hi all can anyone please tell me the best place to put the car on axle stands,i am doing bits on the rear and then on the front,hope some one has done the same and could please advise me ,many thanks.pete S:smile
its a shame your answer isn,t as bright as your car,i was hopeing for the best placement under the car. (-|
Pete, I'm pretty sure the recommended place is under the reinforced jacking mounts under the side sills. You need to get the car up high enough with a trolley jack to get the stands underneath the sills. Regards, Gary
either under the jacking points on the side or on the front crossmember that runs directly under the engine. By memory there should be something similar running over the diff at the back.
Doing anything exciting while she is in the air? Posted using Tapatalk on my Android Samsung Galaxy SII
new exhaust better flow and sound,and new discs all round and a good check round,i will no doubt end up cleaning every thing.its a good time while the weathers up and down
Sounds great fun Pete. Perhaps you could take a few pictures as you work and post them up here. Always in need of articles for the Wiki section...
I would also like to know as im removing the sills to clean all the 13 years of crap thats behind them.. Is the cross members the best pace if you cant use the sills?
the guy next door to me has a 328i estate and used the front crossmember to jack up when he did his sills. Reccomended i did the same in the spring and also use the crossmember to jack up on. He knows his onions so i'd go for the crossmember.
How's the best way to jack the car before putting the stands under the sills? front to back or one side then the other?
I usually jack under the rear wishbone mounts, if fitting stands under the sill jack points. You can lift the whole front of the car up with a jack under the centre of the front cross member, but you must spread the load with a block of wood otherwise the jack will dent the bottom of the crossmember :-? At the rear the best way is to put a trolley jack under the middle of the differential.
Deano can you clarify this please - I always understood that you should NOT jack up the rear using the diff :-s There was some discussion about this last year and although it may be common practice, it was not recommended. It could be related to the potential boot floor weld problems on Zeds but it's just as easy to use the cross members or wishbones.
I certainly would not jack up under the diff as the supporting structure is suspect to say the least. I always use the rear subframe mounts which give good location for a trolley jack.
I think it is easily strong enough. The diff mounts to the subframe which is mounted to the car via 2x M14 studs at the front, where most of the loads go. I suggest there will be more loads going through the subframe whilst driving, than when lifting. Before I strengthened the boot floor on my car I supported the whole weight of the rear of the car at the (single) point of the rear diff mounting. I measured the deflection of boot floor with a straight edge and could detect nothing. The other option is to put the trolley jack under the front part of the subframe inboard of the M14's (or directly under the M14 stud, as Frank says). This works ok but it takes two actions to get the car up in the air - twice the time. I have the lifted my car up at every possible point and the only position I wouldnt recommend is under the centre of the front cross-member. There is a lot of weight there and a trolley jack deforms the bottom plate a bit. Its also a bit low to get underneath.
