$#^%@&*# Tire Jack!!!!!!

["Daniel Hussey" <dan_hussey@email.msn.com>]

Hello fellow listers,

Went out to my car tonight, and was about to leave the parking garage when I
felt something wrong.  Parked the car and found I had a badly flat left
front tire.

I came back later to replace it so I could get it plugged tomorow, and so I
pulled out the Audi tools from the trunk.  I loostened the lug bolts and
then I started to jack up the car (being carefull to it's proper position)
and I get it up.  I start removing one of the lug bolts and the whole car
almost fell over!  The jack wasn't supporting it well and it was falling
over.  I lowered the car, repositioned the base of the jack making sure it
was straight and a little bit _under_ the car.  Jacked it up again, tried
wiggling the base to make sure it was secure.  Everything felt fine untill I
started messing with the wheel again.  The leverage was pushing the car back
again!  Damn piece of ^#&*@(@) jack!!!!!  I did it a third time with similar
results.  I very frusturated as this is the 4th flat tire I've had in 6
months and I'd hate to actually be in a position where I'd have to rely on
this jack.  I didn't have the courage to try to change the tire with the
jack that unstable.

I'll probably just borrow a jack stand from a friend and change it tomorow.
But, what would happen if I were on the side of the road?  Well, I'd be SOL!
That's what!

So, my question is.....  Did any of the Audi S4/S6's have a better OEM jack,
or do they all have this bloody stupid jack too?  I looked in the trunk of
an A4 recently and was upset to see the same ^#&@*@ tire jack in the trunk!
Why doesn't Audi give us a decent tire jack?

I am looking for a new jack and have seen some of those hydrualic power ones
that a real compact, lightweight, and can plug right into your cigarette
lighter!  I think that would be pretty cool, but I'm really just looking for
a light, compact upgrade.

Also, how is that can of Fix-A-Flat?  I thought about just carrying a can of
that in the trunk, but always wondered what that stuff does when it stays in
your tire?  Would be a reasonable alternative though.  I'd like to get a
full size spare as well.

Later,
Dan