I've never found a piece of underbody I feel comfortable putting the jackstand under. Can anyone help me?

There are 4 jack points next to each wheel that is design to take a typical jack stand. Two behind each front wheel and two in front of each rear wheel, about 2" x 4" square-ish puck things. They're inserted into part of the frame rail and is on the stiffest part of the car's chassis.

There's a center point in the front of the car under the front subframe (on the MZ4 it's a round puck, on the regular Z4 it's a square protrusion on the underbody cross brace) to jack up the entire front end so you can place a jack stand under each jack point. In the rear, use the part where the two cross brace comes together right behind the diff for the floor jack. Both points are tied to the front and rear subframe and is the stiffest part of each center point. The protrusion on the front subframe cross-brace is aluminum and will crush when lifted, but right underneath that is the front chassis subframe.

I wondered about that front jack point. I noticed that the molded pan that covered the front jack point did get flattened when I used that to lift the car but it otherwise felt like a solid jack point and the chassis subframe is clearly visible on the other side of that.

Then how do I jack up the car? I use those pucks to jack the car up.... see the conundrum?

Then how do I jack up the car? I use those pucks to jack the car up.... see the conundrum?

Jack up the front and the rear of the car from the center jack point I mentioned above.

The protrusion on the aluminum cross-brace will get crushed, but right underneath that protrusion is the front chassis subframe so it should be okay.

Of course, you can just work at a company that has a 2 post jack in the tech-center in the back...:paranoid:

I read that way too quickly. Thanks

Quick question,

I lost 3 of my 4 'plastic' things that go on my jack points on the sides. Is it okay to still use jack stands even if I'm missing these parts?

Thanks

Quick question,

I lost 3 of my 4 'plastic' things that go on my jack points on the sides. Is it okay to still use jack stands even if I'm missing these parts?

Thanks

Depending on what your jack stand looks like. If you've got one of those universal ones with the notch on the top of the jack stand, I would probably refrain from using them on the bare jack points because they'll mar up the finish on the bottom of the car. If you've got one of those round top jack stands that my mechanic has begged me to use on my car instead of the universal ones, then you need to remove that last jack puck and you'll be fine to use the round top jack stands.

Universal ones:

http://www.northerntool.com/images/product/images/144862_lg.jpg

Round top:

http://www.drivewerks.com/catalog/images/drivewerks/jacks/3000NFP_new.jpg

Thanks The Hack.

Don't have jack stands yet. The round top ones look great to use.
Time for some shopping.

Then how do I jack up the car? I use those pucks to jack the car up.... see the conundrum?

The tool that made this easy for me was a low rider jack:

http://www.tooltopia.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=11737

This can slide right under the front end all the way to the jack points that the HACK described and then you can lift the whole front/back end at once and push your jack stands under the normal jack points on the sides of the car.

I use a small rolling floor jack to lift either side at the jacking point just behind the front wheel. This gives enough room to use my big floor jack to lift the front center jacking point; leaving the sides free for the jackstands. Then the same at the rear.

I just use some pieces of wood I nailed together to drive the car up on to get the clearance I need for my jack.

http://www.asedeals.com/NewJacks4Jpg.jpg

The long one is what I have at home. $500 at the time with a discount from Ultimate Garage. Not cheap, but it's worth its weight (75lbs) in gold.

The jack is low enough to reach the front jacking point, even on most lowered cars. For some odd reason, if you line up the roundel with the center of the jack puck, when you insert the floor jack all the way in with the handle about 1/4" off of the front bumper on both my E46 323Ci and both the Z4 3.0 and MZ4 coupe, the jack's puck lines up PERFECTLY with the front center jack point. The rear is a little bit of a reach on the E46.

Hey guys,
This is my first post. I have a 2003 Z4 3.0 with the sports package. I am having my fronts replaced from the OEM RFTs to PS2s.
The tire shop will work on my Z4 but I want to make sure they dont screw up anything.
Can they lift the whole car ? Which method is the most recommended that would result in no damage to the body?