Best places to attach floor jack?

[Budge]

I want to remove my front bumper, so I'd like to know what is the best location to attach my floor jack to? Also, where would you put the jack stands? I haven't done this before, and I want to be safe.

While I'm at it, I hope to add spacers soon. What locations would you use for working on wheels?

Thanks.

[Budge]

OK, I . Sorry, I imagined jacking the front of the car up from somewhere in the middle under the engine, then attaching the jack stands on the sides. I guess I'm supposed to jack the car up from the indicated jack points one at a time. No problem.

[gixxer_kidd]

You don't need to jack the car up to remove the bumper, but it will make things a little easier if you do.

I usually just jack up one side at a time. As for putting the front on jack stands I haven't figured a way to do it with one jack. You'll need two jacks for this unless you have some ramps to drive up. With two jacks you can jack up one side to give enough room to slide the second jack under the front of the car to jack it up using the center jack pad.

[elh0102]

Just make a couple of low ramps from two thicknesses of 2X10 or 2X12 lumber. Drive on it, then use the center jacking pad to lift the car and place the two front jack stands. If you don’t want to invest a few minutes in making the ramps, just jack each side and place the boards under each front tire, then a jack from the center pad.

[Budge]

Yeah, I bought a floor jack today and tried to jack up the car before seeing your posts. And I was confused about how I was supposed to get the jack and the stand in the same place at the same time. Where is the center jack pad? I did not see it in the manual.

[swamp2]

There is a good but not great solution.

Most low profile jacks will not reach the jack point between the front wheels (it is too low). But there is a trick. Use the e-brake and block the right rear wheel. Jack the front left jack point (the one just inboard from the side skirt). It will actually left the left rear wheel (as a side note you can see how stiff the E9X chassis is here). If you jack high enough you can then get a jack stand under the center lift point located on the centerline right between the front wheels. Then slowly lower the jack. You will end up with the car leveled out on the single jack stand. The cars good left right balance along with the centered position of the jack point helps insure this is reasonable stable. Unfortunately there is no way to then get two jack stands in place using only a single jack. Having two is certainly the most conservative and safe approach. Although slightly less safe I then spread the load between that center jackst and and the jack itself by simply adding a small bit of lifting pressure back on the jack under the front left jack point. The car was pretty rock solid stable for me giving it the "shake test".

Do be VERY careful jacking and getting your head and body underneath such a car. It absolutely can be fatal if you screw up.