OT - so what do think would happen if...

[Dr Luxurious]

... you had the front of you car up on ramps and you forgot to release the E-brake when you tried to back down?

[Tandem Rider]

Assuming front wheel drive, good bye front spoiler/air dam/leading edge of fender, especially on driving wheel side.

Did anyone get hurt?

[seanile]

^can you explain why an engaged e-brake would tear the front end off a car?

[Dr Luxurious]

Yep, front WD. No damage, no injuries. And no, I didn't get a video.

About 15 feet, BTW.

[christian]

Given the rear wheels are locked, the drive wheel ramp would shoot forward. Scary stuff. Never even thought about that as a modality for injury!

[Tandem Rider]

Given the rear wheels are locked, the drive wheel ramp would shoot forward. Scary stuff. Never even thought about that as a modality for injury!

I hadn't either until the good Dr brought it up. My paranoid imagination immediately thought of a projectiled ramp aimed at someone spotting the driver, followed by the front wheel crashing down at an angle, spring going to full compression, fender/spoiler collapsing, and possibly bending the rim if the tire had a short sidewall.

I'm glad to be wrong about this.

[Jgrooms]

I've backed a many fwd cars off ramps. You'd have to seriously be on gas to push the ramps out from underneath the wheels. You have the weight of the drivetrain, plus whatever friction to overcome from metal ramp on concrete surface. I'd think you'd realize the pb was on before launch force was achieved.


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[Louis]

Nothing good.

The stupidest thing I've ever done involving car ramps was with my '73 Dodge Charger. I drive too far forward and the wheels fell off the front of the ramps and the car came down to rest on the 1/4 panels. It was no big deal, since everything was all rusted out anyway. Luckily I also had a floor jack, and used that to lift the front end so I could remove the ramps.

[carpediemracing]

Some (most?) ramps have a lip to prevent "roll back" or whatever that's called when the car rolls back down the ramp. Putting a car into reverse, you'd expect some significant resistance to get over that lip. I could definitely see shooting the ramps out from under the front of the car.