Jacked car in wrong place...

[Tc24]

Jacking up a new-to-me car for the first time today. Incorrectly identified a hollow crossmember thinking it was solid per my other car and started jacking. Didn't get off the ground before I noticed, but managed to make a dent in it roughly the size of the jacking pad (3" diameter) and about an inch deep.

Massively annoyed with myself.

Is this going to be problematic, especially come MOT time? It doesn't feel structural but clearly it's there for a reason.

What are my repair options? Total new crossmember (if even available) or can a new section be welded in?

It's an 8th gen Civic, not mine but red circled area is where I've managed to do the damage:



Thanks all.

Edited by Tc24 on Sunday 19th May 22:54

[GreenV8S]

Has it pushed up the boot floor? I suspect that's what the reinforcement is intended to support. It doesn't seem to me to be a critical area and if that was mine I'd be happy to assume that was safe and legal unless the next MOT tester said otherwise. I might still be tempted to try to pull it straight given the holes conveniently placed nearby, but I wouldn't lose sleep over it if it didn't want to play ball.

[Tc24]

GreenV8S said:

Has it pushed up the boot floor? I suspect that's what the reinforcement is intended to support. It doesn't seem to me to be a critical area and if that was mine I'd be happy to assume that was safe and legal unless the next MOT tester said otherwise. I might still be tempted to try to pull it straight given the holes conveniently placed nearby, but I wouldn't lose sleep over it if it didn't want to play ball.

Doesn't seem to have done, but I'll check properly tomorrow (it was getting dark by the time I was able to investigate). I don't think it had enough weight on it for enough time to do anything other than bend the bottom of the metal upwards. I poked my finger through one of the holes and could still feel a gap between it and what was presumably the boot floor, so hopefully it's just closed it up without damaging further.

Mechanical ignorance showing here (if they inability to jack hadn't already demonstrated this enough!) but how would you pull that using the holes? Don't think I'd get a bar in there but likewise don't think even a thick steel wire looped through 2 of them would shift it.

[GreenV8S]

Can you get a J bolt in there and tighten it down to a timber under that channel?

[aka_kerrly]

Too late now but always check the owners manual for details of jacking locations.

Presumably you have a trolley jack in which case it needs to go right under the car to the rear beam.

[Tc24]

GreenV8S said:

Can you get a J bolt in there and tighten it down to a timber under that channel?

Good shout, might give that a try to iron it out for cosmetic purposes.

aka_kerrly said:

Too late now but always check the owners manual for details of jacking locations.

Presumably you have a trolley jack in which case it needs to go right under the car to the rear beam.

I spent some time reading the manual just after buying the car and still managed to get it wrong! The correct jacking point would have actually been easier to access in hindsight (towing eye) so noted for next time.

I took the car to my favourite bodyshop yesterday. He seemed unconcerned by the damage, not structural beyond providing some support to the spare wheel well and metal still intact. Suggested it was bothering me too much he could cut the section out, reshape it and weld back up but not worth worrying about in his opinion. May still try the J bolt trick to tidy things up in the meantime and failing that, have it all straightened out if ever it's in the shop for anything else. If nothing else a valuable lesson has been learned.

[robbocop33]

I wouldn't worry about it, garages probably do worse to people's cars on a daily basis, and eh? They mot cars! :-)

[Drew106]

aka_kerrly said:

Too late now but always check the owners manual for details of jacking locations.

A lot of cars do not state where the jacking and support points are in the owners manual. They will state the sill area usually to change a wheel, but don't expect you to be working on your own car, so don't give more than that.