Silverline Axle Stands – Product Review

If you’re anything like us, you’ll absolutely hate working underneath a car. But if you’re keeping a classic on the road, the unavoidable truth is that if you plant to maintain it yourself, you’re going to need to. But it feels so… wrong. It’s claustrophobic, it certainly leaves us feeling anxious, and of course, this is all propped up (pun unintended) by your mate with the obligatory tale of the other mate who had a car fall on him. No sir, we do not like it. If you’re okay with looking at the uncarpeted side of your car, then more power to you. Maybe you have had the good sense to invest in a set of sturdy axle stands, like these from Silverline.

Get your Silverline axle stands here

There are some musts when it comes to working under a car. Never work on a car when it’s being held up by just the jack. Jacks are for the lifting and lowering, not for holding. You should also put something under the car, like a wheel or two, so that if something fails, the car lands on them and not your lovely face. You should chock the wheels that are staying on the ground, so as to stop the car shifting. And you should always, always use axle stands. Proper, beefy, strong axle stands. Do not ‘cheap out’ on them. If a car falls on you, it won’t hurt you. It will kill you. Good axles stands are a must, and these Silverline items are exactly that. Solid, safe and not likely to fail.

The Product 

Silverline has made a name for itself as one of the UK’s biggest supplier of wallet-friendly tools. We have a whole host of their stuff here, and all of it has been excellent to use. The axle stands, however, are on another level. Traditional axles stands are flimsy looking things. Normally a pinned tube with an upper cup, which slides into a larger tube triangulated with some flat steel and a triangular base. They don’t inspire confidence. These Silverline ones do, though. Four half-box legs made from thick steel, proper high quality welding and a cast iron ratchet-adjusted support that will stand up (sorry) to anything. The ratchet design inspires a great deal of confidence, as this ‘locked in’ method means nothing can land on your head and it also means you have a height range of 285 to 420mm. Each stand can cope with three tonnes.

The Test

We test everything first-hand here at Car & Classic, but some products need a bit of ‘living with’ in order to get the most out of them. Happily, we can report we have done a lot of living with these Silverline axle stands, using them to prop up all manner of cars over the last few months. They’re heavy old things, so that takes a bit of getting used to. But remember, in this context, heavy is good. The support posts simply slide up by hand to suit your chosen height, and you then take the tension off the jack and let the stands do the rest. The ratchet design locks them in place. Then when it’s time to remove them, take the weight off with the jack and lift the ratchet arm and it drops down. Simple. No faffing about with a locking pin. The design of the cups means they can find a home in various places under the car. When working under the car, they don’t shift about, and they truly do give you a sense of security and safety. Well made, these stands will never let you down.

The Result

These Silverline axle stands have proven themselves as a permanent part of our tool kit. Not only that, they have seen to it that our old, ‘flat bar and tube’ stands go in the bin. These Silverline stands are solid, sturdy and extremely well engineered. If you’re going to do any work on the underside of your car, you need these. You can’t put a price on safety, so we’d suggest these even if they were expensive. However, at the time of writing, they’re £30, and that is a bargain for the peace of mind they offer.

Verdict – 5 out of 5

Buy them. That’s all there is to it. This is an investment in your safety, and there are few ways to be safer underneath a car than these Silverline axle stands.