auto storage lifts

I am moving from a house with a three car garage to a two, and I was wondering if anyone here had any experience, pro or con, with the auto lift devices I see advertised in Hemmings. What is best: single post, two post, four post, etc? I assume a 4,000 lb. lift would be fine for my 996, but most lifts seem to have 7,000 capacities. How difficult are these to install; is this a DIY type of job or who do I call. Most prices seem to be between $2k-4k, what explains the variance. Sorry for all the newbie questions. My other option is to leave one of my other cars outside six months a year, and then just store the Porsche in the winter (@$200/month) when I seldom drive it anyway. TIA!

i did same thing. had a 4-poster from Superior Lift Inc. worked fine....but....consider these thoughts: - every time you want to drive the upper car you must first cold-start the lower car, back it out of the way, lower the lift, back the upper car off the lift, raise the lift back up again, drive the lower car back into the garage (or leave lift down and just drive lower car onto the lift and leave lift in down position). ...and then....upon returning... cold-start lower car again, back it out, pull upper car onto lift, raise lift, pull lower car back in again. in short, lifts work, but if your upper car is a semi-frequent driver you may find like i did that the semi-daily logistics of it all is just a real pain. if your purpose is purely storage then they're a great way to stuff 3 cars into a 2-slotter garage. they're also a great DIY maintenance assist, easy/safe to work on car's bottom side. many of the 4-posters are the same, just sold thru different US distributors i think. having now done it, i would definitely install my own next time. if you've not done it might want to pay to have it installed. but make sure the installers have actually installed one before (mine hadn't)...yes, that's how i now know how to install them pieces are VERY heavy...need at min two very strong people, 3 people much better for the install. 7k lb capacity seems ind std from what i can tell.

I have a www.backyardbuddy.com . I did a lot of research and all 4-post lifts are not alike. Watch the video at the backyardbuddy website for an overview. There are some lifts that have a better platform (the part the car sits on) than the Backyardbuddy, but I had already purchased when I found that out. Since I store a light car 2K or 3K, it's not an issue for me anyway. Kirk has outlined the downside of a lift, if you want to use the car a lot it's a pain... On the install front, my son and I installed mine in an afternoon. We did need some neighbors to lift the ramp side that had the hydraulics under it. Other than that it was easy... Good luck. Roy

How about getting a car cover? It's easy to put on/off and costs $200.

What problems did you all have getting the packaged lifts off the delivery trucks? I have heard about requirements for fork-lifts.

I had zero problems. The guys who delivered the lift had done it before I guess. They lowered one side of the package to the ground and pulled the truck out a bit, then lowered the other side. The truck had a hydralic lift gate on it and it looked like they had done that many times. Once it was on the driveway, that's where it stayed until we put it together. Here's what it looked like right off the truck... Roy

Does anyone know off hand what kind of ceiling height is required for a lift?

hight of both cars plus 8 to 10 inches for most 4 post.

Chasman, I have 11ft ceilings but still had to cut and frame an opening for the roof of the top car. Mine was made by AutoLifters, Very high quality. Good luck... Rick

Alas, my ceiling is too low. My neighbor appears to have a two-car garage, but when the left door opens, a ramp into his basement is visible!!! I think he has about three cars down there.

Go to this site: http://www.garagejunkies.net/ Register, then do a search for "lift". There is some good info there. You can spend hours reading. I'm currently planning a new garage and this site has been tremendously helpful.

This is what I am thinking about buying: http://www.asedeals.com/single_post_storage_lifts.html . It seems higher priced than most of the two and four post lifts, but looks easier to install and has near the same weight rating. Runs on electric, no air compressor needed. Essentially, I would be storing the 911 from Nov - Mar, so no real need to play musical cars. I have room at the new house for storing one car outside, and it will be either my summer or winter commuter, depending on what season we are in, under a good car cover. Obviously, my wife gets the other side of the garage for her SUV. Granted, I could rent a garage space at Public Storage semi-near my house for $200 a month, and at $3k for the single post lift my breakeven is three years down the road, but there is some value, to me, of just being able to look at the 911 during the winter months even if I don't start it, and having it safe and sound. Thanks everyone for the links. Hopefully, I can find somebody local in STL to do the install for me.