So, I was going to change my oil. With my R53, there was a nice metal underbody to use the jack on, then I'd put the stands underneath the official jack points. On this car, I can only find miles of plastic and nowhere to use the jack. Has anyone found a place to use the jack that leaves room to move the stand in? I started to jack in a place near the front that I thought was solid enough but the plastic begged to differ. I didn't even get very far while trying to jack from the rear stand. Yes, I'm trying to avoid spending money on ramps.

 

Unfortunately there is no easy answer for you. I have an F56 and one of the first things I looked at after getting it home was how to get all four wheel areas up on jack stands. Almost everything underneath is plastic or not strong enough to use as a jack point to get the stands up underneath where they need to be.

I found this link which solves the problem. I have not tried it out yet myself but I have found this solution from several owners on several different forums. Hope this helps; it will for me when I give it a go.

http://www.blimeycabrio.com/?m=200704

 

The wooden technique works, would use a larger thickness board than in the pics. I have found this to be an awesome accessory, once you have the car jacked up with the boards but you have to have the right shaped jackstands.

http://www.burgertuning.com/Mini_Coo...d_adapter.html

 

I use 2 scissor jacks (HB sells for $16/ea) under the factory jacking points of my MINI. This method works wonderfully for me.

I also welded a 22-mm nut at the end of the rotating shaft of the scissor jack so that I can use an impact gun (with 22-mm socket) to raise or lower the car in seconds instead of turning by hand (which takes forever).

 

wait... you get under the car while its on 2 scissor jacks/widowmakers?

 

You know it's serious when the guys whose name is danger is asking you! lol

 

Where did you read that?


Do you also think the link below tells you to crawl underneathe just by what's shown below?

 

Lol, well what do you do scissor jack it up then place the jack stands?

 

Hmm. The wood will protect the plastic a bit, but it won't really spread the forces out very much. Guess I'll take a look at that bottom edge and see if I feel comfortable with it. I just find it amazing that they don't have any metal underneath the car!

For that matter, what are commercial lifts doing? Just spreading out the arms and hoping to hit the edge of the car rather than soft plastic?

They should've made the underbody panels aero and tough if they went to all that trouble to cover everything!

 

Lifts have it easy. They just use the factory jack points. They don't need to lift the car someplace that is not the factory jack point.

 

You need to buy the Ramps....Isn't your life worth more than $50.00? Being frugal with funds is one thing....Blatent stupidity will get you killed.................

 

Or..........take the car somewhere and get the oil changed while you're across the street in a nice sports bar!

 

I figured maybe all of the lifts used something else since I can't imagine car manufacturers have standardized their jacking points, but maybe they have. It's been a while since I've looked at one closely.

One of the things I learned from the R53 is to get under the car and get familiar with it! Problems are probably coming and the dealer isn't always your friend.

Wow. Thanks for not being helpful. In my line of work, if I were blatantly stupid, I might have killed several people already. How do ramps help if I want to rotate my tires or look at the suspension? There's a lot more to a car than oil.

 

 

Yes & No

I have a lift and have to dance the car back and forth to get the lift arms underneath my F56S. Of course once they're in position under the jack points she goes right up. I'm actually thinking about getting some steel angle to run under the car and pin to the pad points on the lift arms. I know - I'm a lazy SOB - but anything to make my life easier.

 

Our 'code' for that, in case co-pilots are listening, is 'coffee & donuts'. Much more amicable than getting nasty grease under the fingernails and worrying about jack points.


PS: +1 on the 2X4 solution. I use Blimey's technique for rotating the tires and that's about it. Works just fine.

 

Imagine That...You're Welcome... From your original post, you only indicated you were changing the oil. There was no mention of tire rotation or suspension checks. ALL the information would be helpful. By your own admission, "ramps" were a consideration you were trying to avoid purchasing....So, how were you going to do the other things if you only purchased ramps??? Ramps never should have been a consideration with these other maintainence needs. Sorry, this one's on you!

 

Except for the fact that the OP is specifically asking about using a jack and jack stands. He did not ask for alternate ways to get his mini in the air.

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