Roy M

I would like to remove al four wheels and give my A4 a complete under fender and wheel wheel cleaning when we are over the winter salt season. I purchased 4 floor jack stands and the instructions tell me not to do this. The instructions with the jack stands tell me if the car is jack up while on just two a slight twist could cause a jack stand to slip. <br>Are barrel jacks (hydraulic jack) with a safety pin stop available?? <p>Does anyone have suggestions on how to safely do this. Now I do one wheel at a time but it would be nice to have all four off the ground so I could clean, rotate and treat the under carriage this Spring.<br>Please advise.<p>Thanks<br>Roy M 98.5 2.8q Tip

Todd W

We do it all the time. In fact, one guy kept his car on 4 jackstands for 2 years. The stands were on rolling cradles so the car could be moved around the garage. This is a common thing. The larger your floor jack is, the safer it is to lift the car.<p>Todd W

pdw

The comment on twisting makes sense and I'd be reluctant to do it.<p>Picture it this way, if you jack one end up and put stands underneath, the stands never experience any side load. However, if you then jack up the other end, the jack will try to swing that end of the car in an arc, putting side loads on the stands and making them unstable.<p>The best thing would be to put cement blocks(padded with some soft wood or rubber) under the first end jacked up and then using stands under the second end.<p>Have you figured out where to put the floor jack so you jack up one end at a time?

tjf

Never use the hollow style cement blocks to hold up a car! They have been known to crack, allowing the car to fall! You would be better using pieces of an 8x8 post and laying it flat.

Todd W

At least make sure the holes point up&down and use a 2x6 as a cap. Don't stack cinder blocks.<p>Where in the world do you find 8x8 lumber, at the train tracks???? I have used wide 18" log sections on end before they were split for firewood.<p>I still think the large jack stands with cast posts (no pins) on concrete (not asphalt or gravel etc.) is the safest way. A large floorjack that rolls easily on the concrete will keep you from tilting the jack stands at the other end. Leave all of the wheels on the car until it is stable just in case. Do not use anything between the car and the jack stand.<p>Todd W

Jim M

8 X 8 lumber - I got some larger sizes from a saw mill. Of course there may not be any in your area.

John/TSR

...and displace more Spotted Owls...<p>If you have good quality adjustable jackstands (the good ones are made of welded up angle-iron stock, stay away from the junk made of stamped or pressed sheet metal - no matter how thick they look) and you position them correctly, you'll be fine. <p>Jack up one side or one end of the car, and place two stands under a heavy frame member at the farthest point from the center of the car that you can. DON'T PLACE THEM UNDER A-ARMS, TRAILING ARMS OR OTHER SUSPENSION COMPONENTS, YOU'LL BEND THEM. FIND SOMETHING SOLID. The normal jacking points on most cars are really strong, but on modern cars they are too close to the center of the car (which may allow you to pick up the front and rear wheel with one jack point, but doesn't make it really stable on stands. <p>Then do the same thing at the other side or end. BEFORE YOU TAKE THE WHEELS OFF, but after you've removed the jack, try pushing, shoving, bouncing or otherwise disturbing the car to see if it's unstable, if it rocks, or if it just plain falls off. It won't if you positioned your stands carefully. Remember - Modern cars, especially FWD cars, tend to be really nose-heavy, so pick your support spots carefully. <p>There are, at this very moment, 3 cars defying gravity in my garage, up on 4 jackstands each. I remove motors, rebuild suspensions, and perform various feats of magic with the cars thusly supported (I even was the Human Transmission Jack this weekend, sliding under the car with a Volvo M40 transmission on my chest, and deftly installing it in 8 minutes). It's safe if you do it right. <p>As one of the other posters mentioned, do it on LEVEL, SOLID ground (concrete, ideally). <p>And, of course, tell your friends and significant other that you read this procedure on Bimmer.org, so that the lawyers can get the papers drawn up when you manage to drop the car on your head. At least it won't hurt for very long.<p>Another Public Service Message from:<p>John<br>Trained Seals Racing

Roy M

Thanks guys for all the advice. I've got some good ideas

Todd W

Besides, there aren't any forests or Owls in Dallas. Thanks, I was too lazy to write all of that out.<p>The other poster