[Fraxum]

Okay OP, so if I lift with the pinch welds in the front and carefully set up a jackstand on that spot you mentioned, that may work well.

What about the back? That is where I scratch my head.

[vtirocz]

That area is pretty thin sheet metal and seems marginal to use as a jacking point. I think that will cave in some with a jack stand there. Be careful!

[travislambert]

That steel can crush when you lift the car up from it. It's thinner than it looks. Trust me. I have seen it crush.

The pinch welds are by far the best way to go.

[Dubchitts]

Originally Posted by 00 Trans Ram

"Go by what GM tells you"

If we did that, there would be no Camaro6 forum. None of us would put on wider tires. We wouldn't have aftermarket camshafts, turbos, or any other engine bits. We wouldn't modify our cars in any way, because "GM told us" this was what the Camaro should be.

No one would be using Dexos2 oil because "GM tells us" to use Dexos1. No one would use aftermarket brake pads, because "GM tells us" to use only GM-approved brake fluid. No one would be using LED bulbs or similar, because . . . well, you know why. No one would be running E85, because . . . should I say it again?

My point is that "GM" didn't tell you to use those jack points. While we don't know which person within the GM hierarchy wrote that specific section, we can all probably rest assured that it wasn't an engineer. A marketer perhaps, who had to write it for the "average Camaro owner"? Perhaps a lawyer, worried about liability claims when some jackass uses the aluminum section right next to the steel? We'll never know.

But, until I start seeing these cars being delivered on 18-wheelers with lockdown straps hooked into the thin sheet-metal pinch welds, I'll continue to jack from the high-strength steel frame under the car.

They run straps over the tires...not where your jacking yours from

[Black_FiFTY]

Thanks for this....was considering dropping $60+ on them but I think I'll pass.

[Sledgehammer70]

Using a 4 point lift you can pick the car up from the steel areas, but GM is quick to point out you should only lift the car from the pinch welds. I actually jacked my first car up from the place you put your bowl and watched it collapse. But that was jacking it from one corner, a 4 point lift evens out the weight and would avoid that issue.

Are jack pads or mag pads needed from ZL1addons, No. Do they make things easier? Yes. They also make me feel a hell of a lot safer when my car is lifted from thin pinch welds.

I highly encourage you to myth bust the GM booklet telling you where to jack the car up from, as that point in not one of them and you will watch your car collapse that thin steel.

[AmericanMike]

For vert owners its even more fun with the cross braces taking away for of the pinch weld points.

[BradfordCamaro]

Hey 00 Trans Am thanks for the honest opinion. There are other good places to lift your car as long as proper weight distribution is considered.
Do you need a donation or anything?

[ColbyJ]

For convertible owners, check out these...

/http://http://www.jackpointjackstands.com/

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by 00 Trans Ram

So, I decided to investigate.

Sure enough, there's steel under there. Here's a picture of the front jack point of the car (assuming you have a real jack that has ~12 square inches of area on the jacking pad - not a scissor jack). It's just rearward of the front wheels - the black part with 2 big holes and 2 small ones.


(note - I took this pic after jacking the car up, and there is no noticeable mark, denting, or deformity)

Be careful.

It's not just the heavy-gauge steel that you're fitting the jack pad up against that matters, there's whatever lighter-gauge metal that it is attached to as well.

I realize that the body structure of your car differs from that for mine, but I found out the hard way that the footwell sheetmetal could be popped slightly out of shape by jacking on a similar heavy-gauge piece underneath it - with no visible indication whatsoever that anything had moved. The give-away was an oil-can popping sound (and I could feel the movement as well) when pressing weight on the floor with my foot to get out of the car that wasn't there before. I doubt that anything was structurally compromised to any great extent, but this was a real effect, where the floor had buckled just a tiny bit inward.

Pay attention to any insignificant-seeming changes if you decide to continue using this procedure.


Norm

[nfboy]

Originally Posted by 00 Trans Ram

Been reading a lot about jacking points. Seems that many swear that we need special jacking pads, that they can only go in one place, and that the car will implode if we don't use them (OK, I might have made that last one up). I've seen pictures of underbellies of cars where someone used MS Paint to circle supposed "jack points". I've even seen videos where people pointed at certain parts and said, "See this? This is aluminum - don't jack here."

But, I knew there was a problem with this theory. After all, when the professionals deliver the car, they don't tie them down with tire straps. They attach straps to hard points UNDER the car. And, these hard points have to be near the edges of the car. And, it stands to reason that if they are reinforced enough to hold a car on a trailer with a tiny T- or J-hook, they should be strong enough to support the car on a jack or jack stand.

So, I decided to investigate.

Sure enough, there's steel under there. Here's a picture of the front jack point of the car (assuming you have a real jack that has ~12 square inches of area on the jacking pad - not a scissor jack). It's just rearward of the front wheels - the black part with 2 big holes and 2 small ones.


(note - I took this pic after jacking the car up, and there is no noticeable mark, denting, or deformity)

And, to prove that it's steel . . .



. . . I stuck my magnetic bowl to it.

So, if you want to buy fancy jacking thingies for your car, have at it. But, if you want to just jack the car up and get to work, use these points.

There is also a fundamental difference in what a tie down point bears in terms of force versus bearing the full weight of the car on a lift or jack.

[brettman]

My 2 cents, sorry, I bought those bolt on things to lift my car, for the Jack a$$s that don't know how to lift it. I have jacked my car up with NO (no damage) problem.
I guess you gotta be a little smarter the the car...lol

[Adrian97c]

How about jacking from that bolt? Next to where the bowl is stuck to? In the other video he mentioned that it was also aluminum & would buckle?

[Sledgehammer70]

Originally Posted by Adrian97c

How about jacking from that bolt? Next to where the bowl is stuck to? In the other video he mentioned that it was also aluminum & would buckle?

I have personally seen that bolt point buckle when jacked from that bolt point only.