Jacking up all four NOW: Audi jack A JOKE

[Brett Dikeman]

At 2:21 AM -0500 3/18/04, SuffolkD at aol.com wrote:

>Its a JOKE.....its DANGEROUS imho...........its a modified version of the mid
>80's jack for the 4000/ 5000...its got a metal groove catch that pivots
>now....not the plastic groover of the past.
>This one is a shade too narrow for the groove and chips ALL the paint in the
>process.

Best jack I've seen is the Volvo jack; the jack points are bars, and 
the jack has a sort of c-shaped head that slips onto the bar, almost 
like a wrench.  That said, I've watched a Volvo fall off a jack(guy 
hit the same pothole I did, was also changing his tire) and land on 
the brake rotor...ouch.

>The car will walk the jack over in "Park" so cinch up the E-brake.
>Get all the bolts off and prepare to FIGHT the rust around the hub centric
>holder and the alloy wheel.

For our readers- don't forget you break the lugs with the car ON THE 
GROUND, never jacked.  Lot of people get this one part wrong, which 
is why so many cars fall off jacks.  Also, don't forget that handy 
plastic widget you put in place of one of the lugs to keep the 
rotor+hub aligned and make getting the wheel on a little easier.

>All bolts out, kick with feet, foot, feet, one then the
>other...........NOTHING.
>Take out the dough nut spare.....use it like a hammer....spook all the
>passing motorists.........  Hold like a discuss and whack the alloy 
>dead center or
>risk denting the fender.  WHACK whack WHACK...all day long...... lower car on
>jack then raise again whack whack whack......  Lower car on jack, raise
>again............
>15 minutes exhausted.......................
>Put car up higher on jack, place auto in Neutral and rotate the tire 180
>degrees:
>WHACK:  and it comes off...........

Here's a tip that might help...next time, just loosen the lug nuts, 
put the car back on the ground, put it in gear, get it rolling at a 
walking pace or faster, and then slam on the brakes as hard as you 
can.  May have to do it 2-3 times.  The wheel's not going anywhere, 
but there will be plenty of play to break the corrosion.

This was the only thing that worked to get my wheels off after the 
car sat in the driveway for several months.  A gear puller will also 
work; block of VERY strong wood and hook the arms of the puller in 
the spokes(only really works with the BBS mesh wheels).

B
-- 
"They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/