I don't think you'd benefit from a tyre fitter/balancer unless your nearest tyre fitter was 60 miles away and you were shredding every other week on a track or something??

I think we'd all love a 2 post lift though. Aren't scissor lifts a bit restrictive sometimes? No?

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'13 208 Gti Bianca White, '99 Bianca 306 Rallye, '92 309 Goodwood GTi 5dr, '92 Miami Blue 309 GTi 3dr.

Hi Mark,

I'm going to be frank here. There is no point in getting any of the equipment you're thinking of buying, not unless you have money to burn that is.

You mention you don't have a huge customer base, so justifiying the amount you would spend on a lift (of any kind) and tyre machines is difficult as it'll be a long time before you see any return on them. Secondly, it's not just a case of buying this equipment, they take a lot of maintenance that can be very costly e.g. monitoring and repairing the metal structure of the lift and it's mechanics, calibrating the tyre balancing machine.

However, the biggest point to mention is the fact you don't even have a garage! Where are you going to keep all this equipment?

I have a sizeable garage and work on stands all the time and am able to do every job you can possibly think of; from changing oil to changing engines and I don't even have a compressor!

From what you've posted I think you should stick to your hands tools and stands.

My only recommendations would be:
- Two very good jacks e.g. Sealey with 3 tonne lifting capability
- Four Ratchet stands
- Electric gun; 1/2 inch drive
- Also, don't underestimate how useful a block of wood can be!

Good luck with whatever you decide, but be sensible!

P.S You're the first person I've ever heard say they enjoy changing tyres, I bloody hated it!

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Deepak Gohil

I thought about all these questions once for a fraction of a second before realising how ridiculous it would be.

A decent tyre balancer would cost you a couple of grand, and you can charge about £5 a wheel including the lead weights which aren't free. There's a good reason you never see new ones, 99% of garages have beaten up old ones because it's just not worth buying new ones. Servicing and calibrating them also won't be cheap.

You can buy two-post lifts, but they're 2.5m high for starters and would cost you £2k+. Again the hydraulics need servicing and maintenance, and the decent ones need 3 phase power. I'm never sure I really trust two-post lifts, certainly not cheap ones. I'd want an ex-garage one, even then I'd want it professionally installed to make sure it didn't just pull out of the ground and fall over when I put an unbalanced car on it.

The only things that might be worth it are a decent air compressor with which you can power air tools, saving you on buying drills etc - and a decent welder. Anything more than that is just not worth the money imo.

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Membership expiring soon, get in contact on our new little forum project.

Make sure you get a compressor that will actually do what you want out of it. A small one will not power air tools for very long at all.

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Senior Test Automation Engineer for the 306GTi6 Owners Club Forum

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yeah like dan says in my work we have 2 compressors wich are very big size wise and one is more powerfull then the other and it makes some diffrence when you're on weaker of the 2 so you'd be much cheaper buying a couple of snap on or sealy electric hand tools like 3/8 1/2 gun

Yeah I know how much of a pain in the ass a poor compressor can be, ours at work is ok running the cnc's and guillotine but when we have the air drills going it can't cope. Gets really irritating.

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supercharged China gti6 - Thu 16th Sep 1999 - sold
2010 megane rs250

I had a customer with 22 industrial spotwelding stations but a plumbed in cooling system that only had enough capacity for 4 welders, they all had 'in-out'gate valves on the sets and used to shout accross the shop to say when they were finished using their machine so someone else could use their own! The clue should've been that the old chiller unit was the size of a family hatchback and the new one was the size of a small filing cabinet, clowns.

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R H Davey Welding Supplies. I sell new and used welding equipment in the Hampshire area. I take on welding jobs in the evenings, ally casting repairs are one of my specialities but I can weld pretty much anything. PM me with your requirements.

Some of my services: (See my for sale threads)
Engine mount/chassis repair
Solid Beam Mounts BACK IN PRODUCTION
Harness bars

Hey Jim, how are you?

Haha that wasn't well thought out then.

Did you do all of your race car build with jack and axle stands or did you use other equipment?

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supercharged China gti6 - Thu 16th Sep 1999 - sold
2010 megane rs250

Maybe that's a sign that it's a bad idea

Yeah I will keep searching. Would you be interested in getting involved somehow? I know you do alot of work on your cars so could come in handy for both of us?

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supercharged China gti6 - Thu 16th Sep 1999 - sold
2010 megane rs250

How easy would it be to dig an inspection pit in your work area? Ive no idea but it might be a solution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIyjJ_SS7PY

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Spanner Monkeys Monkey Spanner
Forum Search Clicky

Yes I am very grateful to everyone for the great suggestions here.

I think you're right, maybe I'd be better off working part time in a small garage, with someone like yourself, that way all the equipment will already be there, I could learn from the boss, and maybe get to fix my own cars cheaper and easier? I think that's a more realistic idea for starters.

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supercharged China gti6 - Thu 16th Sep 1999 - sold
2010 megane rs250