Swisstrax vs. RaceDeck

[MDJAK]

EDIT ON 7/10/18: I received another call from RaceDeck today, and while the specific content of the call will not be revealed, the service they are offering is above and beyond what I’ve ever experienced. Major kudos to Jorgen for stepping up and taking care of my issue with the tiles. Thank you


First and foremost, when I review something, I give my completely honest opinion. I have absolutely zero connection to either company.

I also want to love what I spend my hard earned money on. I want to give everything I review 5 stars because I want it to work as intended, be relatively easy to use and/or install, and function as intended.

I have reviewed many items over the years. I have participated in focus groups to develop new cars, etc.

I do my research, read extensively on products and finally make a selection.

Down to brass tacks as my wife, who is a jack of all trades and a master of many, from plumbing to quilting to carpentry, you name it, fights with the Racedeck tiles. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, her dad was a super of large buildings and she carried his toolbox from a young age and learned at his feet to do it all.

A couple of years ago, in our two car garage she wanted tiles. She did the research and purchased Swisstrax. At the time we never heard of RaceDeck. We got the flow through tiles, I believe they are 14x14, and they went down literally like buttering bread. Tile after tile, connected with absolutely no problem. The tiles were packaged singly. Nothing to separate.

Fast forward to now and I take delivery of about 150 12" tuff stuff RaceDeck tiles. I wanted to try a different company and I liked the shine to the tiles. I also wanted the solid instead of flow through. The sales associate I dealt with was competent and very responsive, sending me a sample tile.

We are now fighting tooth and nail to get the small tabs to connect in many instances. The tabs easily ride up at which point you see stress markings on the tiles.

Some tiles will go in rather easily, others are like a fight with Mike Tyson.

It is not my intention to slam or hurt anyone's business. I am just telling it like it is. The snap together mechanism of the Swisstrax tiles is much better and much quicker to use. The fact the RaceDeck tiles are shipped four tiles together and you have to disassemble them is a complete waste of time. Perhaps it makes shipping cheaper, I don't know.

There you have it. And I waited to write this until we had half the floor down as I was a bit hot under the collar at first.

Now back to helping my wife, or getting in her way.

See post 29 for pics of stress marks on tiles from bending tabs during installation.

 

[CJDave]

My Race Deck FreeFlow tiles went down quite easily. Since my pattern is 2x2' I found their shipping method very handy. Locking the tabs was easy as my wife and I laid 500 sq. ft. in a couple of hours. I have no experience with any other garage flooring but if I had to do another garage Race Deck would be my choice again. CJDave.

 

[MDJAK]

And all's well that ends well. Here are some pics.

 

[CJDave]

Looks great! Nice touch with the ceiling. Is that reclaimed lumber? CJDave.

 

[MDJAK]

Thank you. No, it's knotty cedar purchased from a lumbar yard.

 

[CJDave]

Nicely done. CJDave.

 

[Zaks]

Looks great. I'm curious which of the two you find easier to clean or how easy/quickly they get dirty.

 

[CJDave]

My FreeFlow allows any water or slush or snow to drain through. This seems to take most of the dirt and grit along. There is some dirt on the tiles when Spring arrives but here is my solution to that. When I give the Mach 1 in my avatar it's first bath in the Spring I do so with it parked in the center of the garage. When I'm done I use a long handled soft bristle brush and my remaining car wash solution to clean the FreeFlow. A light scrub and all is well. I suspect that the self-draining nature of the tiles also makes it somewhat self-cleaning as the dirt goes with the liquid. Her DD tracks in slop over the winter but even after several months accumulation the dirt scrubs right off. During the Summer little or no dirt accumulates on mine. During the warm months when I wash the Mach 1 I find only a hosing is needed on the tiles. CJDave.

 

[MDJAK]

I don’t know about cleaning these new tiles yet. As for flow through, in my case, my gagare floor where they are is 60 years old and doesn’t really have a correct pitch out. I’m guessing the tiles are covering a multitude of dirt, etc. I do use a leaf blower to blow out what I can. They’ve been down for about 2 years now. I’ve been meaning to go over them with shop vac and even lift them in front and pressure wash it.

I laid landscape fabric under the new ones. I’m told even if and when water goes through tile cracks it will evaporate. I hope that’s right.

Btw love that ‘stang. Been hankering for the new GT350. Was sitting in it in dealer when taking delivery of my Platinum few weeks back. Loved the Recaros surprisingly. Didn’t think I would because of the heavy bolstering. Now if it only came with a PDK/dual clutch auto.

 

[MDJAK]

Here is a time-lapse of installation. You can see my wife did most of the work.

 

[CJDave]

Don't short yourself. You did a wonderful job with the dust mop. LOL. Nice job. Nothing like teamwork. CJDave.

 

[MDJAK]

I am an expert with my mop, a Rubbermaid hygene with reservoir and interchangeable Velcro pads. Thank you. Lol.

 

[Excelerater]

I have a swisstrax for over 10 years,you def want the flow through type tiles.
J
Its a nicer tile that racedeck IMO.

 

[Garage Flooring]

First and foremost, when I review something, I give my completely honest opinion. I have absolutely zero connection to either company.

I also want to love what I spend my hard earned money on. I want to give everything I review 5 stars because I want it to work as intended, be relatively easy to use and/or install, and function as intended.

I have reviewed many items over the years. I have participated in focus groups to develop new cars, etc.

I do my research, read extensively on products and finally make a selection.

Down to brass tacks as my wife, who is a jack of all trades and a master of many, from plumbing to quilting to carpentry, you name it, fights with the Racedeck tiles. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, her dad was a super of large buildings and she carried his toolbox from a young age and learned at his feet to do it all.

A couple of years ago, in our two car garage she wanted tiles. She did the research and purchased Swisstrax. At the time we never heard of RaceDeck. We got the flow through tiles, I believe they are 14x14, and they went down literally like buttering bread. Tile after tile, connected with absolutely no problem. The tiles were packaged singly. Nothing to separate.

Fast forward to now and I take delivery of about 150 12" tuff stuff RaceDeck tiles. I wanted to try a different company and I liked the shine to the tiles. I also wanted the solid instead of flow through. The sales associate I dealt with was competent and very responsive, sending me a sample tile.

We are now fighting tooth and nail to get the small tabs to connect in many instances. The tabs easily ride up at which point you see stress markings on the tiles.

Some tiles will go in rather easily, others are like a fight with Mike Tyson.

It is not my intention to slam or hurt anyone's business. I am just telling it like it is. The snap together mechanism of the Swisstrax tiles is much better and much quicker to use. The fact the RaceDeck tiles are shipped four tiles together and you have to disassemble them is a complete waste of time. Perhaps it makes shipping cheaper, I don't know.

There you have it. And I waited to write this until we had half the floor down as I was a bit hot under the collar at first.

Now back to helping my wife, or getting in her way.

Pics to follow.

I'm guessing they are the diamond pattern? I used them in my own garage. PRO: They are the tightest fit around. CON much harder to get together than even their other patterns. The best way I have found... Use your heal. Start at the inner edge and work out.

 

[MDJAK]

Yes, Diamond Pattern with the shiny finish.

I'll also add that after I emailed the company on the weekend we were installing (she was installing) they promptly replied Monday. Thereafter I emailed my detailed criticism in a respectful manner with what I thought were helpful suggestions. I stated I was not complaining but giving them valuable feedback and that's how they should take it.

No reply. That's a weak business practice as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Chris M.]

Do things roll on the Swisstrax? For instance a rolling tool cabinet? It seems like the wheels would get hung up on the slats.

 

[CJDave]

I don't know about Swisstrax but that is no problem on my Race Deck FreeFlow. CJDave.

 

[James-W]

I have the regular diamond tiles and I installed them with two friends. I saw a hammer in the video, I take it that was used to tap the tiles into place. We didn't use a hammer, we just set the tiles in place and then walked on the tiles to snap them into place. We had no issues with installing them, I have no idea why you did. The floor does look good.

 

[GTGarage]

MDJAK, garage looks great! I did racedeck in my 3-car garage and for the most part, I never had a problem with the tiles snapping together unless they were slightly mis-aligned. Since I had the diamond pattern, it was easy to tell exactly where I needed to exactly line them up though (diamond to diamond). I did use a rubber mallet to help tap the tiles into place that were tight and the installation was easier than I ever expected it would be. Totally happy and couldn't imagine it being any easier than it was. But to be fair, I've never tried Swisstrax.

As far as the shipping the 4 tiles together, I didn't think that was a big deal, I could easily break them apart by tapping my knee into them. I wouldn't consider that a factor in my decision personally.

All in all I would do it again in a heartbeat and I think it's a quality project.

 

[MDJAK]

As you state above, unless you have experience with Swisstrax, you couldn't know how much easier they are to snap together. I will take pictures tonight of the stress marks on top of many of the tiles when they were stepped on but didn't go together causing the tabs to ever so slightly bend. I would guess at least 10 to 20 percent of the tiles show these marks which will not go away with age.

And just to understand better what I'm saying, if you take a piece of plastic and bend it, you know how the color goes out and you see whitish kind of stretch marks? Wait for the pics. These tiles should be replaced free of charge. However, I haven't asked that be done as it would be very difficult to lift them and reinstall them.

Also, I will reiterate. While what I'm saying may turn off certain potential customers, that is not my intention. My intention is to give my honest review and comparison. As I said, I have zero connection to either. In fact, if anything, I've purchased many items from Obsessedgarage.com and he sells Swisstrax. I used a code from him originally to get a discount on them before he sold them. I used my membership here to get the discount on the RaceDeck.

 

[RaceDeck1]

....... the stress marks on top of many of the tiles when they were stepped on but didn't go together causing the tabs to ever so slightly bend. I would guess at least 10 to 20 percent of the tiles show these marks which will not go away with age.
And just to understand better what I'm saying, if you take a piece of plastic and bend it, you know how the color goes out and you see whitish kind of stretch marks? Wait for the pics. These tiles should be replaced free of charge. However, I haven't asked that be done as it would be very difficult to lift them and reinstall them.

.

The 'stress marks' you are referring to are from not correctly aligning and installing the locks. If you are stomping on the locks and they are not aligned in the loops, this could happen. The good news even though this may be an installation issue by the user, we gladly send out new tiles at no charge.

Our PowerLocks® are multi-patented and serve many functions from staying together under heavy loads, turning wheels,etc to allowing for max expansion and contraction during climate swings in the garage. If you look at the under side you will see the lock are part the understructure, not just attached to a thin outer wall. The last thing you want in a lock is for it to just lay in place loose. Our family has been manufacturing modular flooring systems for over 40 years and in that time we have created numerous patented locking systems and tile designs ( 26 patents and dozens pending) which are engineered out perform for specific applications ( garage, event, sports, etc)

We are also to help every step of the way during installation via phone, live chat, facetime, et.

 

[albaran]

Before I selected which floor to use I got samples from other manufacturers including Swisstrax which did seem like a nice product but at the time I thought came out a lot more expensive then RaceDeck. The packaging of 4 tiles to a box was actually an advantage because of the pattern we chose. I saw no problem in putting them down but I never put a lot of Swisstrax together to fully compare them. This picture was taken about 5 years ago and the Racedeck has worn beautifully since then.

 

[jimreed2160]

Sorry to **** in, but I just installed a small 11x5 section of BlockTile in my garage by a workbench. It was easy to install. I liked the $2/ft price. My area is light duty--no autos. So far it is nice and really beats the concrete floor. Heavy things roll and slide on it much easier. Sorry for the poor picture. It was taken before I installed the ramp trim.

 

[Swissfloors]

Chris,

You will not have trouble with the tool cabinet casters with the Ribtrax tiles. They will not get stuck between the ribs. We have now launched a new Ribtrax Smooth tile that is meant for a working garage. These have smaller gaps between ribs and the smooth/flat surface cleans up easy. I wanted a product that had all the advantages of our existing Ribtrax product with the added benefit of being barefoot friendlier as well as when you kneel or lay on the floor to work under a vehicle or bike!

 

[RaceDeck1]

Before I selected which floor to use I got samples from other manufacturers including Swisstrax which did seem like a nice product but at the time I thought came out a lot more expensive then RaceDeck. The packaging of 4 tiles to a box was actually an advantage because of the pattern we chose. I saw no problem in putting them down but I never put a lot of Swisstrax together to fully compare them. This picture was taken about 5 years ago and the Racedeck has worn beautifully since then.

Your Garage looks great! thanks for sharing and choosing RACEDECK

 

[jorge18]

Your Garage looks great! thanks for sharing and choosing RACEDECK

Sending you a PM.

Thank!

 

[Eurowned32]

I had a similar experience when installing my RaceDeck as well but eventually I got it together no problem.

I have a question for all of my fellow RaceDeck owners, has no one other then me experienced buckling in the floor due to the thermal performance of the plastic used to manufacture them? As the installation instructions direct, they would like you to install the floors at the hottest part of the day, but here in upstate New York, the hottest part of the day during winter (when I installed this floor) could be in the 20's. After installing and then placing my storage racks, engine lifts, tool chest, etc. around the perimeter of the garage, I've found the weight acting as an anchor to the floor preventing the floor from expanding... I would expect some type of expansion as all materials have thermal coefficients of expansion, but the alpha of this material is out of the park... After having the doors open and sun beating on the floor during the first real hot day of summer I saw the tiles closest to the door buckle up more then an inch in one area... luckily all of the weight on the floor was moveable so I pushed it out into the driveway on the next hot day, let the floor soak, get hot, and expand then after a period of time moved the weight back onto the floor in hopes of anchoring it in its expanded form. So far so good but definitely not a convenient or idea situation.

 

[albaran]

Yes, the RaceDeck does buckle if one part is in the Sun. RaceDeck sent me some freeflows to put along the edge that is effected and that helped. I would think that all of these type of tiles would react the same, not just RaceDeck.

 

[MDJAK]

So at the risk of being repetitive and turning people off, I will repeat: It is NOT my intention to slam RaceDeck, NOR to hurt their business in any way. If one does not look at the stress marks, one sees a beautiful floor. Here are pics of the stress marks. I am also including a quick snapshot of my Swisstrax floor in my adjacent garage. So it's not as if we fell off a turnip truck and have zero experience installing these type of floors. It's also not as if we purposely misaligned the tiles to cause these marks. We did the absolute best we could, watched every available video before and during.

It's very simply the way these go together, if each and every tile is not laid absolutely perfectly, the first time, once you step on them, if they do not connect, you will get these stress marks which are quite unattractive to say the least.

It's very nice of the company to comment above that although they consider it installer error, they will replace the damaged tiles free of charge. However, a quick count of my floor shows at least 30 tiles have these marks. It would require uninstalling and reinstalling the entire floor with no guarantee that the same thing will not happen again. And we installed on a Saturday and when having trouble immediately called. Their offices were closed. I immediately emailed and received a reply the following Monday. And as I mentioned, no reply to my followup email with my detailed critique.

Here are some pics I just took.

Here is the quick snap of the SwissTrax.

I will also state that many viewers may see I am a noobie on this forum and thus discount my credibility. I have close to 5,000 posts on the Porsche Macan forum under the same screen name, and over 10,000 on POTN (Photography on the Net) forum where I have been a well regarded member also for well in excess of 10 years. I do not make these type of posts lightly.

 

[MDJAK]

As I said, minus the stress marks, which by the way DO happen if they are the slightest bit misaligned, not "could" happen as they state, the floor is beautiful.

 

[kngelv]

Those are some pretty noticeable stress marks. I would not be happy with a bunch of those. The SwissTrax are flow through tiles so comparing those to solid RaceDeck is not a fair comparison though. I wonder if anyone has those same marks with RaceDeck Freeflow or solid SwissTrax?

James

 

[MDJAK]

If the solid SwissTrax have the same attachment mechanism as their flow through, you could not get those stress marks. They connect in a much different and much easier manner so there is nothing that would cause them. The SwissTrax can be pressed together with the palm of your hand. You'd have to be Magilla Gorilla to use your hand to press the RaceDeck in place. A simple search on Youtube shows a gentleman using a sledge hammer to snap the RaceDeck together. That speaks volumes about how hard they are at times to snap together.

 

[Swissfloors]

Hello MDJAK,

To answer your question, yes the Diamondtrax tiles have the same locking system as our Ribtrax. We have a patent pending on this modified system. We worked years to get our system to go together with ease with the ability to take the tiles out in the middle of the floor if need be. You can always post a PM if you have any further questions.

 

[RaceDeck1]

Again (seems like this thread thread is bumped by some often) - We have messaged and offered to replace the damaged tiles from the installation process and have had no reply ( we can not look up your order without your contact info, or I would have already have just sent you the replacement). We may even be able to have one of our dealers or install crews in your area come out and would have them swap out the tiles - At No Charge ( no need to remove all floor you can can easily pop out a single tile within the middle of the floor . see here

).

Our mutli-patented locking systems are engineered to hold up the the tough garage environment year after year. We manufacture manly styles of locks for specific applications and loose locks while easy to drop in place are nice during install, we have found they are not ideal from what have learned with 100's of millions of square feet installed. As for the mallet installed referenced, that is not what we recommend, simply align the locks and loops and step into place ( like in this video where a dad and kid demonstrate

I have left you my personal contact info - Happy 4th

 

[Robert Haas]

RaceDeck, as a business owner I salute your customer service.

. As a hot rod shop owner I lust after your product.

I hope to have your product in our show bay by the end of the year and that choice is based on your posts in this thread.

 

[MDJAK]

Again (seems like this thread thread is bumped by some often) - We have messaged and offered to replace the damaged tiles from the installation process and have had no reply ( we can not look up your order without your contact info, or I would have already have just sent you the replacement). We may even be able to have one of our dealers or install crews in your area come out and would have them swap out the tiles - At No Charge ( no need to remove all floor you can can easily pop out a single tile within the middle of the floor . see here

).

Our mutli-patented locking systems are engineered to hold up the the tough garage environment year after year. We manufacture manly styles of locks for specific applications and loose locks while easy to drop in place are nice during install, we have found they are not ideal from what have learned with 100's of millions of square feet installed. As for the mallet installed referenced, that is not what we recommend, simply align the locks and loops and step into place ( like in this video where a dad and kid demonstrate

I have left you my personal contact info - Happy 4th

I'm not sure where you have left me a message or your personal information. I am new to this forum but it's the same general software as most. I have no PM from you in my box. The only two messages I have are from May when I first requested a sample and then asked another question.

I'd be more than happy to take you up on your offer to have the tiles with the stress marks replaced.

I dealt with Jennifer Storms and my email address is the same as my screen name here with the addition of aol.com

 

[RaceDeck1]

.....

I'd be more than happy to take you up on your offer to have the tiles with the stress marks replaced.

I dealt with Jennifer Storms and my email address is the same as my screen name here with the addition of aol.com

Hello Mark - I just PM'd you - happy 4th

 

[RaceDeck1]

RaceDeck, as a business owner I salute your customer service.

. As a hot rod shop owner I lust after your product.

I hope to have your product in our show bay by the end of the year and that choice is based on your posts in this thread.

Thank you Robert! looking forward to seeing your show bay with one of your cool rods on our flooring - Happy 4th

 

[MDJAK]

In fairness, I did want to "bump" this thread to say I did receive a call from Jennifer at Jorgen's behest requesting a tile count of those that show the stress marks. They are going to replace them and hopefully also have someone in the area who can remove the damaged tiles and replace with new.

That is excellent customer service and I applaud them for taking care of it.
Thank you.

 

[MDJAK]

Please see my edit in my first post if you haven’t where RaceDeck is taking care of the issue.