Once you start to enjoy working on your vehicle, pretty quickly you find yourself considering a range of different tool options. Many of us start looking at lifts. Single post? 2-post? 4-post? Scissor lift? Mid-rise? Full-rise? Stands? The different options combinations can make your head spin a little.
Having worked on many cars on several different kinds of lifts over the years, I’ve seen some excellent lifts, some great lifts and a few duds. In this article I want to break down my personal experience with several of these kind of lifts, should you be weighing up all the different options and driving yourself slightly bonkers like I was before I bought my own for my garage. I hope this helps! Let’s go!
What I would like to state loud and clear before you make a purchase is to make sure you pay special attention to the weight of your vehicle against the maximum weight capacity of the lift to chose the right strength product for your needs. And as always, if you're not sure ask a professional, the manufacturer or the retailer you're buying from. Safety first people!
As low as $2,000 to $7,500+
I absolutely love how these lifts look. From an engineering point of the view they’re really quite ingenious and as a basic ‘lift’ they’re apparently very functional and reliable. You can find many of these available online.
My only issue with this style of lift is that while it’s great if you want to store a second car underneath, it doesn’t work very well for an enthusiast whom likes wrenching on the wheels and underside of a car. With most of these single post lifts, you really only get full access to three sides of the car where the forth has the stationary pillar and mechanism in the way. You also don’t get a lot of access under the car and so in many ways, these lifts are glorified display stands to me.
There are a couple of different variations, like this 1-post lift below which is a 4-arm hybrid but as you can imagine, they're more expense than what it already an expensive proposition and your choices are fewer and far between in terms of brand options such as BendPak, TwinBusche, Quick Jack and others. Still, these 1-Post lifts will work for a LOT of car enthusiasts and if I were to ever want to store two cars I would happily get one.
2-Post Lifts From $2k to $5k+
These are probably my favorite style of car lift. They don't look overwhelmingly large in a 2-car garage like 4-post lifts can and they're extremely functional. You can adjust the four mount points pretty much any way you like (so long as your car balances!) and the access around and under the car is first class. BendPak make a lot of different options for 2-post and 4-post lifts. As do TwinBusche and several other major brands.
Should I ever consider another lift in the future, it will most likely be a 2-post'r. What's also great about this style is that most of the mainstream brands have their own version, so you have loads of choice from a market that's hungry for your business.
With the 2-post lifts there are a couple of other factors to consider. The sturdiest and arguably 'better' set-up (depending on your definition) are the larger, standard 2-post lifts which are stationary for all intents and purposes. They are usually anchored to a concrete floor and there is a static metal cross-member that connects the two posts together. Unless you do a horrific parking job with your car way off center and don't line up the mount points correctly, it's not going anywhere any time soon.
At a lower price point are the 'portable' lifts such as QuickJacks and BendPak products that have 2-post styles (as well as the ‘stands’ we’ll cover later). The up side is that you can bring them out and set them up when you need to work on your car, putting them out of sight when you're finished. The down side, for me, is the same thing - you can move them around and put them out / back quite easily. It's maybe just a personal preference but I don't want to put my car up on top of anything I can easily move on my own, especially not an expensive car and especially not if I'm planning on going near its underside. The other downside for both 2-Post stationary or portable options is that they're not really for storing second cars under. At least, not on a long term basis, in my opinion.
From $3.5k to $6k+
Very similar in concept to the 2-post stationary lifts, you get 2-more stationary posts with this set up (I know, math legend that I am...). For the garage dweller whom wishes to store a second car as well as work on cars - this is probably the winner for you, if you don't mind its size. I have a 3-car garage and even that felt a little cramped once I measured out the 3D space it would occupy.
Still though, like the 2-post stationary lift, this is for the car enthusiast that means business. Oils changes, brake jobs, transmission jobs... you can do them all. Again, being a very popular model in a market filled with companies vying for your hard earned cash - chances are you'll find a great deal out there for one of these.
From $2k to $5k+
This is where I'll introduce another dimension for you to think about - mid-rise vs. full-rise lifts. Essentially I'm talking about how high the lift can go up vertically from its stationary position on the floor of course.
Most mid-rise lifts give you enough room to comfortably sit on a work stool under your car, anywhere from 3" to 4" typically (My own scissor lift gives me around 42 inches of lift from the floor). The full-rise lifts are somewhat higher, but not necessarily twice the height. The one I worked with recently for example allowed me to stand by the car, but I had to hunch up a little bit to get under the car. But also, the nature of the scissor lift design means you don't get full access to the underside of the car like you do with the 2 and 4-post lifts.
I chose my mid-rise scissor lift primary because I didn't want my garage to look
cramped with a 2 or 4-post’r. With hindsight, as much as I love working on my car with my lift it doesn’t give me all the underside access now know I need and I most definitely should have splurged the extra $1000 for the full-rise version. Still, I’ve dropped the transmission from my car, changed the oil and worked on the suspension and brakes quite easily with my mid-rise scissor lift.
As low $500 to $1000+
This variant of the garage lift for the DIY car enthusiast is very popular, probably more so because the price is extremely competitive at a fraction of the cost of any of the stationary lifts than functionality. But don’t mistake my honesty for criticism because having worked with several versions of QuickJacks in the past, they are easy to use and they help you get a lot of jobs done way faster than you would if the car was simply on a floor jack.
My only issue with this type of set up is that they‘re not the kind of tool you want just laying around on the floor because they would be a nasty trip hazard with the hydraulic lines draped across the floor. The tallest model only gets the underside of your car up about 2 ft. and even then the design is such that your access to the left and right underside of the car is all most completely blocked. They work great for oil changes and I even used them successfully to remove the bumper on a Porsche 911 and install new mufflers and cats. For the price, you can’t beat them in many ways and their reviews as well as word-of-mouth support from the car community speaks for itself (…awesome… basically).
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