How to Choose a Car Lift That's Right For You

Car lifts come in a range of styles and uses from wheel alignment lifts to scissor lifts and ensuring that your garage workshop get the right equipment for the tasks at hand can be a daunting choice. So which do you choose?

Typically, car lifts fall into two brackets, Vehicle Servicing Lifts or Parking Lifts.

This article breaks down the various types of car lift and their uses to enable our customers to make an informed decision as to what particular car servicing lift is best suited to their needs.

Parking Lifts and Car Storage Lifts

Are you a classic car collector or home enthusiast in need of extra storage space? If so, then our range of car storage parking lifts could well be the solution you have been searching for.

Our parking/storage car lifts are the perfect solution for your home garage as they allow you to place one car on top of another freeing up valuable floor space. They can also be used for a wide variety of vehicle servicing applications.

Our parking lifts can be bolted in-place or left free standing depending on individual preference. When free standing they can be moved around the garage via the metal castors that are supplied with the lift.

Parking lifts are typically 4 post lifts with ramps. You simply drive the car onto the parking lift, lift and lock the ramps in place and park another vehicle directly below.

2 Post Servicing Lifts.

Our range of 2 Post Car Servicing Lifts are perfect for professional mechanics or home enthusiasts. They are designed provide the user with ease of access to vehicle components in order to carry out vehicle servicing applications with relative ease. All of the 2 post car lifts supplied by Garage Equipment Online feature asymmetrical arms which are designed to evenly spread the overall weight distribution of the vehicle ensuring that that car remains firmly in place on the car lift when removing heavy components such as the engine or gearbox.

2 Post Lifts With Symmetrical Arms

When surface mounted 2 Post Car Lifts first appeared on the market, they all featured symmetrical arms. A vehicle servicing lift with symmetrical arms has four arms of the same length with the lifts posts standing in line across from each other, this places the vehicles centre of gravity inbetween the two posts and in the center of the vehicle, front to back.

Symmetrical lifts equalise the pressure on the lift’s posts and carriage, a symmetrical 2 post car lift affords the user a larger drive through area making them a great choice for long wheel base light commercial vehicles.

symmetrical 2 post vehicle servicing lifts typically all come with one problem and that is when you place the vehicle onto the lift the front doors are lined up with the posts making it difficult to exit the vehicle without the risk of damaging the door on the post, as a way of removing this issue lift manufacturers designed a new and innovative way of engineering their 2 Post Lifts.

2 Post Lift With Asymmetrical Arms

In order to remove the problem of doors getting damaged when entering and exiting a vehicle 2 post lift manufacturers re-designed the configuration of the lifting arms to create asymmetrical 2 post lifts, On an asymmetrical lift, the front arms are slightly shorter than the rear arms, meaning the vehicle that is being place on the lift does not have to be driven as far forward as before this meant that the car door was no longer being blocked by the lift post.

This provided them with the solution to the door problem but presented an entirely new issue (Weight Distribution) this was solved by simply rotating the lift columns 30 degrees and the asymmetrical 2 post car lift was born, when the arms and post angles are set up in this way, the vehicles centre of gravity is properly balanced and there’s no extra wear on the lift’s structural components.

Asymmetrical 2 Post Lift Benefits

Allows free access to the car wheels and steering and suspension components.

Allows the user complete access to the underside of the vehicle being worked on.

Allows entry into the vehicles interior.

Takes up a small amount of workshop space.

Our Range of Car Lifts

Garage Equipment Online supply all of the car lifts that your garage will ever require including;

4 Post Lifts Wheel Alignment Lifts.

4 Post ATL Lifts.

4 Post Parking Lifts.

Mezzanine Floor Lifts/ High Access Lifts.

2 Post Lifts.

Scissor Lifts ATL & Standard Platform.

Mobile Vehicle Lifts.

4 Post Car Lifts With Ramps

4 post lifts have their own set of pros and cons to consider for instance a standard platform four post car lift has no jacking beam, this makes it difficult to gain access to the brakes, steering and suspension components and underside access to the vehicle is limited as the lift platforms restrict both access and visibility, however they are great for storage and for keeping a vehicle elevated for sustained periods of time.

Car Scissor Lifts

Garage scissor lifts are generally designed to be portable, this means that they can be relocated to anywhere in the workshop or even outside to free up space as and when required, our range of scissor lifts feature a very low-profile when in the lowered position they can be easily driven over to place the vehicle in the correct position for lifting, they are of a robust but highly compact design and can lift up to 3 Tonnes with ease.

We have provided this information to help our clients make the right choices to suit their garage equipment needs however if you are still unsure or have additional car lift related questions that you need answering call Garage Equipment Online Limited on +44 (0)151 601 4945.

To view our full range of lifts, click here.

For more information on How to Choose a Car Lift That's Right For You talk to Garage Equipment Online Limited