I've never jacked up my Zed...looking for advice

[Hwk-I-St8]

I have a friend who's a lifelong mechanic who swears that convertibles should have the top open when you jack it up (for whatever reason). He says the frame will twist and it can warp the frame of the convertible top making it not align properly.

I've never heard of this, but my Z3 is pristine (less than 7K miles) and I'm planning to install a performance exhaust in the next month or so. Any advice about getting it up on jackstands would be appreciated.

 

[Althulas]

I’ve never had any noticeable problems myself, sounds like a urban myth to me. If anything with the roof closed I would thought it help to reduce flex. Just make sure you rest the car on sturdy Jack stands and give it a good push with your weight behind it and should be no movement before going underneath.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I’ve never had any noticeable problems myself, sounds like a urban myth to me. If anything with the roof closed I would thought it help to reduce flex. Just make sure you rest the car on sturdy Jack stands and give it a good push with your weight behind it and should be no movement before going underneath.

Yeah, I'm pretty paranoid about crawling under a jacked up car unless I know it's secure. Plus it'll most likely be my son, which makes it even scarier. At28 he's a bit more nimble than I. At least we have a creeper and the underside looks like a new car, so the swap *should* go smoothly.

 

[Althulas]

I can understand that one even after taking all precautions of added wheels and wooden blocks as a backup. Hopefully you have a drive to do it all on and not in the street as I have been.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

One better, I have a garage. Last time I did something like this, my son had a townhouse that had an air conditioned garage, which was fortunate since the temps were around 100F!

 

[colb]

Low profile trolly jack using the lift points under the sill prefrably with a rubber insert in the plastic jacking recess, you can cut down a hocky puck so it slots in the recess for the jack to lift on. Once at required height install a pair of axle stands and lower the car onto them so you are not reliant on the jack. Safe to venture undernrneath as long as the axle stands are on solid ground. Another option would be a pair of drive on ramps but then you couldnt take the wheel off. I'm lucky I have a Scissor Lift that lifts all four jacking points.

 

[DrWong]

The car does flex, on mine the panel gap between door and front wing changes as it’s lowered on/off it’s wheels. At the same time tho, I’ve put the car onto stands many times before and always with the roof up and it seems fine.

Maybe put the roof down for lifting and then put it back up once the car’s on stands, if you’re concerned.

 

[t-tony]

I have a friend who's a lifelong mechanic who swears that convertibles should have the top open when you jack it up (for whatever reason). He says the frame will twist and it can warp the frame of the convertible top making it not align properly.

I've never heard of this, but my Z3 is pristine (less than 7K miles) and I'm planning to install a performance exhaust in the next month or so. Any advice about getting it up on jackstands would be appreciated.

I'll have some of what your friend is smoking.. Never heard such rubbish. Yes a car body will flex but a Roadster has been strengthened to be able to compensate for having no roof even in the event of a roll over. Just treat it as you would a normal car and do not worry.

Tony.

 

[Mike Fishwick]

You should also jack the car using the on-board jack, after greasing its operating screw, and remove the emergency spare wheel too - you never know when you will need it! I had to use mine on a Sunday in France, when everything is closed, and covered 550 miles on it that day. Contrary to popular wisdom, a credit card and a mobile phone are not the answer to all problems!

The Owners Handbook has a good section on removing the spare.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

You should also jack the car using the on-board jack, after greasing its operating screw, and remove the emergency spare wheel too - you never know when you will need it! I had to use mine on a Sunday in France, when everything is closed, and covered 550 miles on it that day. Contrary to popular wisdom, a credit card and a mobile phone are not the answer to all problems!

The Owners Handbook has a good section on removing the spare.

Thanks! That's good advice.

 

[bear2020]

A convertible is strengthened along the sills to compensate for the roof so I would imagine there is less flex there than a standard car. I have had mine jacked up endless times and not had any issues. Saying that I have owned about 20 different convertibles and not one has ever twisted. Think your mate had a few too many sherberts the night before!