I need to jack my car up off all 4 wheels so i can do a tire rotation. I went to Lowes and bought 2 4X4s, like they said to do in the other post about jacking points. What i found out, though, is that the clearance of the mini is too short for the jack i am using + the 4x4. The lowest point of my jack is just shy of 2 inches shorter than the side skirt of the car, and dead even with the jacking points. Please Help! How did you get the 4x4s under the car and jack it up?

 

Ramps?

 

Just rotate the fronts with the rears on the same side. If you have directional tires, this is all you can do anyway - Front-Back. If you have non-directional tires, rotating in an X pattern will not make a meaningful difference.

You can easily jack one side of the car off the ground using only the jack pad behind the front wheel. Make sure to chock the wheels on the side of the car that is still on the ground, and use jack stands on the raised side for safety.

 

That's what I do....

 

Get a new jack. Having the right tool makes things easier, but when talking about jacking a car up and the danger involved if things go wrong, I think spending $$ and doing it right is called for here.

 

+1
Go get yourself a low clearance jack. They're pretty inexpensive and you will get your money's worth out of all the frustration you'll avoid!

 

http://www.blimeycabrio.com/?s=jack&x=14&y=15

Scroll down quite a way for detailed instruction on how to get your MINI up on floor stands. My 2 X 4 is marked and put away so I don't have to go hunt up a fresh one every few thousand miles.

You might want to spend a little time browsing thru this guy's blog. He's got some neat stuff in there.

 

I use 2 floor jacks one on each side front jacking point. Then alternate lifting each side till it is high enough to place jack stands front and rear. Quick and easy. I too bought the 4x4s but this is less hassle and you do not need a low profile jack, although I have one of those...

 

Two part question:
1) can you jack one side of the car off the ground using the factory-supplied jack, or do you need something with more lifting force?
2) after you jack one side of the car off the ground using the front jack pad, where should you place the safety jack stands? Obviously the front jack pad is already in use.

 

Using the front jack pad with the factory supplied jack will raise the front wheel and the back wheel at the same time. Just make sure the jack is on level solid ground. You can place the safety jack just behind the jack on the frame.

 

Can people post pictures of where they put their jackstands? I ask, because, I've had my car on jackstands plenty of times, rotating tires, swapping out springs, then swapping out shocks on a different occasion, doing exhaust work, running water/meth lines, etc etc. And, while its always been fine, the pinch welds that I normally rest it on are starting to fold now, which scares me. Granted, its not a safety structural point in the body, but, a folding pinch weld doesn't sit well. The only real good points other than this I can see are way in the middle of the car, which is clearly pointless.

Thanks in advance

 

In front place jack stands on frame rails that are inboard of the front factory jack plates. Anywhere on the frame rails is fine. On the rear I use the rear jack plates. I jack it up from the front jack plates which raises the entire side of the car. I use two floor jacks and alternate raising them to gradually lift the car high enough to place jack stands. Use your parking brake and only do this on level ground.

 

I made 4 - 6" mini ramps using 2x6's. Beveled one one and placed then at the 4 corners. Drive up on them and I gained 1 1/2 inches to provide the clearannce for my floor jacks.

 

The board for jacking under the door sill should be a 2X4, not a 4X4. I use a low profile "racing jack" placed under the board as close to the front jacking point as possible. It will lift both wheels so you can put jack stands at the front and back jack points. I also have wooden blocks that fit inside the recess of the jack points. The wood sticks out a little so the jack stand is sitting on wood instead of plastic.

 

I asked the service guy at mini yesterday and he said to jack the car up at the rubber pad, and place the stand just behind it, leaving the weight resting on the jack only.

Sounded kinda hokey to me, so I think I'm going to do the two jacks method or put the jack just in front of the jacking point like I saw in one of these threads.

 

I normally will take the jack in the car and lift it up high enough that I can slide the 4x4 and my jack under to start raising it with that. Once I get it high enough I place the jackstands under the car and repeat on the other side. I fon't like doing what you did in the picture without jackstands because I am so afraid of it falling over.

 

Using the 2x4 won't hurt or cause the under carriage to bend???

 

Damn!!! Makes me glad I put a lift in the garage...

Or,you could do a quick Google and come up with a pinch weld adapter for floor jacks, http://www.eastwood.com/floor-jack-a...FULd4AodWhrYKg

If I don't want to put the car on the lift, I have an alloy jack I got from Harbor Freight Tools for about $80 that wroks well.

And, if you are having clearance issues with your present jack, drive onto a 2x4 with the front wheels. That should give you enough room to fit the jack. If it doesn't, just how low is your car?

 

I don't understand why everyone is trying to re-invent the wheel. I posted a URL to a blog (#7 just down the page) with step by step photo instructions on how to put a MINI of floor stands that the guy added to NAM back in '07. The blog is titled "How a stud lifts a MINI". I perform this task several times a year for tire rotation, undercarraige detailing and etc. Takes all of 4 or 5 minutes no fuss no muss. There's been no damage to the body, frame, knuckles or thermostat housing gasket.

 

Yeah didn't see that or I would not have posted what I did. I basically decribed the same thing. It is super simple and as long as you have enough room it takes 5 minutes. If it is in a tight area add another 5 and you should be good.

 

If you want to use a floor jack on your R56 Mini and lift it from the front factory location you can fill the front stock jack point with a block of wood. I used 3/4 plywood. The filler block is small and you can put it in your tool kit in the trunk. Easy! The front jack point will lift both the front and rear wheels on one side of the car.

 

That fundamently brings up a problem of getting 4 jackstands under it. Unless you are using othe points under the car to place you jackstands.

 

If you are just rotating or changing tires you don't need jack stands (assuming you have a good jack and you are on level ground) and you don't need to crawl under the car (don't crawl under the car with the car supported on just a jack). The jack that Mini gives you is not a good jack!!! Use a floor jack. You sure don't need 4 jack stands unless you are changing your exhaust. When side lifting from the front mount set the parking brake and put one wheel under the car's rocker when two wheels on the same side are off the car. Easy! If your car is jacked too low and or your wheels are too wide you just need to work fast or you can place a jack stand under the suspension points but don't put the full weight of the car on the stands. The wheel under the car and or the jack stands in this case are just a back up because you are just rotating your tires. If the car falls you are a fool but if you get hurt you are a injured fool so don't put body parts under the car!!!

The Mini's plastic jack points under the rocker panel are not designed for use with a floor jack. Use an insert, like a piece of wood (see above post) or some other piece to protect the plastic from damage. Some aftermarket jack points are available that replace the stock parts.

One other key point about rotating tires and NOT using 4 jack stands is, "You want to raise the car to unload the majority of the weight off the tire / wheel assembly and then loosen the lug bolts about 1/4 turn. After that you want to raise the car more to continue removing the wheel bolts and the wheel assembly" If you put the car on jack stands first you will need air tools (or a handy electric impact) but using an impact can damage your wheel finishes (if the bolt drops), round off the sharp part of the hex on the bolt, damage the fine threads on the Mini wheel bolts and hub threads if any corrosion has set in. Blasting the bolts out and in with an impact is cool but not the best way to keep the bits in the best condition. As you install the wheels you want to lower the front wheel to prevent wheel spin (after the wheel bolts are installed and have a good concentric seat). If you are using jack stands you can't do the job as well unless you pull the stands out each time you adjust the level. The only risky time is when both wheels are off the car on the same side of the car but you can put one of the wheels under the car at that point. The key is to have a good jack and learn how to use it.

I change wheels all the time (at least 4 times a month) and I have never dropped my car using a floor jack. I have seen a Mini (I did not set it up) fall using the Mini jack they give you with the car. They did not set the E brake and as they were removing the wheel bolts the car shifted forward and walked off the jack. The car was sitting on the front brake rotor with the rear wheel mostly off but hanging by one lug bolt that was a few turns out (UGLY). I had to save that car with my floor jack and some wood. Good floor jacks have pivots and wheels and you can even turn the jack under load if you have skill and understand what you are doing. The movement in the jack allows the load to shift as the weight transfers and the geometry associated to lifting is altered. The factory supplied jack can't handle any forward or aft shift or twists in the load without great risk.

Jack stands don't have any way to shift or twist so when you are jacking up your Mini with a 2X4 in the center and you have jack stands on the other side (to get 4 stands under the car) you have a good chance of pushing the car off the stands. If you ever jack up your car from the center rocker make sure the wheels on the jack are rolling as you lift and the stands on the other side are not tipping.

About rotating tires:
Directional tires (or any tire because of the bead) should rotate so the rotational direction of the tire is pointing forward all the time (or the tire turns the same direction). With directional tires you want to remove the fronts and place them on the same side of the car in the rear location. Directional tires are designed for rain use. In many cases you can run a directional tire backwards with the same performance in the DRY but the performance will not be as good running reverse direction in wet conditions. It is not a good idea to run a tire in a different direction from its design or change the direction 1/2 way through its life.

If you don't rotate about every 6 months or 6000 miles the fronts will grind down and the rears will have more tread. On front-wheel drive cars the front tires tend to wear at a much faster rate than those on the rear. After 20,000 or 30,000 miles of driving, the front tires may be worn out while the ones on the back may still have half or more of their tread life remaining. By rotating the tires front to rear (and dismounting the tire, flipping / remounting the tire back on the wheel, then changing side to side) you can reduce differences in wear patterns between the wheel locations. Rotating tires spreads the wear out and more or less wears the tires evenly. Tires have a shelf life of 6 years so in some cases you need to replace them even if they still look good. I see thousands of cars with miss matched tires and I have to think that if the owners took the time to rotate they would be driving on matched tires. Matched tires are better for grip balance (limit under-steer or over-steer).

 

NEVER never never leave the weight on the jack. The jack is to raise the vehicle and then the solid locking jack stand takes the weight while you work.

Otherwise you're relying on the hydraulic valve in the jack to hold the weight. Yes, it has to hold it to raise the car in the first place, but not for long term. If you're in a pinch on the side of the road, that's all you can do, but the solid metal pin or lever in the jack stands holding the weight is more trustworthy in my book.

Most jacks usually have wheels, what if someone comes by and knocks it, blammo... With a simple twist of the handle on most jacks it releases very quickly, blammo...

Have the jack ready and standing by, but it should be secondary while you're under the car.

The 2x4 method works great and leaves the jack points free to then sit on the jack stands.

 

I bought the harbor freight race jack for $59 today and lifted the front end just forward and inside of the jacking point. Placed the stand, did the other side, no problems. I read the instructions for the jack and bled it first! It lowered the car nice and slow, real easy. My kragen jack didn't do that, but I never bled it either. If anyone has that fast dropping problem, try bleeding your jack or pick up the cheaper HF aluminium race jack.