I have just come in from starting to give the fabia a deep clean after the salty mess of Winter. Last thing to wash were the sills and then realised the front two jacking points on both sides were caved in and buckled (passenger side actually flares out slightly and rather noticeable).

I've taken my wheels off twice to clean and wax them using the provided lifting jack, used in the correct jacking positions looking at the online manual and in car handbook (also the arrow indents on the sill). I was just about to use my new trolley jack today but now I don't want to further increase any more damage.

Any ideas on what can be done?

Thanks

Ouch! Did you use the jack directly on the sill?!

it looks almost as if you've had the jack too far out from the actual seam?

I use a trolley jack with a block of wood combined with an axle stand, also with a block of wood, never had anything like that happen.

Sorry to see this; has someone tried to steal the car by lifting the front :wonder:

TP

I have always made sure, double checked and triple checked its been in the correct position on the seam.. but I really don't know how this happened :(

crikey, give that a couple of years and the sills will be rotten, you can see in one of the pics a couple of indentations where the jack has contacted the outer sill panel, sadly it looks like the jack has been used incorrectly or possibly its slipped.. that will need proper attention from a bodyshop to put that right

Yeah the drivers side sill is totally gone.. paint rippled etc.

Making me sick looking at them!

ouch not nice at all matey :(

maybe the experts out here could show a n00b like me where to actually fit a trolley jack as when i asked the dealers they say there isnt a mounting point for a trolley jack???

a nice little photo or two would do nicely

It should be fairly obvious where to put a trolly jack if you use common sense...the first rule being never under sheet metal like sills.

The first day I got the vRS new I jacked it up front and rear,(to fit modflaps) IIRC under the spring pans at the back and under the bottom wishbones at the front.

http://www.briskoda....ing-up-a-fabia/

http://www.briskoda....jacking-points/

Ignore those, they are for Fabia Mk I, sorry. The priciple will be the same I'd imagine, but don't want you jacking the wrong part.

Grrrr, not a lot else to add that hasn't already. When I jacked mine up to change wheels with the supplied jack, it did slip off the seam but onto the inside as I was winding. I quickly unwound and as the car had hardly risen no damage. When I put my fingers under to feel why this happened I noticed lots of excess mastic (or similar) that had prevented the jack tying onto the seam. Looking at the first picture I notice square creases on the outside. Either the jack slipped and you didn't notice or it was placed wholly on the outside of the seam. I feel your pain. I think it needs repairing sooner rather than later to save rust etc.. I'd be speculating if its structural or not.

Oh my god :( soooo sorry looks terrible as above you need it looked at properly as long term damage will occur, get it seen to sooner than later as all this rain and especially the salt on the roads will create havoc, once it starts warming up the salt will react much more with metal, go to a proper body shop with good reviews

Thanks for all the replies guys. Much appreciated and i'm running round all the local body shops at the moment on the phone and sending the attached picture files.

I don't know maybe I totally messed up and put the jack on the outside by pure accidental stupidity, but then again my rear jacking points are totally fine.. which makes me want to believe they had slipped on the front. But who knows. Either way it needs sorting for the sickening feeling to go away!

Have you spoken to an independent body shop? They will weld there keys on and use a slide hammer to pull that back out, then a simple application of paint etc job should be a good un.

I reckon a couple of hundred quid should sort that out. I know a place in Widnes called R&L motors, they repaired a roof on a BMW 5 series for me and they also repaired a mates 206 that had bumper and head light damage, works was good an cash worked wonders....

Let me know if you need contact numbers etc.

It can be repaired , they will weld a rod on the area and pull the dent out with the slide hammer and then repaint , not the end of the world but goes to show what can happen if you arent really careful

Well dexter some really comforting posts for you, so shouldn't worry too much

They proberbly look worse than they are, it should be a simple job for a bodyshop to pull that damage out as mentioned above. Don't accept replacement panels or loads of filler as neither are required in this case.

sorry but its not obvious as to where to put the jack as the mechanic at the dealers told me theres no place for a trolley jack, who am i to argue that point which is why i think asking here is better for anyone unsure

It's right that there is no proper place for a trolley jack.

I think some Audi's come with little rubber jacking points that can be fitted to some other models too.

If jacking with the supplied scissor type jack then using the sill points is fine but still not ideal. If jacking regularly you should use a trolley jack and jack up using a suspension wishbone or similar.

At least being where the damage is it's not going to need to be perfect (read expensive) to fix.

Don't worry yourself over it.

Phil

sorry but its not obvious as to where to put the jack as the mechanic at the dealers told me theres no place for a trolley jack, who am i to argue that point which is why i think asking here is better for anyone unsure

As is (sadly) very often the case, the mechanic at the dealer's is totally clueless, and is probably talking out of his backside, as usual.

It's right that there is no proper place for a trolley jack.

Actually, there are places for trolley jacks. I wish I had a photo to show you. I'll just have to describe it. I'm sure you'll find it though. I've used them several times.

If you look underneath the car, there is a small area that's stamped to form a little circle. It's not a perfect circle, it's a bit vague, but right at the centre of it, there is a hole, where there is a plastic grommet plugged into it. There is no rubber padding at all, but a decent trolley jack should have its own padding anyway. These spots are 2 or 3 inches inside of the sill line, both for front and rear. If you align the centre of the plastic grommet with the centre of the jack pad, the pad should be well clear of the sill. Also, the front jacking area is situated at the very edge of the sill (length-wise), it's literally right next to the wheel well.

I hope this helps and prevents anyone else from doing any damage to theirs.

Dexter, I can't begin to fathom how painful that must have been for you, but I'm sure it'll all be sorted eventually, and you'll just forget about it.

They usually jack OK on the sills. I've never had any problems jacking them on the sills using a jacking beam, which is basically the same as a trolley jack, except that it jacks both sides of the car at once. If you look underneath, the jacking point will be where two or three panels join, also the floor will be corrugated next to them.

I'm pretty certain that the dealerships have special attachments which are specific to the model of car, and this locates into key structural points on the car using locking pins and pegs etc, at least I know this is true for franchised Audi dealers, their lifts are flush with the ground and they have all the proper lifting jigs specific to each model on the walls hung up so I guess if skoda do the same then there will be no official trolley jack points.

Some confusion on here .....Ok I can excuse lack of experience because I've been working on cars for too long so I have learnt a bit along the way.You don't necessarily need to know the official jacking points,just be aware of the following.

Firstly only use a manufacturer's jack in emergency,such as for a puncture wheel change and then only jack to the minimum height to get the wheel off so that the manufacturer's jack is carrying the least possible load.If you are contemplating any car DIY work get yourself a trolley jack.

As I said before,ignore any sheet metal areas,such as sills,these are weak.

I agree there will be official jacking points on these areas but these are only safe under specific circumstances,some are designed only to use with a four post lift where the load is spread evenly ,so if you try to use just one you may exceed the safe load.So best ignore these.

You need to lay on your back and locate the trolley jack under strong suspension parts,axles,wishbones ...or thick chassis box sections.

(But not anti roll bars or steering arms ,and don't squash any brake pipes)

If you find this difficult perhaps you lack the basic knowledge anyway,so do some research....the other thing to add of course is that after jacking up don' t venture underneath the car without placing an axle stand under one of the aforementioned areas,never go under a car supported by a jack alone.

The jacking points are clearly marked , ive managed to have my wheels off a few times and havent damaged the car , its not Skodas fault, its not the cars fault, its not the jacks fault its simple user error

The only people that never make mistakes are the ones that never do anything

I have come to the conclusion with family and neighbours that they had seen a vehicle one evening at the bottom of the driveway and suspected tried to either steal the car on a "T-Bar" sort of winch and cut the handbrake cable.. or to steal the wheels.

I have looked again today at the supplied jack and I know myself I wouldn't have gotten it so wrong and directly placed it on the sill.. and the possibility of it slipping, it would have fallen completely off the jack onto the floor.

Again either way if it has tried to have been stolen, the stupid minded idiots have cost me at least £630. (From 5 independent body shops and that was the cheapest with mates rates discount)

I'm going to have a very close look to see whether its just the sealant that has split, if so can just get some sealant and some race blue paint and touch up the areas, to then just have to deal with the damage.