How do you support your Audi?

[Alasdair Mackintosh <alasdair%sdlunix@mailer.ug.eds.com>]

    How do you support your Audi? (Apart, that is, from standing on
    street corners with a big sign saying "Quattro to support - will
    work for exhaust manifolds"?)

    When I have to jack up the car ('86 Audi 80) there's a seam running 
    the length of the sill, with two marked points that are supposed to be
    reinforced to bear the weight of the car. The jack has a plastic head
    with a slot running through it that the seam fits into.


    The view below is taken looking forwards from the rear wheel well

                     |  <- Door
                     |
                     /
                    /  <- Sill
        ________  _/
                ||  <--- Seam

              _   _
             | |_| |
             |     |  <- Jack
              \   /
               ---
               \  \
                \  \


     The jack head slots neatly round the seam and lifts up the car.


     What I was wondering is how people support the car on axle stands 
     when they're working on it, given that the axle stands don't have
     the same shape as the jack. The first time I did this, I just rested
     the edge of the seam straight on the stand, like so:


                     /
                    /
        ________  _/
                ||  
              \----/
               |  | <-- Axle-stand
               |  |

    But I thought that this might put too much pressure on the end of the 
    seam. So the next time I put two pieces of wood on either side of 
    the seam, like so: (we're stretching the ASCII resolution here...)

                     /
                    /
        ________  _/
               O||O  <- peice of wood
              \----/
               |  | <-- Axle-stand
               |  |

    This seems to give more even supprt, but it's a bit fiddly. What
    do other people do?

    Alasdair.

===============================================================================
Alasdair Mackintosh                                 Shape Data, EDS Unigraphics
mackintosh@ug.eds.com                                 Parker's House, Regent St
+44 223 371608                                         Cambridge, CB2 1DP, U.K.