When the lift was first put in, I too was somewhat concerned about the tipping. I called the manufacturer and they said it was very normal, nothing to be concerned about and within design specifications.

To be honest, the tipping gets more noticeable depending on how I park the car on top. The further away from the post, the more noticeable the tip.

But I've also learned, WHO CARES.... I've had the lift going on three years and it's been solid as a rock. The manufacturer gave me the thumbs up. I had it installed by one of their approved installers and with the exception of a failed attenuator, it's been problem free.

No, the unit is not mounted to the wall. I would think the wall being some variation of dry wall and wood, etc. wouldn't do anything to help support a lift that is drilled into thick, thick, thick concrete.

Matter of fact, if something were to fail, I would much prefer the cars got damaged rather than possibly shaking apart the frame of my house.

But that lift is solid, solid, solid... Regardless of some marginal tip.

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"When two people agree on everything, one of them is not necessary" - Arliss

I wonder how this lift will perform when the Earthquakes comes to LA ?? I think the one from Costco is well built, I like the 4 post design, where its free standing and it does not require bolting down to the floor ..... like previously mentioned by Quciksilver, most concrete floor in residential garage is not suitable for floor bolts ....

I also added a number of safety measures to the lift:

1) if you look at the top of this picture, you will see a bar going through the "B" in Bendpak and across the garage stall. That is a electrical cut off we rigged so the car can't be raised past that point. That was to avoid having my 911 accidentally raised into the living room by someone who wasn't paying attention.


2) I back my car onto the lift so I also installed wheel stops, something like the picture below. So I can back the car up without worry about hitting the wall etc. Because you are going up a small ramp to park the car and then flattening, and then a slight decline, especially with an aggressive sport clutch like the one I have, it's a nice feature to have. The aerokit on my car is about 1.5 inches from the garage wall so I don't have to worry about margins for error either.

We just drilled it right into the lift.

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"When two people agree on everything, one of them is not necessary" - Arliss

The GDO is basically the same one they use at the BMW dealer, it is the same door, only the rails go vertical, and it just raises straight up rather than folding and going over the car, and uses the control panel with the "Up" "Down" and "Stop" buttons. All I know is the sucker who bought that house has to go back in the middle door to close the side doors every morning.

That said, it was built in 2000, there are more than likely improved systems for opening and closing it. I'm waiting for the force field.

I don't see how you can do wheel/brakie/suspension work with a 4-post lift you drive on to. Maybe I haven't been around enough lifts, but I always thought the 2 post with swing arms are decent ones since I see most mechanics with those.

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Originally Posted by Roc3b "Great, so Gman landed a nympho with a brain! Damn him!
Guinness you lucky son of a byotch!!!!!!!!!!!"

http://www.bmwcca.org
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I agree with you. Most mechanics/shops will use a 2 post lift, it's much easier.

Lifts from Rotary come in a number of configurations and are designed for a wide number of vehicles, all the way up to huge buses.

The 4 post I use requires that I put jacks on the jack trays (they go between the drive on ramps) to lift the car for brakes/suspension work. You still have the ramps in the way a to get to the brakes, it's not optimal but it works well, just requires the extra step to jack the car up. You can use bottle jacks on the jack trays but I am going to upgrade an invest in air jacks in the spring/summer when I can work out there. I don't have a heater yet.

I wanted the 4 post over 2 post because the lift is primarly used for storage and oil changes. If I was going to do lots of work on my cars, I'd go 2 post for sure.

You'd basically need to just jacks/jackstands on the 4-poster. Both have pluses and minuses. You obviously need to bolt any 2-post in. I see a "caster kit" included with the Revolution, which should mean you can move it around. This would be a God send for me (I think). I need to take a bunch of measurements and see what'll work out best.

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2002 X5 4.4, Stahlgrau Metallic, 55k miles
Sport, Cold Weather, Rear Seat Heating, Rear Climate, Nav, PDC, Electric Rear Seat Back Adjustment, Rear Shades
Current Mods: M steering wheel, Mk4 Nav Retrofit, Intravee/Alpine/SpecDock, Cosmos Schwarz Interior Trim
Coming Soon: Hood Protector
Wish List: Aluminum Running Boards, Rear Backup Camera, 20" Staggered Style 87s (Black), Hitch Retrofit

1996 318ti, California package (plus tons of mods), Aqua Metallic, 237k miles

I considered the casters but didn't think I'd need to move the lift to the other side of the garage. Pretty cool idea though - seems well suited for larger garages where you have space to move things around more than I do.

A neighbor of mine has dollys under each of the tires of his car (not on a lift of course) and he moves three cars around side to side to get access to areas in his garage. He also can put cars right next to one another - I think he squeezed 3 cars side by side into his 2 car garage once.

Genie door opener - floor mounted

Existing door opener hanger connected to new arm bracket at the bottom of the garage door.



Garage door track mounted next to ceiling (previously was approx 2.5 feet lower) and new door spring replacing 2 springs (one for each side) attached to bottom of the door.