I saw the Costco lift few days back and it looks flimsy. Safety is my concern.

I have a 4 post Rotary Revolution http://www.rotarylift.com/uploadedFi...RFP7000-41.pdf lift in my garage - it's great. Rotary is the same manufacturer that dealerships and auto repair shops typically use.

Benefit of a 2 post lift is you can use it for wheel work.

The benefit of a 4 post is you drive it on and lift it up - no moving the swing arms under and lifting a bit to get alignment and then lifting up to connect and raise the car the whole way.

The downside to the 4 post is that you need to also get jack trays and jackstands if you want to do wheel work.

Another vote for a four post drive-on lift. You need a sliding (hydraulic) frame jack to do wheel work, but they aren't expensive.

In the shop I always found side-post lifts to be a pain, as vehicle doors opened into the posts. There are offset post models available. If it is just for service work as compared to storage as well, and you want to do it up right, get an in-ground hydraulic model.

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2007 X3 3.0si, 6 MT, Premium, White

Retired:
2008 535i, 6 MT, M Sport, Premium, Space Grey
2003 X5 3.0 Steptronic, Premium, Titanium Silver
2002 325xi 5 MT, Steel Grey
2004 Z4 3.0 Premium, Sport, SMG, Maldives Blue

Ahhh, but what people tend to forget is: THE ONE POST LIFT..

What people fail to mention is, the POSTS actually take up a lot of room. The advantage to a one post lift is, it doesn't hog up the garage. The other advantage is, you can drive off, drive on.

The only down side, even though you can do some light DIY, it's really not a "repair" type lift, it is a "parking lift".. So if you're just adding storage space, it's perfect. If you are looking for something so you can do brake flushes, rotor changes, etc. go with a 2-4 post.

Oil changes can easily be done on a one post lift though.

Here is my garage:



Here are some pics of the install:

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

Total cost of lift, install and electric (you need a 220v) was around $6k.

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

Dare I ask how much it cost? If you'd prefer PM or not to say, I understand.

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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

kinda scary seeing your car tipping to the right.. Is it also mounted to the wall?

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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 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