Jacks and jackstands.

I've seen a few times people post on the newsgroup asking where is a good place to support a VW when working on it. While this may seem like a simple deal, I've seen cars where people have tossed a jack under a car to lift it only to make a nice bulg in the floor, or damage brake lines, fuel hoses and other types of lines that run under the car.

Never trust a jack with your life. Jacks fail without warning. If you are going to stick your body under a car, you use jackstands, it is that simple.

So where does one lift and support a VW? Take a look at the pics of my Jetta below....

Please note that your car may vary from my car, so some things will be a little different, but over all, it is the same for any given VW
The follow pics are taken of the right underside (passenger) looking towards the rear
.
  • 1 - This is the lower control arm. Support here is you are checking lower balljoints, tie rod ends, strut bearings for memory steer.
  • 2 - This is the seam the runs down the under side of the car. Use this as a lifting point. If your jack has a small head on it, you may want to put a 6" piece of 2X4 wood on it to help proctect the seam from getting bent up. The lift I'm using has a thick rubber pad, sort of like a chunk of tire tread to protect the seam.
  • 3 - Don't know what that round thingy is called, but that is where I toss a jack stand when I do work like struts, CVs, ect.
  • 1 - The closer you support the rear axle beam to the axle stub, the better.
  • 2 - You can support the car here, but as you let the jack down, the rear wheels will sag down as well.
Again, be careful when you get under your car. If you aren't sure it is safe, then don't stick yourself under it.

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