[s-cars] Extracting your car off a parking curb (was Need PN's or??)

[Lee Levitt]

Dave writes:
> 
> Gentlemen:  I have done the Doh! a couple of  times but have 
> never pulled the bumper completely off.  The trick is to 
> realize what you are  doing and stop before the damage is 
> really bad.  Once, I moved ahead again and then had my 
> passengers pull up on the front fenders (at the wheel well) 
> while I slowly backed up.  The second time, I was by myself  
> and there was a slight grade away from the parking curb.  I 
> put the car in neutral (with the ebrake off), got out (left 
> the drivers door open), opened the trunk and stood on the 
> rear bumper.  Hanging on to the trunk lid, I then gently 
> jumped up and down (did knee bends) and rocked the car until  
> it came loose.  The grade was very gentle so I just had to 
> jump off and  go to the open door and pull the ebrake up.   

Hmm.

I think I saw this on the Darwin Awards.

You know, when I had a flat a couple of years ago, I jacked up my car by the
side of the road, on a slight incline. I was a newbie then, and I didn't
know about the pin that locates the rotor and hub.

So the wheel comes off and the car shifts backward just enough that I can't
get the bolts in. Maybe a 1/4" of an inch.

Damn.

I *thought* about how I could move the car forward. All sorts of stupid,
expensive ideas moved through my head. One of them included starting the
motor, putting the car in gear and easing forward just enough.

Each time I had a thought like that, I tried to picture what the car would
look like if I went too far forward, off the jack and onto the bellypan.

AAA took 3 hours to arrive. It sucked. But it would have sucked worse if I
had driven off that jack!

Lee
'02 A6 quattro avant
'96 A6 quattro avant