Wheel ramps - are they useful for a Westfield?

[eggontoast]

Hello all, 

 

Are wheel ramps useful for a Westfield? Is it possible to reverse a FW bodied car on to some without scuffing the nose on the ground, but fore then jacking the front? I'm confident jacking and supporting the front of the car but not so much the back. 

 

This sort of thing (these specifically give 20cm lift):

 

 

[jeff oakley]

All depends upon what you are wanting to do. They are a good safe way of raising a car and then being underneath secure, but most maintenance you do involves taking off wheels so these do not really help in that situation.

 

I prefer a good quality jack and stands, not cheap import tools

[dvd8n]

I don't know about FW but I use ramps with my ZK all the time, front and back.

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

I use them, but don’t drive onto them . I prefer to jack up and put them under the raised wheels.

[dvd8n]

2 minutes ago, Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO said:

I use them, but don’t drive onto them . I prefer to jack up and put them under the raised wheels.

I've never done that.  I've always driven onto mine.  Maybe it depends how low you are.

[Flying Carrot Steve]

 

You can get them with built-in jacks too (usually a bottle jack type affair) and raise the car quite a bit higher than the standard ones. Not sure how safe they are though but I'd imagine as safe as any bottle jack is. 

[mega ade]

I personally wouldn't use them I've seen a few disasters with people trying to use ramps over the years can't beat a low nose trolly jack and good quality stands your westfield deserves it.

[eggontoast]

Thanks for the thoughts all. 

 

I've a low profile jack already and some totally adequate stands. Maybe I should just play with the rear placement a bit. 

 

 

[Stuart]

I have some with a built in bottle jack and they are fantastic. Drive onto them almost flat then jack them up. Locking mechanism when jacked + use axle stands too

[Mole]

1 hour ago, eggontoast said:

Thanks for the thoughts all. 

 

I've a low profile jack already and some totally adequate stands. Maybe I should just play with the rear placement a bit. 

 

 

I put the axle stands under the rear cross member behind the seats, well actually as I have got dropped floors I have a length of 4*2 that I put across and jack in the centre of it and then the axle stands go under that at full width 

I do similar at the front. The axle stands are then well spread out.

There is no rock or movement if I try to wobble the car. I feel that it is solid and safe.

[KevanP]

I do exactly the same. The 4ft length of 4x2 spreads the load nicely. Axle stands and trolley jack to support middle and either end are excellent. 

[eggontoast]

That's what I do at the moment, @Mole. I probably just need to get better at it. 

[Robin Parker (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO]

I jack the front up and put the ramps under and jack the back for the axle stands.

Be careful letting it down, as mine rolled off the ramp when I turned my back. 

[Mole]

3 minutes ago, eggontoast said:

That's what I do at the moment, @Mole. I probably just need to get better at it. 

I put an end stop on one end of the 4*2 and two stops on the rear face and a magnet either end sunk in the top face which allows me to slide the wood under and click it in place which makes it much easy we and less times up and down on and off my knees!

[Hafod]

I tried an old pair that were given to me, impossible to drive onto them as they kept being pushed away due to the light weight of the car a wide tyres. 
 

I have a 2 pairs of axle stands with a square section bar welded between them and thin carpet stuck to the bar, works great