Bad luck and crappy Audi factory jack

[E Bavely]

Hello all...

I was on my way out to see some friends on Wednesday night (supposedly one
of the busiest bar nights of the year) and I stopped for cash.  Pulling out
of the bank, something felt very strange in the front end of my 80
fwd....loud, bumpy...really wrong.

I pulled over and found that my passenger front tire had lost all its air
and come off the bead. Crap!  I pulled into a gas station and attempted to
fill it up with air... no dice... wouldn't seal against the bead.

I figured I'd put the spare on to get going and then possibly change the
wheel at the house.  Out comes the tools, spare donut tire, aluminum
super-crap Audi jack (the crank kind that fits in the seams in the rockers).

I got the car up in the air, removed the offending tire, then went to put
the spare on.  Well, I needed to get the car a little higher up to fit the
wheel, so I tried to crank some more.  The momentum of me cranking started
the car rocking ever so slightly and in just under a second, the damn thing
fell over!  SLAM!  Rotor/front end slam on the concrete outside the gas
station.  Did I mention it's the coldest night of the year so far?  Oh
yeah... all of 17 degrees out.  What fun.

At that point, I tried the stock jack once or twice more as I could just
barely get it under the fallen car.  No luck... That thing SUCKS.  The
"foot" of it is all bent up now I've seen better stock jacks on just about
every other car, it seems.  Given the thing is light, but it REALLY does not
inspire confidence.

Fortunately, nothing was under the car when it fell.  Anyone had similar
experiences with the factory jack?  I'll be looking around for an
alternative to keep in the trunk.

I think I saw that some of the H_nda civics had nice scissor jacks from the
factory... Any other ideas?  I don't especially want to carry the two ton
floor jack in the trunk at all times.

Anyway, a friend bailed me out (in his brand new H2 loaded with kids) and
took me to my house where I grabbed two jacks, an extra rim and the
necessary tools.  Eventually, I had to jack up the back of the car to get
clearance to put the big jack under the front.  No damage to the front end
other than a dented rain shield on the rotor...

Oh well... nothing too serious.  My buddies were still at the bar when I
finally got there and they still had Bass on tap.  All's well that ends
well.

Cheers!

Elliott Bavely
86 4ktq
88 80 fwd
83 CGT
81 Coupe ITB
83 Rabbit GTI (2X)
etc.





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