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I had my son was my car. Wet car, spray soap, rinse, more soap, another rinse. A few days later (today) I put it up on the 7000TXL for an oil change. I had it on the first level of lift and crawled under. Even with a bit over 13 inches off the ground I got a bit spooked. I put the car up to the second level and it was great. My first oil change BTW. It was super easy with little to no mess, and I always seem to make a mess with jack stands. While it was up on the lift, I had a great view of the places down low that were missed when washing the car. Not bad, but a couple of small places under the door sills and by exhaust exits. I got those cleaned up. Then I noticed how easy it would be to clean the wheels. Got that done as well now. I had previously scraped my 5VM splitter and noticed it was a bit rough under the leading edge. I was able to take a file and smooth that out. Applied a light wax to the splitter at that time. Looks great. All of this low work while rolling around on a low stool with wheels. The oil was draining for about an hour, crawled under and buttoned everything up. I guess my point in all this is, the lift made everything so easy and I felt very safe. Access to the lower panels and wheels of the car was excellent. Well, off to add the oil and take a short ride before company comes.
Anything that can give you room is better than just using a jack and jack stands. This is my set up, keeps me off the ground too! Lift can be moved around the garage on wheels so for more complicated jobs, goes in the center bay of 3 car garage for better access on all sides. Best investment ever. Strong supporter of buying whatever you can to make maintenance easier.
I'm sure that the 500 TLX will work fine. But I also lift a Toyota Tundra 4x4 and a Toyota Sequoia 4x4 that are much heavier than the C8. So, if you are going to spend the money, you might as well get one that will cover everything.
I've had a 7000 for years. I also have a four post BP so the QJ does not get used much. Three and a half years ago I put my 911 on it and literally took it apart while on the 7000 with my C7 seven feet above it. It's a wonderful tool but a pain to move around....
I got a 7000 yrs ago because they were on a killer sale vs the 5000s. They are great but I do wish I had gotten the 5000 instead. They are much lighter to move around and I don't need the extra lift capacity. 60 lbs vs 95 lbs IIRC. Also, I think 1/2" shorter for sliding under low cars. Mine fits under the C8 but its close.
My Quick Jack gets a LOT of use for my car, as well as my 2 C8 friends in the neighborhood. I have the 5000LX model.
When NOT in use, I store mine flat on the floor under our daily driver. If you look closely, or zoom in, you can see that I store the power unit, on the left side, under the side of my roll away tool chest. Fits under there perfectly. I coil up the hydraulic hoses and they hang on the other side of the tool chest.
With the Swiss Trax flooring, the Quick Jack slides around easily. It also works extremely well for having reference points to make sure that I have the two QJ rails parallel to each other, and aligned front to back equally too.
My Quick Jack gets a LOT of use for my car, as well as my 2 C8 friends in the neighborhood. I have the 5000LX model.
When NOT in use, I store mine flat on the floor under our daily driver. If you look closely, or zoom in, you can see that I store the power unit, on the left side, under the side of my roll away tool chest. Fits under there perfectly. I coil up the hydraulic hoses and they hang on the other side of the tool chest.
With the Swiss Trax flooring, the Quick Jack slides around easily. It also works extremely well for having reference points to make sure that I have the two QJ rails parallel to each other, and aligned front to back equally too.
That flooring looks great - do you ever have snow / salt / sand run-off in the winter, and how does the floor handle that? It looks really nice, but not sure it would work for me in the winter. Curious if you get enough snow in PA to have an opinion.
^^^^^ dw866 Yes, we've had enough snow and sand / salt melt off after driving in the snow. It just lands on the tiles and the liquid runs through to the concrete floor and then out the garage door, as there are tracks on the underside to allow for water flow. When it was really bad once, I took a rag and a bucket of water and washed it off by hand where the melt off had left a mess....,.. after using my shop vac to get the sandy type solid stuff.
Before I bought my flooring I was chatting with a guy in Mass who said once a year at the end of the snow issues, he would just pull up a large section of his floor and drag it out in the driveway and hose it off, including his bare concrete floor that is under the Swiss Trax.
I like the idea of storing it under the cars. But I think it would freak out my wife to drive over top of them. Her Jeep has no clearance issues, it would just be a mental thing. But much easier than what I do now... hooking them up on the wall. I also wall mounted my power unit, and the hoses hang on a hook near the jack units too. It's pretty easy to hook up when needed.
I looked into the interlocking floor tiles, but the maintenance was a concern for me, not to mention the cost. I was able to get my full broadcast Polyaspartic epoxy floor done professionally for nearly half what the cost would be with tiles. And no maintenance at all... I blow the dust and leaves out sometimes, hose it down and mop it once a year or so. With tiles, all that dirt and dust and drips just goes under the tile, it's still there. Not to mention if you spill oil or something else messy. You can still get stains too if you don't coat the concrete. Everything slides around easily on my epoxy too, and I could get all kinds of custom colors if I wanted. For me it was an easy decision to go with the epoxy.
^^^^ funny, as at two different homes I've had, including the house we're in now, to have it professionally done in epoxy was DOUBLE the price I paid for the Swiss Trax.
As for maintenance, I use my shop vac once or twice a year to vacuum up what sand, and other particles, bugs etc come up through the tiles and it's all good. Only a couple times in 5 years have I taken a wet rag to wipe up spots, or salt mess after the snow season.
^^^^ funny, as at two different homes I've had, including the house we're in now, to have it professionally done in epoxy was DOUBLE the price I paid for the Swiss Trax.
As for maintenance, I use my shop vac once or twice a year to vacuum up what sand, and other particles, bugs etc come up through the tiles and it's all good. Only a couple times in 5 years have I taken a wet rag to wipe up spots, or salt mess after the snow season.
It's not slippery when wet either.
Obviously epoxy prices vary by region, installer, and like all service industries there are some that are overpriced and take advantage of consumers. Garage floor tiles are easy to shop for online, you are paying the advertised price, no surprises or scams, and that’s a good thing. Also, it’s an easy DIY and some people just prefer doing their own work. You can DIY epoxy too (for a fraction of the price too) but it’s a lot less user friendly. I did one garage myself and it was… challenging. A lot of work and I wasn’t sure I was doing it right.
My garage is an oversized 2-car, it’s about 650 sf including the storage area. Floor tiles are $5, so that’s $3250 in tiles. Plus I needed extra for overage for the cuts and angles. I also wanted the finished edges, and my storage area is raised a step up. So there’s a few hundred more for edging, tax, etc. And I like I said above, I still wanted to protect the concrete under the tiles, so at least some floor paint was needed. It was close to $4k all in. And then I was going to spend a weekend sitting on the floor planning it all out, trimming around corners and steps, etc. honestly it probably would have taken me more than one weekend too, so that’s 10 days with no garage.
Then I started shopping for epoxy. The “cheap” epoxy from the builder’s contractor was only $1000, for the whole garage. No flakes, just grey epoxy with a clear coat. I almost went for it because it’s just a bargain. But I happened to also go to my detailer that same week and he had just had his floors done with the full broadcast epoxy, the extra thick kind, it looked amazing. He put me in touch with his guy and I got the deal he was offering to all the employees at the detail shop… $2k for a two car garage. He didn’t care that I had the storage area to the side but if he had charged me the regular rate I would have been in for $2600. Now that’s all in, no work besides emptying the garage. No edges, no gaps, no worries over angles or cutouts. The step up to the storage is completely covered no visible tile edge. It’s also not slippery when wet, he applies an anti skid additive that works great. Now it’s true that I could have paid more for even thicker coatings or custom colors or just more expensive contractors but the highest price I was quoted didn’t come close to double the price of the floor tiles. I think it was $4500 from Gorilla Garage. The typical price is $800-1200 per stall.
I don’t doubt that the maintenance on the garage tiles is easy, but it’s even easier with epoxy. And I can’t get past that issue of spilled oil. One mistake on tiles is just a hassle to clean up. For me it was just tossing some cat litter on it and sweeping it up.
If I didn’t do epoxy I would have done either commercial porcelain tile or commercial VCT tile. Both options are about $2/sf for materials. If you can install your own tile that’s a big savings, or I can pay $2/sf to have it installed. Still cheaper then snap fit tile and much nicer. The VCT tile is an easy DIY install, but it needs some kind of top coat. Either you have to wax it regularly, or you need to apply a clear epoxy over it. Same epoxy clear coat as I got on my floor, but it’s an easy DIY too since there isn’t really any prep. It just goes on over the VCT tile. So add $500 for epoxy or maybe $1000 if you have someone do the clear coat for you. Again… still cheaper than snap fit and a more permanent installation.
Am waiting for the next Quick Jack sale (maybe Memorial Day weekend) to get one but in the mean time an oil change is also very easy by backing up a pair of ramps.
04-09-2024, 02:10 PM
Short Quick Jack Notice
