't do brakes, suspension, steering, etc.  I managed alright with axle stands on a sloping gravel driveway.  Just needs a bit more thought to make sure they're steady before starting.

11 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

How many jobs do you do where the wheels don't need to be removed? 

They were great for Gearbox removal/Clutch changes in rear wheel drive cars and because they were not too high and sloped, you could use your legs to lift the rear of the Box and your chest and arms for the front.  The joys of having old cars and not much money 😀

11 hours ago, Foxxyblieu9 said:

think it was wicks

Did you try a Timber Merchant ?  Prices in DIY Stores are expensive for timber and the timber merchant may well cut it for you.

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

How many jobs do you do where the wheels don't need to be removed?  I inherited a set of metal ramps many years ago but never found a use for them.  It's really only an oil change that they're useful for.  Can't do brakes, suspension, steering, etc.  I managed alright with axle stands on a sloping gravel driveway.  Just needs a bit more thought to make sure they're steady before starting.

To be honest most of the things I’ve done on the car has been interior related. 
 

just starting to look at branching out and do more work by myself rather than taking it to a garage and paying extortionate labour fees. At least for basic things anyway, fluid changes/other minor work which doesn’t require a wheel off.

1 hour ago, Paulkp said:

Did you try a Timber Merchant ?  Prices in DIY Stores are expensive for timber and the timber merchant may well cut it for you.

I haven’t. Ill have to see if there’s any local and check pricing, although I do have a couple carpenters in the family so may see if they can get trade price on something 🤔

21 minutes ago, Foxxyblieu9 said:

At least for basic things anyway, fluid changes/other minor work which doesn’t require a wheel off.

I'm genuinely struggling to think of any though.  While you're draining the oil, that's a great time to remove the wheels and inspect brakes & suspension.  Can't even remove the front bumper on ramps as the wheels need to be turned to access the arch screws.

To answer the OP's original question;

I use a low-rise plastic pair to get the lowered ST high enough to use a trolley jack.  Although narrower than the wheels, as mentioned above, they work perfectly.  Having said that, of course, they are only loaded for a few minutes. Also easier to store than the timber version.

35 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

I'm genuinely struggling to think of any though.  While you're draining the oil, that's a great time to remove the wheels and inspect brakes & suspension.  Can't even remove the front bumper on ramps as the wheels need to be turned to access the arch screws.

Could remove the bumper without the car lifted can’t you?

not that it matters to me I’ll probably never take it off.

yeah I see your point but really that’s not what I’m interested in I just want to be able to give the cars we have some tlc and save some money in the process. 
not that I’d be able to get the wheels off anyway mind you, all the lug nuts have done the typical ford thing and swelled.

 

If I really wanted the wheels off I’d just use the cars jack but to me it holds no value.

One thing I do with the wooden ramps is to use them to run the car up onto blocks of wood (from old joists so very substantial) and then remove the ramps. This gives me better access from the side of the car.

Manufactured ramps tend to have "stops" that would stop you doing such a thing.