Bxstr

I don't work on my own car (although I'd like to learn more and get into that eventually), but this video gives you a pretty good idea of how it stands up with the questions you have.

Robocop305

What usually causes scratches or dents on the plastic tiles are sharp metal objects. Aside from that, they are very rugged.

BartN (TX)

i helped my friend install the racetrack tile in his garage. I didn’t read the instructions personally so not sure they would’ve addressed the issue he had with the tile sliding and bunching up due to him braking into the garage. It wasn’t like he was coming in at 30 and slamming on the brakes either. We ended up putting some concrete screws thru the leading edge of the tiles to help hold them in place.

Regarding working on the epoxy surface I’ve used jack stands and a rolling jack frequently on mine with no damage so far. Also my motorcycle side stands and center stands haven’t damaged or marked it, which is saying something as that is common on some surfaces.

rbahr

As I mentioned before, for 22 years I have been running jacks, dropping chemicals, heavy metal objects, etc, and my epoxy floor is still in pretty good shape. I had looked at tiles and in general they seemed like a PITA to work on. Prior to getting a lift, I spent a fair amount of time sitting or kneeling and the tiles are even more painful than the floor, not to mention cleanup...

Ray

bweSteve

Hi Ray, 22 yrs is a excellent use case. Glad to hear it, because I went a similar route just this past Fall. Before I post up any before/after pics here, I am waiting till my custom Moduline (w/ custom gunmetal pearlescent paint) to arrive, and I can mount on walls.

My Pro installer is the same company that has done some of the major arenas in our area (Washington Capitals Hockey, now the "Capital One Arena"). They use a multi part Acrylic Epoxy product from Germany's BASF. I say "multi-part" because it is not a simple 2 part epoxy. And it is "Acrylic" Epoxy. There is a total of four coats that make up the entire coating,... which when completed is a total of about 1/8" thick.

Background: Of course the most important & most time consuming part is the prep work. My garage (& the two homes on my property were built in 1928), and the actual cement floor was poured in the 1950's. Old concrete with a lot of large aggregate. I tested the thickness and it was only 3.5" - 4" in the center where I was going to put my 2-post lift (went with MaxJax due to my low 9 ft ceilings, plus my garage is a "working garage", not a show garage),... so I needed to cut out two large squares & pour two new 2ft depth footers with a much higher 4k psi compression strength concrete to anchor my lift posts. But the grinding and prep of the surface took the most time.

For the first primer coat, it was either a 2 or 3 part mix (there were 4 guys, and they were all working fast, so I didn't catch everything). It is a clear coating that etches down into the cement and provides a anchor for the next coat which chemically bonds to it. In fact the way they described it to me, each layer is a chemical bond to the one below it (think of the process for doing chrome on metal). So the next coat is MAIN coat, and is the one where they spread the flakes prior to drying. This product was a mixture of both DRY chemicals and LIQUID chems. This was also a time sensitive stage (all 4 guys were working feverishly at this point). This was also the thickest layer (gray in color). They used a TON of flakes which was full coverage (no longer seeing any of the gray color). For that layer, I think I recall seeing the guys mix up at least 4 different chemicals,... and once they were done, the leftover in the pal got VERY hot as it cured. They have to dispose of that 5gal pale as it can no longer be used in the future. The 3rd & 4th final coats are top clear coats and also require mixing up various chemicals. At this point I was probably pretty high, cuz I don't really remember how many different chemicals they mixed up (again some were dry powder, some were liquid). Smells like my wife's nail polish is a big way. They put two of the top clear coats over the flakes, and they guarantee that I will never wear down to the flakes (for my entire life,... which when the owner said that to me, I said "well I'm not much longer for this earth, so how about my son & daughters lives too, cuz most of this will be theirs someday. He laughed and said "probably not, but have them give me a call". Lol

Anyway, the coolest part of choosing this BASF Acrylic Epoxy, was that it dries SO FAST. They were cleaning up their supplies, and I asked how long before I could move my tool chests back in (cuz it might rain that evening),... they said "right now". Wow Ok,... so how long before I can put hot tires on it? ... they said "give it a couple hrs & it will be good to go". THAT was worth the extra $$$ I spent for this industrial quality floor,.. (which was about $6.90 per sq ft).

I also hope it withstands the test of 22 yrs Ray!!!
=Steve

rbahr

Hi Steve,

Some parallels here! I used this stuff: http://airtechcoatings.com/product-category/hard-deck/

Pretty sure the cost was ~$1500 for the supplies, I cleaned - Some industrial cleaner for oil & grease, sanded the floor, acid etched and applied the primer, applied the base epoxy coat, then the clear. Stuff probably causes cancer in rats the next town over, and the 'next' time I pay someone!

Then I installed my MaxJax since my wife didn't much care for a cut out in the floor of her office to allow me a real lift :-)

Protocav

Excellent feedback, thank you. Thanks also for the video.

t-design

Those plastic things look great if you never do anything in the garage and live in the no-snow/salt area. But otherwise... the amount of dirt and **** collected under it would bother me every second. And disassembling your floor to look for oil spills - is a straaaange concept.

Tile is the only way to go in my mind. With good job - it's indestructible, unstainable and will last forever. And looks great too.

Upscale Audio

The labor to install tile was about $6 square foot. Materials if I recall about $5. So about $11 a square foot all-in but I had a membrane installed and used Keralastic adhesive and epoxy grout so it should live longer than I do. I already mentioned this but the faux wood tile is really nice and slip-free. If I had it to do over......

t-design

I have no doubt that tile is also the most expensive variant. That's how it usually works in this world. I do want to do my garage with wood look tile one day, something like this. Come to think, will the vinyl plank floating floor do? I used it for the gum in a basement, and it is very tough and completely resistant to water/spills, with easy DIY installation and cost about $3.50 sqft

my first 911

not to get too far off topic but that is one of the coolest automotive displays I have ever seen.

Upscale Audio

Vinyl flooring may not do well with abrasion. That's what I suspect. I look at the ROI. If I do epoxy paint I might get something back when I sell the house if it looks great and like-new...which was not the case with my DIY job even with a LOT of prep. With tile, it costs me $10-11k, but I think any future buyer of my house would be sporting wood when they see it. Even if they aren't a car guy..it's nice. I'd get half of it back but most of the time even more.

Mark in Baltimore

I have the Swisstrax Ribtrax Smooth and love it. I do use thin sheets of plastic, similar to real estate signs, to protect the floor because I'm a bit OCD about that stuff. All of my stands have flat bottoms, however, and there was no damage the times I didn't use any protection.

If you spill something, the tiles pop up easily. NBD. Flooring tiles or not, I'm putting a big piece of cardboard under the car to capture oil anyway, so it's not an extra hassle. I also don't get the issue with dirt under the tiles; I suppose if I had a flashlight and looked for debris, then I could find it, but it's such a non-issue, IMO.

If you weld a bunch, this is the wrong material. For car washing, this stuff is fantastic; water goes right through and foam just needs a quick spray on the shower setting of the hose nozzle to make it all go away. I normally use foam pads (the puzzle-style stuff) or a Longacre pad when I'm under the cars working on them, but the Swisstrax is soft enough and warm enough that it's fine to lie on.

I've occasionally run one of our vacuum and mopping robots in the garage, and the surface looks terrific.

Installation was actually easy and fun.

bweSteve

.....

bweSteve

bump

gotta be some more of you who have improved your garages .... post em up!