Standard car jack

[AndyT77]

I want to swap the front and rear wheels, will the standard jack be up to the job of lifting the car on one whole side, so i can do this without fannying around putting the spare on?

[kambites]

The jack will be strong enough, it depends on whether the jacking points are in the right place.

[y2blade]

Use axle stands.

And be mindful that OEM jacks are pretty wobbley (if ground is less than even), don't you have access to a trolley jack at all?

[Nuclear Biscuit]

Can't see how it would do. Jacking points are such that I cant see how you could lift more than one wheel at a time IMHO.

[Sump]

Jack it up and get an axle stand under a control arm or somethung?

[AndyT77]

Haven'y got access to a trolley jack, or axle stands. Looks like lift up on corner, wheel off, spare on lower, repeat for next corner. Oh well.

[itcaptainslow]

How about taking it to a local garage and slipping a lad there a drink or two to do it? It'll save a lot of fannying about.

[sjj84]

Nuclear Biscuit said:

Can't see how it would do. Jacking points are such that I cant see how you could lift more than one wheel at a time IMHO.

It depends on the location of the jacking points and the balance of the car. On my Z4 coupe I can jack the car from either of the rear jacking points and it'll lift both wheels on that side. That's with a trolley jack though, not sure if a standard jack would lift it high enough.

If this is a task that you are likely to be doing again in the future it might well be worth investing in a trolley jack or at least some axle stands, they really aren't expensive. Axle stands are something like £15-20 for a pair in halfords.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Don't forget the jack is standing on a tiny area of ground. The pressure on the ground will be immense under the jack. There's a real risk it will sink into the ground or punch through tarmac if you lift half a car with it. Proceed with caution.

Axle stands with tiny feet tend to have similar habits.