Looking to jack up the mini this weekend..any suggestion where it is safe to place the jack stands in the front? Working on the lower ball joints...thanks all!

 

There are 4 rubber pads for that purpose on all four corners, two behind the front tires and two in front of the rears .

Randy
m7 Tuning

 

These have a tendency to fall off so if you can't see it immediately after you get down to look for them, it's no longer there.

 

I use the rubber pads to lift the car up with the jack and usually slide my jack stands next to it as close as I can....

I did my short shifter kit this past weekend and for the first time had my car up on 4 stands. I think I need a bigger jack though. I needed 2 10x2 pieces of pressure treated wood underneath my jack to get the car high enough to place on my stands. I admit I was a bit nervous about crawling under there at first, but by the end of the day I was climbing in and out with reckless abandon!

 

Step by step pictures on "How a stud lifts a MINI" at

http://www.blimeycabrio.com/?cat=3&paged=2

Scroll down quite a ways. Enjoy some great MINI pics while you are there. The guy's got a super blog.

I've done it this way on two occasions and it words great.
I did cut a shallow curf down the board about an inch in from the edge to fit over the weld seam to mitigate the possibility of the board slipping.

Another online resource you should not be without is http://soopercooperinfo.com/
Bring your lunch when you start to browse this. There are hundreds of links to everything in the world about MINIs and Minis including independent shops, retail aftermarket sources and a ton of DIY.