The bottom line: This stuff is very expensive plastic tile. One-foot squares cost $3.85 or so, including shipping, at most vendors. Add that up, and if you have a TINY garage like mine, about 27' X 10', that'll run you about $1000. Still, it is a great product. You can see what an astounding difference it makes (with some white paint as well) in these before and after photos. You can dent the tile if you really try, but mostly it seems to spring back up. See below.
Read another independent review at singercars.com, or download the article. Despite the huge cost, I still haven't met anyone who isn't impressed with this product.
| Advantages |
| Looks a hell of a lot better than old dirty cement |
| REALLY comfortable for your feet |
| It's CLEAN. You can mop it like your bathroom floor, so there is no reason you could not eat off it if you wanted to. MUCH easier to keep clean then cement. |
| Easy to install - just click into place, fastening to eachother. You do not have to lay down any base layer or adhesive etc. |
| Moderately easy to take apart if you need to - you can pop them apart with the help of a broomstick. |
| You can make any pattern you want. |
| You can cut them with a hacksaw, dremmel with rotary saw bit, or a jigsaw, to fit any dimension you want. |
| Disadvantages |
| Cost |
| You CAN dent these in if you try hard enough. See below. |
The white tiles beneath your wheels can get a bit smudged. Over time this is hard to clean off, but the best thing seams to be to use Oxiclean and scrub with a brush. This picture was taken before I used the Oxiclean. I'd say about 85% of the stain came off with oxyclean the first few times.
However, now after 3 years of use, those stains are a little more obvious. I cannot remove them totally. This is completely expected of course. Judge for yourself the appearance. If you're really obsessive about such things, you can just plan to have darker colored tiles under the points where your tires will be.
I dented one or two tiles, as previously mentioned. So use a piece of particle board under your jackstands. It doesn't show up on the black tiles, but it can be seen on the white tiles.
They are supposed to take 2000 pounds or so, but if you have jackstands that concentrate all the weight of the car onto a sharp edge, like mine do, you can put a dent in the tiles. So for the use of a jack alone, there is no problem. But for jackstands, you're better off putting a peice of particle board underneath the stands to avoid denting the floor.
The culprit jackstand.
I'll try to remember to put a piece of wood underneath from now on.
The installation if straightforward - just snap them into place. It helps to use a rubber mallet to pound them into place, but no other tools are needed unless you need to cut the tiles. If I just had to lay these down in a perfectly rectangular garage, it would have been a 2 hour job or less. But I had to cut most all the edge pieces of one side, and had to make some cutouts to fit around the oiltank legs. So it took more like 10 hours. Rember that is for a 27' X 10' tiny garage, so set aside plenty of time if you're planning to do tile cutting.
By the way, the cutting is very easy, but you should do it with a jigsaw or other mechanized saw, because cutting by hand would just take way too long.
| Racedeck main web page - general information. |  | |
| Check with Ed at Nakidparts.com. He'll probably have the lowest price you'll find anywhere. Check with him before you decide that "It's just too expensive". He's also known as "Pipedreams" on Corvetteforum.com. |
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| Excellent installation tips |
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| Where I bought my Racedeck. At the time, about $3.75 per tile and free shipping. They also sell the black edge pieces that you'll need. |
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I think this is the most simple, fantastic way to turn your garage from a pure DUNGEON to a car guy's paradise. Although extremely expensive, it is MUCH better than any attempt to paint or epoxy the floor. I have had some experience with those products and would never do it again. If I were to move tomorrow, I'd either take my Racedeck with me, or buy a new one !
Highly recommended.
