damage from jacking one side up

[JHZR2]

Hello,

Say I want to rotate my tires. Getting the spare out is a big pain. Jackstands might be OK, but I dont necessarily trust them, damage-wise. Regardless, Im curious about damage.

Say I happen to have a central jack point on my car, between the two wheels. If I jack the entire side of the car up via such a point, what damage/stress is being put on the wheels/hubs/axles/suspension, etc on the other side? Is it severe? Can it cause trouble long-term? Can it effect the frame/unibody?

Alternately, say i want to put one whole side up via one jack and a jackstand... So I get one wheel up, on the jackstand, then the car is three wheels down, one up. Does this cause undue stress on the frame/unibody? What can be damaged? Any potential issues?

Overall, what is the best way to rotate tires in your driveway without damaging your vehicle???

Thanks!!!

JMH

 

[rpn453]

I just jack the front jack point way up so both wheels are off the ground and swap them front to back. Even a flimsy not-really-designed-to-be-a-convertible convertible frame can handle it, though they could flex enough that the back wheel never comes off the ground! But any decent car will stay quite stiff and it won't take much extra lift for the back wheel to come up with the front.

 

[Brett Miller]

I bought 2 cheap jacks at Sears and use one on each axle when rotating tires.

 

[demarpaint]

I jack up the back and put stands under the rear axle, then jack up the front and rotate the tires. I use a pro-grade floor jack, and an impact wrench, it makes life real easy. Final tightening of wheels gets the torque wrench.

Frank D

 

[drivewaytech]

So many things that I never really consider when doing car maintenance. When rotating my tires, I usually put the jack somewhat midways between the tires and lift one side. Over the years, I never have noticed any damage being caused. Of coarse, there are things happening that I may not see or notice until long term.

 

[tom slick]

I don't believe it will do any damage at all, especially if you are using a factory jacking point.

 

[Donald]

I bring my car back to Sams club where they rotate (and balance) the tires if you bought some of them there for free.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

I was rotating the tires on my car and it was the first time I've done it. I didn't realize how hard it would be to remove the lug nuts while wheels were off the ground so I lowered the car and loosened them but on one side I completely took the nuts off. So I lifted the car with the lifting points at each corner and put it on jackstands. As I was doing the right rear the left rear also lifted off and it was also the side without the lug nuts and the wheel just came off and it was dangling in mid air without anything supporting it underneath. It scared the heck out of me since I didn't know if it would tip over and damage the car. My cheapie jack doesn't have a lot of surface area or lift height so I don't use the front or rear lift points. I tried using the front lift point and although I got the car int the air it seemed unstable. So I've been hesitant to try that again. Sometimes when I lower the car after an oil change I hear a creaking sound and I've wondered if I'm screwing up something when I'm using the jack. I don't use ramps because of a mishap I've had a couple years ago but it was due to my inexperience.

 

[wavinwayne]

I tried jacking up my GTI centered between front and rear tires, using the OEM jack. The lip that the jack hooks onto bent pretty badly. It looked like if I had left it that way for any length of time, it would have bent to the point that the car would have fallen. I immediately lowered the car. I won't be trying that again.

 

[rpn453]

I use a decent 3-ton jack with a rubber pad saddle and a jackstand beside it, just in case. It's stable, and I'm not under it anyway.

 

[mechtech2]

I don't like or trust the skinny rails on modern cars that you are supposed to jack on. They seem to crush and distort. Unless you have a really light car, take the extra 5 minutes and get the spare out [and check it's pressure then, too].

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
I don't like or trust the skinny rails on modern cars that you are supposed to jack on. They seem to crush and distort. Unless you have a really light car, take the extra 5 minutes and get the spare out [and check it's pressure then, too].


What does taking the spare out do?

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

i don't like doing what you describe for that exact reason. i have to swap all 4 wheels every month for autox. my car is low so i have to jack the front first from the central brace, then two jack stands under the subframe connectors that are welded up under the doors, then lift the back by the diff and two stands under the axle.

but the front subframe is the heaviest part of my car so to prevent stress, i put the jack under the front crossbrace and lift it a little to take some stress off. i can leave it like that for hours with peace of mind

 

[rationull]

I've actually wondered about the very topic before.

The GF's Volvo 850 has the spare tire jacking points midway between the wheels on both sides of the car. The spare tire jack lifts both wheels off the ground anyway, so no trouble there.

On my Civic, I just jack up the front, put two stands under the support points behind the front wheels, jack up the back, and put two more stands on the support points in front of the rear wheels. It's a little bit of a hassle but not too bad, and the car's level with all four corners off the ground. The Civic's jacking points and support points are really, really easy to use.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac

What does taking the spare out do?


If you use the spare, you can remove one tire at a time and rotate them slowly but extra safely, replacing each normal wheel with the spare as you remove it and then moving on to the next wheel.

 

[JustinH]

Buy a cheap electric impact gun if you don't have one yet.

Makes life much easier to get the wheel lugnuts off.

 

[mechtech2]

Right.
The spare is used as a 5th tire so you can rotate the rest.

 

[Eddie]

I cut a 4X4 to reach between the front and back wheel. I then use a floor jack to raise the side of the car. Never had a problem doing it that way.