Car Jacks?

[Trabri]

NAPA sells an aluminium floor jack that I found is relatively easy to carry/drag around my gravel driveway. 2 ton I believe. Works great for me.

[zachateseverything]

Here's mine:

I also have some ramps, and years ago preparing to do an oil change I foolishly drove my '73 Charger too far onto them, so of course it went over the end and after a small crunch, I ended up with the ramp tops supporting the car just behind the front wheels. Luckily I also had my floor jack, so I put that under the front cross-member and was able to lift the entire front of the car high enough to reposition the ramps where they should have been and continue the job.

I did this on my Ion Redline when I was 23. FWD and no low end torque. After rolling backwards off them a couple times I overshot it and cracked both the ramps and the plastic rocker panels. The guy at the body shop told me he sees something like that about once a month or so.

[zachateseverything]

I live in the Chicagoland area and while we don't get as much snow as we used to and less than most people imagine, it's still possible to get good dumpings from basically Thanksgiving into April.

Having driven the same car with all-season tires and then with winter tires, I have to respectfully disagree with your assertion that today's all-season tires are up to the task. There has simply been no comparison between the all-seasons and the winter tires. It was night and day difference. The traction while turning and stopping is very different with a set of winter tires installed.

I recommend them for everyone in a snowy climate. I lived in Switzerland for a number of years and got religion on them there. They are not optional, they are mandatory and I fully support that mandate there and frankly, I'd like to see it here.

Curious, and there's no snark in this question, have you driven a car in the snow with winter tires? BTW, I'm not talking about old studded tires. I'm talking about modern ones like the Bridgestone Blizzak, which I used on my GTI with great success.

I live in NE Ohio and do engineering work for a major tire company. You guys are both right. All-season tires have improved by leaps and bounds over the last 15 years. So have snow tires. The proper choice for you will come down to personal preference and what your use case actually is. A lot of people make vehicle related decisions that are somewhat aspirational. If you aren't driving on un-treated roads on a regular basis a winter tire is likely overkill. If you do need that capacity an all-season probably isn't enough.

Fundamentally there are some trade-offs you have to make in order to get an all-season tire into a four season tire. No matter what you're going to fight the glass transition temperature of your tread compound. If you set it low enough such that you get true winter tire level snow and ice traction, your tire is going to wear like crap in the summer when your tread is basically goop. If you cheat too much the other direction you're not going to get great winter performance without carving your tread into a million pieces with sipes and blades. but tire manufacturers have made some material advancements that do enable them to tow the line a little bit better.

My professional opinion:

if you have the storage space there isn't really much of a downside to having winter tires mounted up on a second set of wheels. It's an upfront cost but no matter what you have to pay for tire wear so it mostly isn't much of a price increase. Just get some steal wheels or cheap alloys. The actual changeover is pretty easy.

if storage space is at a premium, all-seasons will be fine for most people. just avoid going out in the worst conditions and give yourself more time to get to where you need to be. increase your following distances, etc.

[Hoonjr]

I'd go with a LR Daytona from HarborFreight if I were in the market. I would pass on their jackstands. Too many recalls.

[funcrusher]

swapping tires is pretty simple with the right equipment...maybe 20 minutes if you have your ducks in order

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

i have the above jack that was recommended to my by a coworker who is really into cars...if just quick tire swaps, i never used jack stands

you will also need an impact wrench...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

i am not a handy guy...i generally avoid tasks like this, but schlepping a set of wheels to a garage 2x per year didn't seem like a good use of time...some guys i know pay to store their off-season wheels at the garage

[Saab2000]

swapping tires is pretty simple with the right equipment...maybe 20 minutes if you have your ducks in order

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

i have the above jack that was recommended to my by a coworker who is really into cars...if just quick tire swaps, i never used jack stands

you will also need an impact wrench...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

i am not a handy guy...i generally avoid tasks like this, but schlepping a set of wheels to a garage 2x per year didn't seem like a good use of time...some guys i know pay to store their off-season wheels at the garage

My wheels specifically say not to use an impact wrench, so I’ll avoid that. I will be looking for a quality torque wrench though....

I’d consider a place that would store my wheels but I’m not ready to pay much for that service, though I’d be more inclined to become a regular customer at a place that offered it. It’s common in Europe. Anyway, I have a big basement and while it’s a bit of a dirty job carrying them up and down the steps, I do have the space to store them myself.

[zachateseverything]

I'd go with a LR Daytona from HarborFreight if I were in the market. I would pass on their jackstands. Too many recalls.

Yeah, they basically just recalled every jackstand they sold in the last decade. The company doing the casting work pushed the limits on the tooling too far and the ratcheting mechanism can slip and fail as a result. The scary thing is that a lot of the auto parts stores are selling the same item under a different label.

[Lionel]

My wheels specifically say not to use an impact wrench, so I’ll avoid that. I will be looking for a quality torque wrench though....

I’d consider a place that would store my wheels but I’m not ready to pay much for that service, though I’d be more inclined to become a regular customer at a place that offered it. It’s common in Europe. Anyway, I have a big basement and while it’s a bit of a dirty job carrying them up and down the steps, I do have the space to store them myself.

As I said above not worth the hassle if you have two pairs of wheels how much does the local garage charge for swapping them out ? Can't be much.

[Saab2000]

As I said above not worth the hassle if you have two pairs of wheels how much does the local garage charge for swapping them out ? Can't be much.

I haven’t yet inquired as to this. I’m going to look at garages other than the dealership and if it’s not too expensive I may just have them do it, though I’ve always done it myself in the past. I’ll ask around and may also see about wheel bags.

[Lionel]

I haven’t yet inquired as to this. I’m going to look at garages other than the dealership and if it’s not too expensive I may just have them do it, though I’ve always done it myself in the past. I’ll ask around and may also see about wheel bags.

As a point of reference one small garage near me here charges 20euros. The other one is just asking a tip for the mechanic. It takes 10 mins max.

[DJB]

I had some winter tires mounted and stored in a valet service at the big tire shop here (Belle Tire) but I'm sure others do it. It kept me from having extra wheels and tires in garage. I really liked it. ($100 bucks a year or so)

[Saab2000]

Bringing this back to the top because a bit more than a year later I have acted upon this request for information, as winter is fast approaching. I ended up with some Carlyle tools and jack from NAPA. I don't know how long it will take for these tools to pay for themselves in savings from not having the dealership or another shop do a rotation, but there's no longer any need to lug wheels over to another shop or make an appointment, etc. That alone makes it worth the investment.

I used to change out my winter and summer wheels on my GTI with the jack that came with the car but this one is bigger and I felt the proper tools were in order. Also got a breaker bar and torque wrench (103 lb/ft per bolt per VW's owner's manual) and the right socket.

Having the right tools for a job is extremely satisfying. Shoulda done this a long time ago.

Obligatory bike content: There are two Zanconatos and an Independent Fabrication hanging on my front garage wall.

[Lionel]

Yo Jim, hope all is well. Funny is that for most cars I still bring them up at the local $20 garage but for this one I bought a dedicated track set and now do it myself as the logistics of bringing it in then getting another car with the tires in is lame. This and I'd like to know it's done right before heading to the track.

[Saab2000]

Yo Jim, hope all is well. Funny is that for most cars I still bring them up at the local $20 garage but for this one I bought a dedicated track set and now do it myself as the logistics of bringing it in then getting another car with the tires in is lame. This and I'd like to know it's done right before heading to the track.

All is well!

I'm currently trying to figure out how to get a Porsche 718 GTS 4.0 into my budget and into my garage....!!!

No regrets on getting the tools to do this simple task myself. Maybe next will be some jack stands and starting to do some other stuff.....

[Drew]

Any veesaloners have one of these? I’m on the fence…

https://www.quickjack.com/car-lifts/5000tl/

[Lionel]

I'm currently trying to figure out how to get a Porsche 718 GTS 4.0 into my budget and into my garage....!!!

DO IT ! While you are at it get the GT4.

[Lionel]

I got the Milwaukee impact driver, did you get this too ? Makes things very easy.

[Saab2000]

I got the Milwaukee impact driver, did you get this too ? Makes things very easy.

I have an impact drill but for this job I use a regular torque wrench. Definitely a bit slower but it’s OK.

Probably no GT4 for me. But the GTS 4.0 is interesting interesting to me, either in Cayman or Boxster form. The review make it seem like a near-perfect car. I’d likely go manual even though it’s slower than the PDK.

[jclay]

I have an impact drill but for this job I use a regular torque wrench. Definitely a bit slower but it’s OK.

Probably no GT4 for me. But the GTS 4.0 is interesting interesting to me, either in Cayman or Boxster form. The review make it seem like a near-perfect car. I’d likely go manual even though it’s slower than the PDK.

Aren't your airplanes fast enough?

[Scott G.]

Aren't your airplanes fast enough?

The altitude/speed/mass ratio of commercial a/c puts them in the no fun category.

Shifter Karts with an altitude of 20mm/mass 170lb @ 110mph are in the whole lotta fun category.