Point location to place Jack stands
 

Ask a simple and redundant question, and a great answer may result.

When setting the car on 4 jack stands, where is the best points to place the jack stands? As I understand it, the pinch weld is not the idea spot, and I plan on installing ZL1addon lifting blocks.

I know there have been numerous threads on this, but there does not seem to be a consensus? So what is the latest?

I thought the point of a rhetorical question was to not solicit an answer!
But I want the answer :)
Give me the answer! :)

Perhaps redundant would be more applicable?:happy0180:

When I put mine on four jack stands to paint the calipers - I used the pinch welds. That worked fine.

The service manual recommends that the pinch welds be used for lifting and jacking the car. There are a total of 6 locations, three on each side (see green highlights), so 4 jack stands can be used while still lifting the car from the pinch welds. The chassis is stiff enough for the jack to lift the entire side of the car.

When using a two post lift, it's probably okay to use the factory underbody lift points as well (see yellow highlights), because it transfers a quarter of the weight to all four at the same time, but I wouldn't use a single jack or jack stand with them, that's what the pinch weld is for.

If using a jack and jackstands, pinch welds are the way to go. As arpad mentioned, you can lift the entire side of the car from the "middle" cutout in the rocker trim. I've been using this method (magnetic adapter pad for the jack and regular harbor freight jack stands with rubber protective pads on them) many many times ever since I got the car and have never had an issue, all the pinch welds still look great. I'd suspect those that have had issues this way either aren't using the proper tools or otherwise accidentally caused damage by not having setup properly. The aluminum adapter blocks are good if you (or somewhere you get it serviced) frequently use a 4 post or have jackstands with a flat pad on the top, but have little to no benefit over using a jack stand with the pinch weld notch directly on the pinch weld when done properly.

Side note, I believe the yellow spots circled above are where the car is carried through the assembly process. Can probably use them with a 4 post, but greater care should be taken to extend the pads before lifting. IIRC those spots are even more recessed than the pinch welds so there's a greater risk of crushing a rocker/quarter panel with the house arms if not setup properly. Have already seen a few threads of this being done, even by dealers.

Sorry for the necro, but what rubber protective pads for the jack stands did you get?

Thanks to both Arpad and Alpha1BC for the detailed explanations and the marked up photo. I have saved these for future reference when needed.

Jim G

These jackstands from Joe’s work great. I’ve used them in the front under the aluminum brace near the rocker, and in the rear they will fit on the frame between the rocker and the pinch weld.