While searching for 1.8t educational material in vwvortex, i found this:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2398936&page=1

:eek:

I've always been afraid of the factory-supplied jack, so the first thing i bought together with the car was a set of stands with security locks like the ones in page 2:

It was really dumb to try forcing the tire-nuts while lifted (you always loose the nuts before lifting the car), so that was what probably caused the failure, but still, the factory jack isn't trustworthy IMO.:thumbdwn:

Factory jacks should only be used in an emergency, such as a tyre going suddenly.

I've had my car fall off the jack... I had it correctly locked into the cill and was pretty vertical when it was on it's way up, but it still manged to slip at the base and caused the car to crash down :thumbdwn:

Factory jacks should only be used in an emergency, such as a tyre going suddenly.

Spot on comment that.

And I'd like to add that even in an emergency I'd probably just ring the RAC/AA/Green Flag/my mate in no particular order - just can't be arsed to do it myself. I've got a hydraulic jack for 'at home' but I only use that if I carry it down a flight of stairs, so it's not seen much action recently

Spot on comment that.

I'm not just a pretty face

Never ever get under the car without a rigid stand to stop a jack collapsing onto you (even hydraulic jcks can fail). Its only a little car but it can easily crush your head and kill you.

I always use a trolley jack. Not only is it safer it is often a lot faster to jack the car to a decent height. Halfords often do a deal with free/half price axle stands with their 2.5T jack.

Can't remember the last time I used my scissor jack - Only time I'd risk it is if the car is on level concrete ground. I usually have my 2 ton trolley jack, and if any major work is needed, a pair of axle stands to allow safe access underneath.

So where do you locate a trolley jack underneath then? The exposed vertical ridge seems to mean you have to go further underneath, but then i have no idea whats solid and not.

Don't use the rear axle/beam.

I'm guessing at the very back, the towing eye would be OK, and at the front, I believe there are some solid points of chassis just inside the "ridge" you refer to (that the scissor jack normally uses)

I put a piece of 3/4" plywood under the sill, then use the standard jacking points.

I've had a few customers come in complaining about the factory jack that Audi use ( same scissor type) and when we check out what they say happened against the damage they show us - we have been able to show that in fact it was not the jack at fault but the person using it.

Either on unsafe ground,unlevel ground incorrect posistioning of jack - 1 customer tried to jack his A4 S-line against the plastic sideskirt - and he was suprised when it fell off!!

As has been said before the factory supplied jacks are for emergency use only, on solid level ground against the marked jacking points on the body of the car. They are in no way suitable for use for any other vehicle maintenance - that includes using it to swap all four wheels around on the car -- a trolley jack and stands should be used for this.