JACKPOINT JACK STANDS

[rum4mo]

Has anyone else considered, or actually bought Jackpoint jack stands to get their B8 up in the air? I tried for a month to get something sorted and join others in UK so that shipping would be a bit cheaper, but any B8 people I was connected with were either not serious about buying or could not be bothered with a mini group buy or shipping sharing. So, using the power of the internet, I discovered that "911uk" were in the middle of a group buy with discount and shared shipping, so got in there for two sets. They do work very well. Maybe some people think that they are an expensive waste of money and they just fit axle stands where ever there seems to be a safe enough place, but as this was my first car that is completely covered up underneath, I needed to make sure that I could safely support it when/if working under it - I just did not want it dropping onto the ground or getting damaged. My old Passat had well defined "strong points" for trolley jacks and the sill (car) jacking points for axle stands - but these newer cars seem to have single jacking/axle stand points.

 

[Audi.Quattro]

Never seen them before, clever idea

 

[desertstorm]

A clever idea

http://www.jackpointjackstands.com/Home.html

I have found jacking my B8 up to be a real pain using the poor factory provided jacking points. If I want to do stuff at the back with the exhaust etc I use ramps and drive it on them, really quick to do and safe.

Karl.

 

[rum4mo]

You have to be quite serious about wanting/needing to work on your car before committing a lump of money to buying these things. I am, and I was very concerned about owning a car with no separate trolley jack and axle stand locations - so I jumped in quickly after buying the car as I knew a couple of years down the line that I'd just stuff anything under where I had to to support the car in an emergency. Plus, if you have just thrown a large lump of money at some thing you really wanted (S4), I find that it is easier to throw a bit more away while your wallet is still open!! (like on a second set of alloys and winter tyres).

These jack stands are useful for "wheels off" work, as Karl says, ramps cover other work, and I have already got 4-off large solid wooden ramps.

Edit:- I started searching Google using "jacking up S4 B8" really just to see how other folk were dealing with this action - eventually bumped into "rennlist" I think it was, Porker guys in North America - same issue as S4 B8 and other cars, once you have seen the concept, it is hard to see why no one had come up with idea before! Then I thought that they could have been made cheaper by using steel and fabricating them - but it seem that Jackstand tried that initially and moved on to casting out of alloy to reduce manufacturing effort, which is fair enough. The really silly thing was, when our group buy was being shipped, DHL Express Air Freight was being offered out of USA at 80% discount to generate business! So it was cheaper than using surface freight!! I kind of forget the time line, but it went something like this - Jackstand call in DHL at 18:30, uplifted at 21:00 local time, they (both a Southern UK buy and Northern UK buy) arrived at Heathrow and ready for delivery/onward movement at 06:30 the next day, the Northern order arrived at Aberdeen and ready for deliver at 07:30. Now try that using Rail Mail or Parcel Force and using their fastest service internally to UK - I was amazed!

 

[SI-W85]

My question is if you have the jack on the sill at the jacking point, how do you remove the jack to put the stand there :/ ?

 

[rum4mo]

My question is if you have the jack on the sill at the jacking point, how do you remove the jack to put the stand there :/ ?

Well, the Jackpoint jack stands are a bit like a cast aluminium alloy stool, with a removable top and one side opened up a bit. You place the top section on to a suitable trolley jack and lift the car - ideally one jack on each side to be kind to the car as when doing any lifting - once the car is lifted high enough, you slide the stool part in until it is located under the jack head, then lower the jack and the top section engages on the stool and the jack can be removed. Very simple when you see it, I can't see why it has taken so long for a product like this to appear.

 

[SI-W85]

Ah I see very clever, that's a good idea how much do these things cost?

 

[rum4mo]

Ah I see very clever, that's a good idea how much do these things cost?

Gulp, £207 + small import duty - maybe £35 per pair! I bought two pairs!! Still a lot cheaper than any thing else that I could find that could lift and lock.

I bought the standard adaptor - as I guessed I would be able to fit that under the car (S4) - I was correct but as usual, I wanted to modify them to extend the load bearing area, so I glued some hardwood adaptors on top of the supplied ones with 6mm rubber on top of that to avoid any possibility of damaging the paintwork on the sills.

 

[SI-W85]

****** hell ok they may be good but I don't think I will be buying any of those lol I'll stick with the old fashioned way thanks ha