Oil Change Ramps

The current state of the economy is such that people are starting to do simple tasks themselves. Changing your own oil is one way to save money and oil change ramps can help.

Give me convenience or give me death! That seems to be the theme of modern life. Many of us have found it more convenient to have other people do the most basic tasks instead of ourselves. The recent economic tsunami has caused all of us to reconsider whether it makes sense to spend $50 or more down at the local lube joint. For most of us it does not.

Changing your oil regularly is the single biggest step you can take to make your car last. If you do nothing else, do this. The good news is it also happens to be one of the easier things to do when it comes to maintaining your car. It might take you 30 minutes the first time, but you’ll have it down to 15 minutes each subsequent time as you get more familiar with the process.

There is one aggravating thing about changing your oil. Most cars sit low these days. To access the oil drain plug, you need to get under the car. This is also true for the oil filter on many cars. You can try to slide up under the car, but it is nearly impossible and gets old real fast. Fortunately, oil change ramps provide a simple solution.

What are oil change ramps? They are two triangular shaped ramps about the width of two tires. You drive the front wheels of your car up the ramps to create clearance between the bottom of the engine compartment and the ground. The clearance is usually a foot or two. This is a valuable foot or two. It will let you access the drain plug and oil filter without any problem.

As you can imagine, you want oil ramps that are sturdy. There are some “hard plastic” versions on the market. These should be avoided. You really don’t want your vehicle falling down on you. Not good! Mark Fidrych was a professional baseball pitcher with the Detroit Tigers. He died on April 13, 2009, while working on his truck. He was killed when his clothes got sucked up in the engine compartment. This is a tragic example and proof you need to be safety conscious under your car. If you are going to buy oil change ramps, go with steel. They’ll last forever.

Oil change ramps will run you in the $50 to $100 range. They are a great investment. Not only can you use them to change your oil, but you can use them to work on your car.

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