How to Choose a Car Lift for Your Home's Garage
If you like to work on cars in your own garage, you might do well to invest in a car lift. This can keep the car more safely elevated than if you drove it up onto small ramps, and can also mean being able to easily keep tools and diagnostic equipment close at hand, under the car. Note a few tips for choosing the right car lift for your home's garage so you can decide the best one for your hobby or business.
Power supply
You may know to choose a car lift that will manage the weight of your car, but you also need to find out the required power supply for the lift. As an example, your home might only be equipped with 120 volts in the power supply to the garage, but a car lift may require 240 volts or higher. You may still be able to get the larger car lift you want, but will need to have the garage rewired to bring in more amps and volts or otherwise handle the larger power demands. Whatever the case, be sure you check on this and not just on the weight capacity of your desired lift.
Pit versus posts
Pit or in-ground lifts sit on the ground; you drive up onto a ramp and this lifts the car. Post lifts have two or four posts with crossbeams that you drive over, and these lift the car. Pit lifts save more space in the garage as you don't need to walk around these posts, so they're good for smaller garages. However, they may not hold as much weight or give you as much clearance under the car as a post lift with crossbeams. Consider which is more important, room in the garage or room under the car, when choosing your car lift.
Car parking lifts
When shopping for lifts, you may see car parking lifts; these are not the same as lifts used for working on a car. These parking lifts may have a longer and wider platform for the car, in order to disperse the weight of the vehicle and keep it secure for a longer time; that wider platform may get in the way of any work you want to do under the hood. It may also be made of a metal alloy that isn't safe when around the heat of welding equipment, and which might corrode when exposed to motor oil and other fluids. Don't confuse this type of lift or platform with one that is used for mechanical work.
If you need more information about the right car lift for your garage, talk to a company like Forte Lift Services.
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