Why is it you cant just raise one side of the car like to change a tire? i hear you have to raise the whole car or both wheels, front or back.
will it mess up the frame of the car?
just a curious question

 

Hi, what are you planning on doing?

I've never had a problem jacking a corner and placing a stand under the jack mounts. If it's a big job or up in the air for a while, it's best to raise both sides either front or rear to equalize the loading on the car.

 

Likewise, I've raised one corner at a time without any problems. There are some things you need the car level to do -- drain transmission fluid, is one. However, there can't be any reason not to raise one corner at a time -- would be entirely stupid to have to raise the entire car on the side of the road in order to change a flat.

 

I wanted to rotate the tires front to back, and could not find a point on the chassis to raise 1 side of the car.

 

I just bought a second Jag jack off ebay for peanuts & cranked the car up in equal amounts using 2 jacks-then lodged 2 axle stands underneath in case anything 'suddenly failed'...

 

Use 2 jacks at front and rear jacking points.....otherwise jack one corner at a time and use the spare wheel to switch them around...takes longer but doable!

 

Any DIY garage worth any salt should have SEVERAL jacks. Floorjacks, bottle jacks, and the stock jacks that come with the vehicle. Just recently I was changing brakes and rotors on The Cat, and I jacked one corner at the time, no harm to the car. For tire rotation I go to the nearest Mexican tire place, and they charge me 2 bucks a wheel (that's EIGHT bucks, for the ones out there that are "mathematically challenged"!). I don't even want to get my hands dirty for eight bucks.

MBZs with their retarded "Airmatic" suspension require two jacks on each corner! (you can not jack the body alone,....you have to jack the wheel simultaneously with the body to prevent the overextension of the shocks)

I did the brakes and rotors on S430 the same day I "fixed the cat". My next Christmas gift better be a hoist! (I am actually looking into buying one from a shop that went under) Being able to do tranny services/oil changes/brake services/exhaust work, the "civilized way", the cost of the hoist would be amortized in about three years (I have a lot of vehicles, and enough friends that would LOVE to do the work, if they don't have to crawl under the car!)

 

danielsand, speaking of Lopez Tires, Discount
Tire charges exactly $0.00 for tire rotation, and
have big insurance and take care of their customers.

If you can prove you bought tires from them they
will also balance them for free. Once I had "Hesselbein
Tire" do a mount-bal for me, they used one of those
scissor lifts, that just pushes up under the car, between
the F&R wheels, and I'm pretty sure I could have pushed
down on any corner of the car and rocked it to where it
would fall off. Neber again, ese.

Ian

 

I am a full blooded German. 6'3" blond and blue eyed, but.......I speak fluent Spanish (among other languages), and after owning several businesses in CA that were almost exclusively staffed by Latinos, I have a lot of connections in the Latino community (and they LOVE when the "guerro" like me, talks like them!). They give me a "red carpet" treatment every time, and they accept me as one of their own. I've been to many pinatas, aniversarios, bodas, etc.

Dicount Tire (or any other "white man's" chain) tries to "upsell" (normal!) on any visit, and I just don't want to deal with it. My "Mex connection" does EXACTLY what "guerro patron" tells them, and eight bucks (sometimes more) is what I give to a homeless girl standing on the offramp when I see her.

But I appreciate the advice.

When my daughter broke the SECOND oil pan on her Audi A4, my Mex connection suggested to call the "Primo" that lives on the border, and he will go to TJ to buy the OEM part over there. Now all the OEM parts are coming from TJ! (they are about 1/10th of the US price). This work for me, but it might not be for everyone. "They" LOVE to take the advantage of the REAL Guerro, so beware!

 

So your real name is Daniel Mendez Dietler? I get it.

My Spanish is OK, but I usually only bring it up at
parties. It's not brilliant, but hopefully not bad enough
to where those guys would think I was patronizing them.
Then, I'd become Guerro-max I guess. I always use English,
those guys know English almost 100% of the time anyway.

Then again, in LA or Miami it would be very important to have such ties.

Ian

 

Daniel, I will get another floor jack, I have to agree 2 is better, I will not use a scissor or bottle jack, (I just don't trust 'em).
I used a German owned shop in CA for service and thought he was taking care of my car, but as I am finding out his white mechanics did not really care about quality.
When I moved to AZ I tried a "good" shop name as "Wilhelms" (German) I was not impressed,
I asked around a lot of new local friends where to go, there were no good suggestions, I took my shop truck to a "mexican shop" in the cheap part of town, against my friends advice. Being upfront and respectful, I spoke to the owner and asked him his advice of what my truck needed. Most of the work was done, and done well, an oil leak that I thought was a power steering pump / rack problem was just a bad seal connection. He bought 4 different seals and found one that worked, he asked if it was OK to charge me for the 3 other seals,. He saved me over $600 by being honest and not just installing unneeded parts. I have found through out my life, it's not the color of the skin or the language you speak, it about finding honest hardworking people.

 

I completely agree. However,......a white guy, new in town, walking into the Latino owned and staffed business asking questions in English.....over here in CA they would not talk to you, and most definitely think that you are with "Migra". But if one of your present, or former employees calls the Primo who has a Cunado that knows someone,.....you are in. Like I stated before,.....my mechanic gets the parts WAY cheaper than I can (even with my dealership owning background), and he charges me the honest labor rates. If I would procure the parts, and do the work too, it would cost me MORE than what I pay him. Still,....I give him only the work I don't want to do, or if I'm too busy. I like to work on cars, guns, watches (anything mechanical, it just fascinates me how all the parts work in unison), and it relaxes me from the stressfull day.

 

Thanks for the input guys, I was just curious because I heard its an aluminum body and also heard it can bend the frame? That's why I just didn't wanna risk damaging the car in any way. I'm planning to drop the transmission out for a rebuild in about a week but of course I will have all fours on ramps

 

Your car has aluminum body?

 

Amen...

 

No all steel, some of the very last cars had alloy bonnets - if yours is a 98, it's steel.

 

You might be pleasantly surprised if you drop the preconceptions a little.

 

Sean, alloy bonnets? More info please.

 

Ask Stu, the way 'we' found out? he drove over one...fast way to tell? you own a magnet.....don't you?

 

thanks for the info still leaning lol