The Difference between Symmetric and Asymmetric Automotive Lifts

In Europe the most popular automobile lifts were post ones that were installed above ground. The installation technique was much simpler than that of the American in-ground & American garages soon started installing these types of elevators. Regrettably the European vehicle lifts were made for European cars, & these were narrower than American cars. The space between the hoisting posts was much less than what was needed, & the front automobile doors could not be opened except with great difficulty. This was due to the fact that the vehicle lift posts were close to the vehicle.

Automobile lifts originally date back to the invention of the Otis lift, but they do not need to go in to history to understand this subject. It is for us to know up until the 1980s the most popular type of automotive lift on the market, as well as the most popularly used type were the in-ground type. These elevators for cars had the machinery for lifting the automobile or van beneath the ground. Throughout the 1980s lots of garages found that their automobile lifts needed major repairs, & that they often needed a complete overhaul of the mechanism installed under the ground. Furthermore new customers looking for a garage elevator did not find the idea of having to dig a hole in the ground a cost effective idea.

The advantage of this type of lift is that the vehicle door can be opened & closed with ease & it does not give the same issue of the narrow gap. However you may now buy symmetric automobile lifts that have a wider gap between the posts, & this is not a controversy for most garages, business garages that have a large space to make use of. Nevertheless the asymmetric lift makes it simple for you to open the automobile door in a lift that takes up far less space & is thus thought about ideal as a automobile lift to be used in home garages. Garage owners that need a lift for larger vehicles will be less interested in asymmetric lifts & more interested in symmetric lifts, because larger vehicles are usually longer than cars & their doors can open fully when using the latter type of lift. It is therefore important when looking to buy a lift to think about what type of vehicle you will need to lift, as well as your space requirements.

The answer was the asymmetrical automobile lift. All post elevators have lifting arms connected to the posts. Each post has of these hoisting arms, for the part of the automobile that will be in front of the lifting post & the other arm for the part of the automobile that will be behind the hoisting post. Asymmetric lifts use a shorter lifting arm in front of the post & an extended behind the post leading to a configuration where only 30% of the vehicle remains in front of the posts while 70% remains behind them. However this configuration creates an unbalanced load on the lift & and ends in higher maintenance costs to keep the lift in service. The issue is solved by turning the posts from facing each other outwards to 30 degrees towards the load centre. A fully asymmetric vehicle lift will have unequal arm lengths & hoisting posts rotated at thirty degrees, while a lift with only different arm lengths can still be known as an asymmetric automobile lift but is only half-asymmetric.

To find out further information on automotive lifts as well as meeting sellers of all these types of lifts go to The DSE & find what you are looking for.