Never had this happen before - at least not on purpose. Jacking from front left jacking point on the rocker panel of course the front left wheel left the ground first and soon, but then after raising car about 8 inches the rear wheel started to leave and was rising at the same rate as the front. Quickly put second jack under rear rocker panel jacking point and put weight on that jack. My question is, does this damage the frame / vehicle in any way to let this happen? I always knew that with a single jack I could do this but since the first time it happened when rotating tires, I've avoided letting it happen; this time, it seemed as if the rear left the ground so much sooner so I thought I'd ask. It just doesn't strike me that the frame would be that rigid and strong to not be doing damage. My Mini is a 2009 Coupe Factory JCW.

Side bar - I've changed the oil in this vehicle for its entire life, using a set of metal ramps, or by slightly jacking the front using jacks on both sides; recently went to plastic ramps for their lighter weight (getting old), and could not get under due to lower lift, so I jacked the car. I also noticed that looking from the front, the oil pan was noticeably lower on the right (drivers side), and either I never noticed that, or my suspension is wearing and has lowered the left side of vehicle over time. Thus, I was jacking the left front to have the oil flow to oil pan plug. Am I simply getting really old and the oil pan has always been listing to right, or might something need to be checked out?

 

Doubt you did damage. The car is very stiff and light. what you're describing is a popular method to jack up the car quickly to place it on four jack stands:


The oil pan listing seems odd, seems like you'd want that level but that's a different motor from the R53; hopefully a Gen 2 owner can weigh in

 

Thank you! Much appreciated.

 

Some years back a video was posted titled "How a 2X4 lifts a MINI". Cut a piece just short of the length between the two jack points.
Center the jack under it laid between the points and up she goes. Too bad the guy's website is gone now. He had other good stuff as well.