Race Ramps Review with PICS
04-09-2011, 09:01 PM
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
Race Ramps Review with PICS
What's up Corvette Forum? Last year I bought some Race Ramps because I was looking for an easy way to get my lowered vert up high enough to 1: do an oil change, and 2: get it up off the ground so I could then safely jack it from the preffered jacking locations (suspension crossmembers)
My car is lowered on aftermarket lowering bolts and I like it fairly low. I have yet to find a jack with a deep enough throat to get under the car far enough to reach the desired jacking positions. Also it is low enough that I can't access from the side either (jacking pucks method) even if I wanted to lift it that way.
I had seen Race Ramps on here and it looked like a great easy and fast way to get the car up. My previous method was laying out some 4x4s with 2x4s as ramps to get up on them, pretty shady. It took a long time to lay out, line up, and on top of that it wasn't that safe. Sometimes the back wheels would fling the 2x4s backwards as I was giving it some gas to get up, not to mention it took forever to set up.
I am renting a town house right now so for the time being storage of the ramps takes place along the side of the garage. I stack them neatly and they really don't take up a whole lot of room.
When preparing to lift I pull the car about halfway into the garage and assemble/line up the two piece ramps with extenders. The ramps are plenty wide so this step doesn't take precise measurements to insure that you won't fall off the side. You would almost have to be trying or doing this with your eyes closed to do something like that.
It's action time now. I begin to creep up the ramps slowly until I am about half way up. I jump out quick and grab my Roll Ups. As soon as I get enough clearance between the bottom of the rocker and the floor it is time to put the Roll Ups in (this is usually about half way up the front ramps). They are put into place and pushed back against the rear wheels like so:
Give it some gas and I am up. You will be able easily feel when you are on top but incase your sense of incline is numb there is also a wheel stop on the front ramps that, once again, you would have to be some sort of idiot to not feel it and I am pretty confident you would have to gas it fairly good to actually drive up and over the wheel stop. These things really are idiot proof. Here I am just chillin with all wheels up off the ground and it all took 2-3 minutes.
Once in this position you can do a few things. I bought the two piece ramps so that when I am up (and will be there for awhile) I like to pull off the ramp portion so that on a creeper I can access through the sides as well as sliding under the front. Oh, and don't be a fool...throw a wheel chock behind that front wheel just in case.
In situations like an oil change most everybody knows that the back should be a a few inches higher than the front to get all the oil out so for that I have some Wheel Cribs. Now that the back is high enough off the ground to easily slip a jack under I simply raise the back with said jack and insert the Wheel Cribs.
When doing jobs that require the wheels be taken off I use the Race Ramps only as a means to get the car high enough for jacking from the suspension cross members. Once jacked up the ramps are removed and jack stands are put into place. When finished the wheels are put back on, the ramps are put back into place, and the car is backed off onto the floor.
As most of you know, having a lowered car looks great but presents a lot of problems too. Besides the constant lookout for things in the road/parking lots that will tear your front end off, lifting the vehicle is yet another challenge compared to a factory setting Corvette. Race Ramps makes this area a breeze. Besides being insanely easy and fast to use they also make lifting a vehicle SAFE.
They use a high density foam that is surprisingly lightweight and it is covered with a spray on coating that makes these things impossible to slide on any surface that I have come across. Slick painted garage floors, sandy driveways, dust covered body shop floors... nothing lets these ramps slide or shift when driving up or backing off.
Even with jack stands placed underneath the car in the correct spots I used to always leave the jack under the car too just as an extra safety step. I know some guys lay their wheels (after they are removed of course) alongside the rocker areas so that if a jack stand slipped the car would not crush them. I can honestly say that I have no issues or concerns when underneath the car while using Race Ramps. They are solid and you can push, shake, sit in, hammer on, lean against the car and nothing will move or shift. They are so wide at the base the company says you can use them on grass/gravel/sand/ pretty much anything.
The only "cons" I can think of would be amount of space they take up and price. Obviously they will take up more space in your garage than a few jack stands and jack would. I don't think they are so big that it is a huge deal breaker but it is worth mentioning that unlike jack stands and jack, you can't just load them into your car and head up to the track or wherever. I do all my work in my garage so the space thing really isn't a big issue for me. As you can see from the first picture I just stack them against a wall when they are not in use.
There is no denying it, these things are spendy. That is probably their biggest downfall. It is important to note that I have the more expensive ramps plus the two piece model adds cost too but you will be looking at just over $200 for a set of two ramps that are the shorter version with one piece construction. I feel that for the fast, easy, and above all the safe use of this product it is definitely worth the cash. Getting crushed by my car would most likely ruin my day and isn't high on my list of "things to do" so the peace of mind is worth the price for me.
I ordered directly from the company and I have to say that they are really easy to work with and shipping is fast too. They are a forum vendor here and I noticed they had a group buy going about the time I was going to order. Unfortunately I missed the deadline by about a week and contacted them to see if anything could be done to still get the discount (15% Off I think). They told me that there was another group buy going on at a different forum and they gave me the coupon code and said I could get in on that one, AWESOME. That saved me over $100 on my entire order.
Some of you might be wondering how much I got paid to post this and I can assure you I have no ties or affiliation of any kind with this company or its products. Just a guy who was looking for a great way to get under his lowered car and this product and supplier completely blew me away. You often hear about vendors who didn't live up to the hype or somebody felt like the product wasn't up to par and I just wanted to remind everyone there are great vendors on here with awesome products and this is one of them.
All prices are easily accesible on their site if you are wondering what they will cost you. Also if anybody has any questions about clearance or whatever post them up I can do my best to answer them. Like I said before, my car is fairly low so if I can get up on them I am sure you can. Thanks for looking, Mark
My car is lowered on aftermarket lowering bolts and I like it fairly low. I have yet to find a jack with a deep enough throat to get under the car far enough to reach the desired jacking positions. Also it is low enough that I can't access from the side either (jacking pucks method) even if I wanted to lift it that way.
I had seen Race Ramps on here and it looked like a great easy and fast way to get the car up. My previous method was laying out some 4x4s with 2x4s as ramps to get up on them, pretty shady. It took a long time to lay out, line up, and on top of that it wasn't that safe. Sometimes the back wheels would fling the 2x4s backwards as I was giving it some gas to get up, not to mention it took forever to set up.
I am renting a town house right now so for the time being storage of the ramps takes place along the side of the garage. I stack them neatly and they really don't take up a whole lot of room.
When preparing to lift I pull the car about halfway into the garage and assemble/line up the two piece ramps with extenders. The ramps are plenty wide so this step doesn't take precise measurements to insure that you won't fall off the side. You would almost have to be trying or doing this with your eyes closed to do something like that.
It's action time now. I begin to creep up the ramps slowly until I am about half way up. I jump out quick and grab my Roll Ups. As soon as I get enough clearance between the bottom of the rocker and the floor it is time to put the Roll Ups in (this is usually about half way up the front ramps). They are put into place and pushed back against the rear wheels like so:
Give it some gas and I am up. You will be able easily feel when you are on top but incase your sense of incline is numb there is also a wheel stop on the front ramps that, once again, you would have to be some sort of idiot to not feel it and I am pretty confident you would have to gas it fairly good to actually drive up and over the wheel stop. These things really are idiot proof. Here I am just chillin with all wheels up off the ground and it all took 2-3 minutes.
Once in this position you can do a few things. I bought the two piece ramps so that when I am up (and will be there for awhile) I like to pull off the ramp portion so that on a creeper I can access through the sides as well as sliding under the front. Oh, and don't be a fool...throw a wheel chock behind that front wheel just in case.
In situations like an oil change most everybody knows that the back should be a a few inches higher than the front to get all the oil out so for that I have some Wheel Cribs. Now that the back is high enough off the ground to easily slip a jack under I simply raise the back with said jack and insert the Wheel Cribs.
When doing jobs that require the wheels be taken off I use the Race Ramps only as a means to get the car high enough for jacking from the suspension cross members. Once jacked up the ramps are removed and jack stands are put into place. When finished the wheels are put back on, the ramps are put back into place, and the car is backed off onto the floor.
As most of you know, having a lowered car looks great but presents a lot of problems too. Besides the constant lookout for things in the road/parking lots that will tear your front end off, lifting the vehicle is yet another challenge compared to a factory setting Corvette. Race Ramps makes this area a breeze. Besides being insanely easy and fast to use they also make lifting a vehicle SAFE.
They use a high density foam that is surprisingly lightweight and it is covered with a spray on coating that makes these things impossible to slide on any surface that I have come across. Slick painted garage floors, sandy driveways, dust covered body shop floors... nothing lets these ramps slide or shift when driving up or backing off.
Even with jack stands placed underneath the car in the correct spots I used to always leave the jack under the car too just as an extra safety step. I know some guys lay their wheels (after they are removed of course) alongside the rocker areas so that if a jack stand slipped the car would not crush them. I can honestly say that I have no issues or concerns when underneath the car while using Race Ramps. They are solid and you can push, shake, sit in, hammer on, lean against the car and nothing will move or shift. They are so wide at the base the company says you can use them on grass/gravel/sand/ pretty much anything.
The only "cons" I can think of would be amount of space they take up and price. Obviously they will take up more space in your garage than a few jack stands and jack would. I don't think they are so big that it is a huge deal breaker but it is worth mentioning that unlike jack stands and jack, you can't just load them into your car and head up to the track or wherever. I do all my work in my garage so the space thing really isn't a big issue for me. As you can see from the first picture I just stack them against a wall when they are not in use.
There is no denying it, these things are spendy. That is probably their biggest downfall. It is important to note that I have the more expensive ramps plus the two piece model adds cost too but you will be looking at just over $200 for a set of two ramps that are the shorter version with one piece construction. I feel that for the fast, easy, and above all the safe use of this product it is definitely worth the cash. Getting crushed by my car would most likely ruin my day and isn't high on my list of "things to do" so the peace of mind is worth the price for me.
I ordered directly from the company and I have to say that they are really easy to work with and shipping is fast too. They are a forum vendor here and I noticed they had a group buy going about the time I was going to order. Unfortunately I missed the deadline by about a week and contacted them to see if anything could be done to still get the discount (15% Off I think). They told me that there was another group buy going on at a different forum and they gave me the coupon code and said I could get in on that one, AWESOME. That saved me over $100 on my entire order.
Some of you might be wondering how much I got paid to post this and I can assure you I have no ties or affiliation of any kind with this company or its products. Just a guy who was looking for a great way to get under his lowered car and this product and supplier completely blew me away. You often hear about vendors who didn't live up to the hype or somebody felt like the product wasn't up to par and I just wanted to remind everyone there are great vendors on here with awesome products and this is one of them.
All prices are easily accesible on their site if you are wondering what they will cost you. Also if anybody has any questions about clearance or whatever post them up I can do my best to answer them. Like I said before, my car is fairly low so if I can get up on them I am sure you can. Thanks for looking, Mark
The following users liked this post:
PWTin Tenn (04-21-2016)
Thanks for sharing.
04-10-2011, 09:17 PM
#7
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Excellent review and the pics really helped explain things. I've heard nothing but good comments about Race Ramps.
04-10-2011, 09:22 PM
#9
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Looks like they do the job for you well!
04-11-2011, 10:59 PM
#10
Le Mans Master
Nice review! I want a set!
04-12-2011, 09:15 AM
#11
Former Vendor
Review!Thanks so much for taking the time to write this. Anytime I see a customer write a lengthy review (which is not many), it makes me remember when we first started.
I knew the Corvette Forum was the perfect place to launch our new product in 2005. 6 years later, we are still a sponsor and the Corvette Forum never ceases to amaze. Not only do I post on Race Ramps, but my personal account has been lurking for 8 yrs now.
Race Ramps are now sold worldwide. A major factor is because of the members of this forum testing and using our products. I went from my first drawing of a 56" Inch Race Ramp (one piece) to 47 different Race Ramps Products, all providing our customers to just do what they want to do; work on their own Corvette, safely.
We are doing our best to keep prices the same, even though 100% of our products are petroleum based.
Again, Thank you for the Review! We here at Race Ramps are working hard to bring great products to market. The future of Brute Industries, Inc. looks bright!
Ben B.
04-12-2011, 11:12 AM
#12
Le Mans Master
That's exactly what I do 
Works great!
One thing that really helps as a one-person operation is to lay out some tape marks on the floor and wall. I have two u-shaped marks for the front ramps, two arrows for where the roll-ups go and finally an "aiming" device on the wall so I know how far forward to pull before getting out to put the roll-ups down.
Works great!One thing that really helps as a one-person operation is to lay out some tape marks on the floor and wall. I have two u-shaped marks for the front ramps, two arrows for where the roll-ups go and finally an "aiming" device on the wall so I know how far forward to pull before getting out to put the roll-ups down.
04-12-2011, 12:11 PM
#13
Former Vendor
Member Since: Oct 2010
Location: Philadelphia PA
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Positioning Roll-Ups
If you subtract the length of the primary ramps (67") from the wheelbase of your car (i.e. 105") that will tell you the distance to leave between the back edge of the primary ramps and the front edge of the Roll-Ups.
105 - 67 = 38
105 - 56 = 49
105 - 67 = 38
105 - 56 = 49
That's exactly what I do Works great!
One thing that really helps as a one-person operation is to lay out some tape marks on the floor and wall. I have two u-shaped marks for the front ramps, two arrows for where the roll-ups go and finally an "aiming" device on the wall so I know how far forward to pull before getting out to put the roll-ups down.
Works great!One thing that really helps as a one-person operation is to lay out some tape marks on the floor and wall. I have two u-shaped marks for the front ramps, two arrows for where the roll-ups go and finally an "aiming" device on the wall so I know how far forward to pull before getting out to put the roll-ups down.
Last edited by Fred@ReverseLogic; 04-19-2011 at 09:42 PM.
04-12-2011, 06:42 PM
#19
Tech Contributor
Nice setup !
I like that they literally weigh 1lb... they are like a feather.
Hang them off the ceiling with a hook, using the strap already on them.
Great way to store them !
I'm loving mine ! I feel a lot more confidant under my car with these...
I like that they literally weigh 1lb... they are like a feather.
Hang them off the ceiling with a hook, using the strap already on them.
Great way to store them !
I'm loving mine ! I feel a lot more confidant under my car with these...
Last edited by Toque; 04-12-2011 at 06:48 PM.
04-12-2011, 06:48 PM
#20
Le Mans Master
I'm lucky enough to own Race Ramps. A top-notch product!