Jack Stand or Ramps?
 

Can anyone recommend whether to buy jack stands or car ramps? I just want to do general maitenance (oil change, etc.). Please recommend brands and where I can find them.

All help is appreciated.

ramps are generally much more stable and safer IMO :shrug:

any brand you have in mind?

huummmm..... I forget what mine are, all I remember is that they said Rhino and I bought them at Autozone like 2 years ago, they where on sale for $10. They are like a black plastic, they also made some longer red ones for lowered cars. I've put my 6,200lb F150 on them without a problem, so I trust all my Hondas on them.

buy both! ramps are cool unless you decide to change your brake pads. then you want stands. as far as where to buy them go to wal-mart.

lol... very true. When it comes to brake time, I use the OEM jack. I jack up the car, then through a concrete brick next to it, so if it fail the brick will prevent the car from crushing my legs and/or killing the brake/rotor/suspension of the car. So far I haven't had one fail, but I still don't trust that skinny little jack.

but yeah get some ramps and the fumoto valve with the nipple so you can run a hose directly from the engine into the milk jugs. http://www.fumotovalve.com/ and you can change your oil with no tools.

^Ha ha that's cool...

Regarding ramps, I've been thinking about buying a pair. I saw them for like $20 at Pepboys. To tell you the truth, sometimes I feel unsafe when lifting the car with the jack.

uh what kind of bricks are you using? cast iron? cuz i think the weight of our cars will most deifantly make the brick into dust.

lol

anyway i use jack stands all the time.

Concrete bricks... They're cheap and used as the fundation of houses.... I'm thinking if they can hold a house, they're gonna hold a civic. I've seen lots of people use them. When my dads Accord got the rims stolen off of it, the theives used concrete bricks to hold up his car, I can't even begin to count how many cars I've seen held up by concrete bricks.

btw, I'm not saying that is the safest way, just the most economical for me since I have the bricks setting around my house.

oh ok.......i just re-read my my post....i sounded like an @$$ so im sorry

Still, I wouldn't trust bricks...what happens if that sucker is cracked from factory and fails on you? Hell no...

I had a car on blocks, went inside to get something and when I came out the car was on the gound! :eek:
Get jackstands! If you halfta, use wood blocks!

Yeah, I use wood block sometimes.... maybe I'll swtich to those. But like I said, it's only a fail safe if the OEM jack fails.

Bricks can take very high static loads, but they're very brittle, so a sharp impact, like from a brake rotor might make it shatter into pieces, and that won't be much help.

Ramps scare the hell outta me... Always worried that I'm going to fall off the end... I just bought me a jack set of jack stands and a kreeper @ pep boys for like $40 bux... Feel a million times safer with that then my ramps...

Jack stands are easier to store and handle and would probably be needed more than ramps. If your car is lowered, it might be hard getting up the ramps. You can always use the stands, but won't always be able to use the ramps.

Ramps are very tricky to use. Consider buying a good jack and a sturdy pair of jackstands. They are a lot easier imho.

thanks for the all the help everybody

no offense but what are you guys doing with your ramps that make them diificult? you put them infront of the tires and pull straight up slowly. i have never even come close to driving off the other side even with my old truck or buddys jeep. you can feel when you get to the top and they should have a lip on the other side to let you know you have gone too far. but if you had to go with 1 stands are the best bet for all around help.

Really... my car is lowered, about 2 inch below it's already low ride hight and I have no problem with my car or my truck getting up the ramps. Never drove off the ramps, I've gone up them probably a hundred times. If you think it is more secure trusting a jack stand, go for it, but those things are always wobbling when I use them :screwy:

you don't want ramps if the car is lowered.

MY CAR IS LOWERED, they make ramps for lowered cars. They are simply longer, I have them, no problems with them. All you have to do is look for the ramps that say they are for lowered cars. If you get the regular ones, you just get 2x10 and put them to the edge of the ramp and drive up the wood, I've done that too with no problem. It really isn't that big of a deal.

hard to get at lowered cars with ramps though

They sell ramps for cars that are lowered too.

There are jobs that are easier to do imo with ramps than with jack stands, like installing side skirts :D . I know you could put the jacks underneath the car and all, but I'd rather go up ramps than having the risk of doing something wrong under there and having your car fall on you. Oooofff, scary shit...
Another thing I've noticed when lifting the car up with the jack(specially if the vehicle is lowered), sometimes it looks as if the jack was going to slide off the raising point because the jack's surface area isn't big enough.

Yeah, I'm just saying if you think about it when you are buy the ramps, it really isn't a big deal. If you try to get a lowered car up regualar set of ramps, then you have to play with the wood and stuff... But yeah, it can be tricky if you buy normal ramps.

man I wouldn't trust that thing just on the off chance you know that random 'rock' or wondering bird out in the parking lot or on the freeway happens to hit that clip out goes your oil and then you have a 600 lb block of plastic and steel in your engine bay

thats like saying you wouldnt trust the gas pedal right there. i mean if your in traffic you could get a cramp and kick it and fly into the rear end of someone. its a one in a million chance and i actually first heard of the valve when i went to a big off-road jamboree and everyone had them on their off road vehicles. if theres one place it would happen its at a rock crawl

why use bricks when you can use the rubber part of your wheel/tire?(sidewall of the tire)