jacking points

[emerson]

Can anyone recommend points for jacking the front and rear (MkII). I've jacked the rear at the middle of the rear beam, but have heard I shouldn't do this as it bends easily (although it looked safe enough to me). 
At the front, I've been jacking on the sills and then letting it down onto axle stands also on the sills.  This has damaged some of the under body seal, which came off on the axle stands.
Any ideas??

[gibby]

Your jacking points should be just on the sill just behind the front wheels and on the sill just in front of the back wheels. 

[emerson]

Thanks for your help on this (and the MFA) however, I was referring to points that you can jack the MkII on a trolly jack before putting it on axle stands?so where should I jack it up in a central location so that I can get a pair of axle stands underneath?  The reason I ask is that I had jacked the rear on the centre of the back beam but have recently heard that this is a bad idea as it could be bent (mine seemed to be ok). Likewise for the front, is there a central location to lift the whole front of the car up before putting stands underneath on each side?

[gibby]

Ah ! I see. Not sure then, maybe you could jack it up on one side then put the axle stand in, then do the other side.  Takes twice as long but at least you know you are not going to bend anything. Anyone else know the real answer ? 

[tobz.]

At the front there are proper jacking points welded to the floor pan on either side. I normally use these with my trolley jack then put an axle stand under the box section that runs along under the floor on either side. At the rear I'm not completely sure about the proper place to use a trolley jack but I normally put mine under the pivot point of the rear beam either side (where the rear beam bolts to the shell). I then put an axle stand under the rear beam as close to the outside of the car as possible.
It does take a while as to get your axle stands on their maximum setting you usually have to keep swapping sides moving each one up a notch at a time.

[Judderi]

At the front there are circular bits that stick out from the floor which i always use but im not sure about the back. i tend to use the most solid section i can find. NEVER THE FLOOR!

[emerson]

At the front I've been doing it similarly to how Tobz describes.  Doing each side at a time, I use the trolley jack on those box sections on the floor and then let the carr down onto the axle stands on the circular protrusions.  To get decent height, I again do as Tobz says; going side to side, increasing a notch or two each time.  If there was one central location you could do it all in one go.  Also, I have dented the box sections on the floor doing this and also removed some of the underbody sealer (even though I have a piece of wood between the trolley jack pad and the floor).  I can't see there's any other way to do it. 

As for the rear, I cant see how to avoid using the rear beam.
Maybe I need to buy a car lift!!

[laserblaster]

i normaly jack the front up on the round solid bits behind the front wheels......

and put the axel stands under the front subframe! ie by track control arms !!!
its solid! because that is bolted to the cars front chassis!

the rear i jack up on the rear axel beam and i also put the stands under the axel!!

but if i'm doing the suspension i put the stands under the rear jacking points but i get flat bits of metal
and put them inbetween the stand and the jacking point otherwise the stand cruches the jacking point!
they do go soft!!!

[Conker]

Before I crush myself to death...

I've never used axle stands before, so can someone just confirm that I'm doing it right.  I use my trolley jack to lift the car via the jacking points on the sill (under the trim flap), then I'm putting axle stands under the round bump shown below:



Is this safe. It feels sturdy, but doesn't look like the stands are designed to fit in the hole or anything???

Also, the trolley jack seems to deform the jacking point a bit.  Is this normal?

[bigman_10]

that doesn't look safe to me mate. not sure what to advise you on that but as regards to jacking it and the jack deforming the mount, i use a block of thin hard wood on the top of the jack so the wood gives a larger surface area on the jacking point it doesn't deform it as much and like someone said the can loose their original strength a little after all the wet weather we get. (if you use the wood idea just be careful nothing slips i've used mine so much its got groves imbedded into it so i dont get this problem but aslong as the wood isn't too tall it should be ok.)