Rolling Drain Pans

Have you ever tried to change your car or motorcycle's oil without a proper drain pan? It's a messy process, one that's made worse by the fact that engine oil is notoriously difficult to clean up from a garage floor or paved surface. Those oh-so-common oil stains are almost entirely caused by this one slip up alone, leaving nasty black and grey marks on an otherwise pristine concrete garage floor.

Here's the thing, though – those oil stains are easily preventable. No, it's not through the use of an annoyingly small bucket or a worthless pile of newspaper, but by using a proper oil drain pan. One of the slimmest and simultaneously most valuable pieces of any automotive workstation, a decently sized oil drain pan can help you keep your floor clean and your engine oil remarkably organized.

Drain pans are available in two key styles: the stationary drain pan, which remains static when in use; and the rolling drain pan, which is attached to four small wheels to allow vehicle owners easy access to their car and oil pan. This article focuses on the second type of drain pan, which is much more useful for drivers and vehicle owners than its low quality, often inexpensive alternatives.

Think about it this way – would you trust a thin, soggy piece of newspaper with the job or keeping your garage clean from one of the world's stickiest substances? The outdated idea of using paper or material clothes to keep your garage floor clean just isn't effective anymore. In fact, using cheap oil prevention tools can actually increase the amount of oil that stains your concrete garage floor.

This simple guide will help you understand the value of a rolling drain pan, understand how it can help you keep your garage floor or outdoor parking area clean, and learn how it can assist you for car repairs and other routine maintenance tasks. If you're a true clean freak – and most mechanical experts are – it's essential that you keep a rolling drain pan in your garage's accessory arsenal.

How a Rolling Drain Pan Can Save You Time
Few tasks are as annoyingly time consuming as an oil change. It's one of several vehicle car tasks that requires both under-the-hood and under-the-car adjustments, which can make it a fairly large and daunting task for those without extensive experience. Draining the oil is particularly stressful for new car owners, as it involves opening a pipe underneath your car and catching slimy fluids.

With a standard oil pan or low quality catching bowl, this can take close to an hour to set up and execute. Along with a lengthy time requirement, it can also result in nasty spillages and a decent amount of bending upwards and downwards to adjust the pan itself. Prevent routine automotive maintenance from taking such a long time by using a rolling drain pan for your oil changes.

How a Rolling Drain Pan Can Prevent Injuries

There's an awful amount of stopping and starting involved in most standard oil changes or oil filter replacements. From checking the oil – which requires a reasonable amount of back power to lift the vehicle's hood – to bending down beneath the car for adjustments, the average oil change is a series of back injuries just waiting to happen. Back pain, sore necks, and sore forearms are very common.

Like the annoying wasted time or endless stress detailed in the previous section, it's easily possible to prevent back and neck pain from occurring by using a rolling drain pan. Position it underneath a defined point in your car and use the extendable handle to move it without having to bend. Simple advantages like this can make an oil change much less stressful on your back, neck and upper legs.

How a Rolling Drain Pan Makes Motorcycle Oil Changes Simple
Changing the oil on some motorcycles is a fairly simple task. All that's required is a quick twist of the bike's oil knob and removal of the filter, along with some light oil draining. However, on some bikes, particularly BMW's famous R series, accessing the motorcycle's oil filter is a fairly difficult talk that requires over thirty minutes of adjusting panels and moving fairings out of the way.

With a standard oil pan, or in many cases without an oil pan, this job can take significantly longer than it otherwise should. It also risks becoming messy, with oil leaking out onto the bike's fairings and onto the ground around it. By using a rolling drain pan, you can strategically position your oil pan between the bike's two wheels, catching oil while minimizing your bike's total movement.

Why a Rolling Drain Pan is a Great Motoring Investment

Have you ever tried to remove hardened and sticky oil from a garage's concrete floor? It's far from a simple task, and it has the potential to take hours of scrubbing and water blasting before the oil stain disappears. Oil stains reflect poorly on your home's value and can negatively influence people with an interest in purchasing, making a rolling drain pan a good investment for your home's cleanliness.

A rolling drain pan also dramatically reduces the amount of time required to complete an oil change and filter replacement, making car maintenance less of a chore and more of a routine task. This will increase the frequency at which owners care for their vehicles, adding to the car's healthiness while subsequently making routine maintenance an easier, less stressful, and much cleaner responsibility.

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