Factory Jack and a Jack Pad

[BenN]

Hi,

I usually do a winter/summer wheel swap on the drive, using the factory jack for both of our cars with no issues. Having done this 2 years running on a Mk2 leon and Golf Mk6 using the factory jack on the pinch weld lip, the jack for both of these cars was the same and had a recess for the lip to sit in, but ultimately seemed to actually lift the vehicle at the base of the pinch weld where it meets the chassis.

I did the exact same with our new Leon Mk3 earlier this year, however due to not having a spare wheel I purchased the correct jack from Seat spares. I noticed they had changed the design, feels more robust but the contact point has changed. Now the jack has a flat metal plate which the pinch weld sits on. Therefore all of the cars weight is now passing through the edge of the pinch weld, afterwards i noticed the rubberised coating and paint had annoyingly split. I put a layer of touch up stick on, so hopefully this wont rust

I am yet to get my facelift Ibiza Cupra, which i understand comes with a spare wheel, and should have a jack in it.

My question is; Does anyone have a picture of the Ibiza Facelift jack that comes in the boot - I wonder if they changed this design too?

I was planning on putting a piece of rubber on the Leon Jack's edge to soften the contact point (to make kind of a jack pad) and wondered what you all thought? Considering i only ever jack our cars up for wheel swaps, I have never purchased a trolley jack - plus i'm not that confident with where i should use it on the underside of the car: some people say you can use them on the usual jack points, others say its bad for the car. I am cautious of buying something cheap and it failing on me - least with a scissor jack the seals cant suddenly fail!

What are your thoughts on this, I guess most of you own a trolley jack, if so are there any reliable ones that arent mega bucks? I won't be putting axle stands underneath for a wheel swap

Also, do you think VAG changed the jack design purposefully so that the jack only touches the edge of the pinch weld instead of the underside of the chassis?

Sorry for all the questions,

Thanks in advance,
Ben

 

[Pyrres]

Just buy a good jack and use it rather than factory one. You are just asking trouble by using that. You dont want to see your new car bottom out to the ground when the jack splits in half. Seen a few of those myself. The other thing is that original jack might fall if ground is not completely flat. Had that happen with my old Octavia and just luckily I got a few 2x4's under the car before it fell to the ground and could lift it with a proper jack.

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

[RUM4MO]

Yes, I completely agree with Pyrres, I've had a car jack work then jam when raised - had to kick it out, not good!

To the OP, I have seen powered scissor jacks and they seem to expect to miss the "bottom" of the welded joint. Buying a trolley jack is okay, although finding a convenient "jack pad" that will do the job and not split will not be easy and many people will say that you should at least have some blocks of wood to place under a convenient point of the car just in case! I'm afraid that I've gone extremely up market and bought a set of four "jackpoint jack stands" - mainly because my S4 is very flat and covered up underneath so I need to support it where I am allowed to jack it - the cost is not for everyone but they do work very well!

 

[BenN]

So after some thought, I might take the plunge with a Trolley Jack.

Ive been looking at this one and wondered what your thoughts were:

http://www.sgs-engineering.com/tjl2-2-tonne-low-profile-trolley-jack

They also sell it with a case, 2 axle stands and a rubber pad. Rekon its worth going for the stands, any need for wheel changing?

http://www.sgs-engineering.com/hydraulic-jacks/trolley-jacks/tjl2c-jsr-2-ton-low-profile-trolley-jack-with-case-axle-stands

Do u rekon i need anything any better than the above for either a Leon or Ibiza?

Also, those with a trolley jack, where is the best place to use it for a wheel change: if you use the factory jack points (pinch welds) do you just use a flat jack pad and put the entire force through the tip of the pinch weld, or get something like this:

... so that the force is transferred to the underside of the chassis.


Anyone work for a garage, Seat or VW and know the official way to lift these cars without doing damage to the wax/paint coating on these surface, which could in turn lead to rusting down the line?

Thanks,
Ben

 

[Pyrres]

So after some thought, I might take the plunge with a Trolley Jack.

Ive been looking at this one and wondered what your thoughts were:

http://www.sgs-engineering.com/tjl2-2-tonne-low-profile-trolley-jack

They also sell it with a case, 2 axle stands and a rubber pad. Rekon its worth going for the stands, any need for wheel changing?

http://www.sgs-engineering.com/hydr...ow-profile-trolley-jack-with-case-axle-stands

Do u rekon i need anything any better than the above for either a Leon or Ibiza?

Also, those with a trolley jack, where is the best place to use it for a wheel change: if you use the factory jack points (pinch welds) do you just use a flat jack pad and put the entire force through the tip of the pinch weld, or get something like this:

... so that the force is transferred to the underside of the chassis.


Anyone work for a garage, Seat or VW and know the official way to lift these cars without doing damage to the wax/paint coating on these surface, which could in turn lead to rusting down the line?

Thanks,
Ben

Well every garage I worked in including official VW garage lifted with flat rubber blocks from the original lift poibts or some other places that can take the load without breaking or bending.

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

[RUM4MO]

Just another suggestion, when I bought my wife's 9N Polo new back in late 2002, I bought four "TT jack point protectors", these rubber pads fit in place of four plastic grommets and get locked in place using the second part which is a hard plastic peg. I can't see why the latest Ibiza will not still have these four locations for these pads, once fitted they stay in for the time you own the car, then hopefully I'll remember to remove them for use in next Polo. The "standard small DIYer" trolley jack's cup fits snuggly over them, no more guessing as these pads are quite big. I believe they were fitted as standard kit to Audi TT to protect the "chassis" during jacking under the body. I've used them at least twice a year for the past 11.5 years for servicing and when swopping summer/winter tyres.

I think that the Golf owners used them as well, but I'd avoid using them on the next size up as the cars will be a bit too heavy and the surrounding area might distort slightly, well I did not fancy using them on my B5 Passat 4Motion with its heavy V6 engine.

 

[BenN]

Just another suggestion, when I bought my wife's 9N Polo new back in late 2002, I bought four "TT jack point protectors", these rubber pads fit in place of four plastic grommets and get locked in place using the second part which is a hard plastic peg.

Interesting that these work on the smaller VAG chassis, Like you said tho I had heard that if you lift the heavier cars up on a single point you could damage the chassis, I believe they are designed for the 4-point garage lifts. Did you just buy the same ones that they fit on the TT for your polo - ECS do a kit aswell i believe...

thanks!

 

[RUM4MO]

I'd reckon that my VW dealer's workshop "lift" will not pick up on these points, I'd reckon that they will stick with using the four reinforced areas on the sills - though I could be wrong there. I was TT ones I bought for the Polo as I don't think that VAG made them for any other car - probably not needed for them but definitely needed for the TT. I think that the ECS kits have VAG part numbers, ie are the same parts. What I liked about them was, when jacking the Polo up, all I needed to do was to locate my trolley jack (in my case two trolley jacks for speed etc) under these mounts - and lift the car, compare that with my Passat where I needed two different shaped lumps of wood - one for front and one for rear, with thick rubber on top, then get the jack(s) and lumps at the correct point and lift the car up. For my B8 S4 I did not have the choice as it is covered up with a plastic cover, so it is on the body reinforced jacking points or no where else safely, with the very expensive "Jackpoint jack stands", the car is supported on the same points as it is jacked - not rocket science just s smart idea!

 

[RUM4MO]

I've just had a look on the ECS website and they seem to be selling the two piece VAG (Audi TT) jacking point protectors and their own trolley jack adaptor that locates into the centre of the plastic locking peg/base of these pads. I clicked on the ECS utube clip and I see that extra selection of utube clips offered include the Jay Leno chat with John who designed and sells these Jackpoint jack stands! I joined a "911uk.com" group buy to get these sent over at a sensible rate - I've got no connection with 911uk at all, just joined them for the group buy. The joke was that UPS were running a 60% off deal on air freighting from USA and it was cheaper than surface freighting and only took about 36 hours from Jackpoint requesting an uplift in USA to them being delivered locally, Parcelforce could not beat that for shipping within UK!