How To Find The Right Jacking Points On Your Car?

Jacking up your car is something that you might need at some point in your life. Still, for many car owners, this is a mysterious and worrying task. The main confusion arises when people are not sure of where the jacking points on their car or van are located. If you fall under this category and are clueless when it comes to jacking (in an attempt to replace a tyre), this blog is for you.

Locating your vehicle’s jacking points can sometimes save you a lot of trouble. Below, we are listing all you need to know about jacking your vehicle up.

What does jacking up your car mean?

Jacking up a car basically means lifting the car using the jack tool you have in your vehicle. The obvious reason to jack up a car is to change a tyre. However, there might be other situations, such as inspecting brakes, where you might get under the vehicle.

How to be safe when jacking up your car?

If you want to be safe when jacking up a car, you should do things methodically and not rush on any step of the process. For instance, if you need to change a tire and only have one jack, the first step is to locate the common jacking point on your car.

To do that, look in your vehicle’s user manual or maintenance guide. Most modern cars usually use what’s called a “uniform body construction,” which means that the whole bottom of the car is welded together to give it strength. The jacking points are usually made by doubling up on the sheets to reinforce the area or including small notches to help stop certain jacks from slipping as the car is being jacked.

How to jack a car up (plus jack types)

If you need to get your car off the ground, you have a few options of jacks, including a hydraulic bottle jack, a hydraulic trolley jack, or a scissor jack. Once you have found the jacking points, place your jack underneath and get going – you will find that you need to get the head of the jack to almost touching the jacking point and then adjust the position slightly to begin putting pressure on the point.

Some people like to use a piece of wood to hello protect the jack head and jack points. If you do that, just make sure the wood is lined up at a right angle to the jacking point. Once the jack starts to get locked by the pressure, start jacking more slowly. The image below shows some of the common car jacking points.

Before you start jacking your car, observe the following precautions:

• Make sure to use the jack only to get a vehicle off the ground – and not to hold it in place
• Use jack stands if you are working underneath your vehicle – you don’t want to be crushed underneath
• Never jack up a vehicle without blocking its wheels to keep it from rolling – you can use bricks, wooden wedges, or any metal chocks to block the wheels at the end of the vehicle that is not raised
• Don’t attempt to change a tyre on a freeway or highway
• Park your vehicle on level ground before jacking it up
• Put your vehicle in Park mode (or first gear in manual transmission) and engage the parking brake before jacking it up

No need to jack anything up – our Mobile Van Service is here for you!

If you don’t feel confident jacking your car up, don’t worry. The team at TyresOnline has got you covered with your custom tyre replacement or other needs on the road. Our Mobile Van Service will get to you quickly and make sure you are back on the road in no time. We can help with the Fitment of new car tyres, tyre Inspection, spare tyre replacement, wheel balancing, wheel Protector Installation, tyre puncture or flat tyre repair!