Jacking instructions for tire rotation/changing?

  • Thread starter Thread starter R P
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 26
  • Views Views 13K
R P

R P

Well-Known Member
Was looking in the manual and did not see any instructions on where/how to place the jack. Every other car I've owned was always very explicit about this. I want to rotate my tires, but want to be sure I don't damage anything by using the wrong jack or jack point.

I am being extra cautious because with my son's Tesla, they have very specific instructions because of the battery underneath, and this procedure can only be done by Tesla authorized shops. It requires some kind of adapter for the jack. If there are any marks on the battery cover, the warranty is voided.
 
kona-jack-jpg.110710

From speakev forum
 
Yeah, I see the pinch welds there, and slots looking very similar to my other cars. But the Kona EV manual doesn't mention these, and there was no scissor jack that came with the car. And I know an EV is much heavier than a similar ICE model version.

I am probably being needlessly over cautious here, but just want to make sure I don't screw anything up.
 
Looks like the lift points are on the flat frame portion behind the pinch welds. Again this was from the speakev forum, please credit the original poster rbilodeau
for the pictures

20191019_150455_hdr-jpg.124165


20191019_150446-jpg.124166


20191018_210656-jpg.124167
 
From that pic looks like they are lifting right on the pinch welds (red part), which is what I would expect, between the two notches.
 
There's enough frame "meat" next to the pinch welds that a jack can center to
one side of the weld or the other, esp. if it doesn't have the suitable slotted
fitting to straddle the weld but still push up on either side of it and not on
the edge of the weld itself.

I have fit a generic scissor jack and a backup jackstand in next to each
other with safe purchase on both, without endangering the battery
framework.

_H*
 
Yeah, had an old hockey puck and could have carved it up. But this one is a little smaller and fits into the cup of my floor jack, so should be a little more secure. Anyway, it was pretty cheap, so that I would give it try.
 
electriceddy said:
Nice solid jack:) Did you have to jack all 4 points or did jacking one side lift the car enough to change both tires?
Click to expand...

While looking up where to place the jack, I found some images showing how to jack the entire front end, or back end. However, as I'm inexperienced with this, and with an electric car, I chose the safe option and changed one tire at a time. It took about an hour, all said and done. There was a bit of an investment initially, with the jack, a good torque wrench, breaker bar, and some other small items. But with 3 cars in our household now, it was a small investment compared to paying to have tires switched over twice a year. Plus, I can do it when I choose rather than having to try and get the car booked in at the same time as everyone else.
 
I used a small trolley (floor) jack to lift each corner in turn, for a inspection. The car lifts easily at the indicated jacking points, not nearly as heavy as I thought it would be.
Everything is clean (12,000 km) and brakes are barely touched even though I normally use only the pedal. Glad to see that the rim hub is correctly fitted with vents to both the hub center and the casting pockets so water gets drained. The rear brake was just as clean.

8C1C4627-F780-4C25-895F-FA639FBB42D9_1_105_c.webp C85D13DA-56C7-46FA-9CFE-03822157D6B3_1_105_c.webp
 
Please help me understand what the correct jacking scheme is... Is the actual pinch-weld edge used for lifting, between the notches, and the hockey puck with grove is just there to give better support?
...or is the hockey puck slot/groove supposed to be deep enough that actual support/lifting takes place not on the pinch-weld edge but rather adjoining the edge on the frame?
 
The edge of the flange in between the two notches is what is intended to take the load, or "pinch weld" as it seems to be colloquially known. The pad on a trolley jack (floor jack, forgot who uses which term) will grasp that safely (if centered) but the puck seems to be someone's idea of how to protect the flange from minor deformation. I saw these first used on BMWs because if I recall there are no DIY jacking points. Because we're a number 8 wire country in NZ we can't find such fluffy accessories locally so I just use a tough material in between to minimise scratches, but thin enough so that the car's flange locates inside the jack's notches. Thick leather would be ideal. The puck is not intended to take the load to the sheet metal as far as I'm aware. Have a look at the Hyundai image above. The lift shown has flat pads.

20191018_210656-jpg.124167
 
KiwiME said:
The lift shown has flat pads.
Click to expand...
The flat pad is what's confusing me, I think. My Santa Fe had a similar pinched weld but not nearly as high so I made some pads out of 2x4 to put the weight on the frame instead of the edge itself. Maybe I didn't need to.
So to recap... it is perfectly ok to jack on the pinch-weld edge as long as it's between the notches?
 
Lifting the Kona to remove a wheel is a piece of cake. The pad I used is a piece of reinforced silicone rubber but is not needed. Most important is that the car's flange sits inside the jack's teeth.

5E233FA0-BAB8-404F-842B-92AD2A6DB9A6_1_105_c.webp A08C1CB0-EB37-4573-B444-9235E7105BC3_1_105_c.webp
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top