I want to buy some rubber pucks to fit my Fabia Scissor Jack.

The range of types is amazing (and baffling) which are the

best type to buy. I am looking at Amazon for delivery tomorrow.

Is it really a safe thing to do to fit anything between the "emergency  use only  intended" scissors jack and the car's frame? 

 

I would not do that, all the pucks etc that I've ever seen are for use with a stable trolley jack.

 

Each to their own but, why invite danger - unless I'm missing something.

The head of the standard VAG/Skoda scissor-jack (image below) has a slot in it designed to fit around a reinforced metal seam on the car's underside.

 

 

To avoid direct contact between the slot and the seam I stick a layer of Gorilla tape in the slot to act as a buffer. This provides a useful degree of protection for the seam  and, when the tape gets scuffed (and offends my visual OCD) it is easily replaced. 

 

Rubber 'pucks' are advertised as being appropriate for use with a scissor-jack (example below)

 

 

but I'm wary whether these would fit securely to the head of a standard VW/Skoda jack, or be any better protection-wise than my Gorilla tape ploy.

 

At least, when I fit the jack to the seam of my Fabia (or to the seam of my Roomster) I can see that the slot on the jack's head is properly located on the seam.

I'd totally agree with @rum4mo - if you're planning in advance to use the jack of doom, it's not an emergency, so get your hands on a safe jack and use that instead. 

 

If I were changing a wheel at the side of the road, and was bothered about scratching the stonechip on the seam (unlikely on a single usage) - I'd probably use a bit of thick, flexible plastic. Maybe a bit of Damp Proof Membrane, or  chop a bit out of a heavy plastic shopping bag. Lay it on top of the jack and let it sink into the groove as the sill puts weight on it. 

 

But yeah, unless you're utterly up **** creek, don't use the supplied jack. 

The photo DerekU used as an example is more of a 'how not to do it', I'm not even sure it is a puck, but as put by others they're for use with a trolley jack and then you have to match the puck to both the jack and car seam, jacks have saddles that can be removed or changed.

 

 

 

Just as one example only of a 'universal' puck. -

 

Edited 29 July, 20241 yr by nta16
missing words

Since 1964 I've been driving/owning vehicles that have included six VWs (5 Golfs and a Polo) and two Skodas (a 2009 Roomster and a 2024 Fabia Mk 4). 

 

If my memory serves me correctly all the VWs had, as standard,  the swivelling slotted-head design of jack shown in my last posting (as does my 2009 Roomster).

 

However, the Fabia Mk 4 has a different standard jack that is the traditional scissor type (image below) where the head is not slotted and has a quite shallow central lateral groove that abuts against the reinforced metal seam of the jacking-points beneath the car.

 

 

As has been mentioned above pucks/pads are not intended for use with the jacks provided as standard with VAG cars, but it might be practicable to glue the type of pad shown here

 

on to the head of the Fabia Mk 4 jack if one so wished, or to glue a rubber/plastic 'block' each side of the groove to facilitate positioning on the metal seam. (Me, I just stuck a couple of layers of Gorilla tape on my Fabia's jack-head to give a little extra 'grip' between the head and seam.)

 

When removing/replacing road-wheels on my vehicles (that have included three 3500kg motorhomes) I have never used other than the "Jack of Doom" provided as standard. My attitude is that, if I HAVE to change a wheel myself, this will be the jack I'll have to use,  and it makes sense that I should fully familiarise myself with the standard jack's capability well in advance of any 'emergency' requirement occurring.  Over the years I've successfully used the standard jack in emergencies several times. More recently I replaced my Roomster's failed windscreen-washer pump but, as that was done at home, I made 100% certain that the car was not supported solely on the standard jack before scrabbling underneath it. 

 

Years ago, while in France with a rear-wheel-drive Ford Transit-based motorhome, I asked a garage to check the oil-level in the vehicle's rear axle's final-drive unit that I knew had developed a slight leak. A French mechanic directed me to drive the motohome into a shed with a badly broken concrete floor and proceeded to raise the back end of the vehicle by positioning a single trolley-jack beneath the centre of the final drive unit. The vehicle wasn't 'chocked' and the hand-brake was, of course , not operating with the rear wheels off the ground. The mechanic then slid under the motorhome beneath the vehicle's rear entrance step. At this point I told my wife, who was standing next to me, "Go and wait at the reception office" and later she asked me why I had said this. I replied that, if the motorhome had fallen off the jack, the mechanic would have been crushed to death beneath the step and it would have been a pity for her to see that happen. (I was far more concerned with the repercussions a dead mechanic would have on our holiday.) Anyway, the jack didn't topple, the mechanic didn't die and the oil-level was OK. But it's that sort of foolhardiness or incompetence that generally injures people, rather than the inadequacy of the jacking equipment being employed.

3 hours ago, DerekU said:

However, the Fabia Mk 4 has a different standard jack that is the traditional scissor type (image below)

Sign of cent (or fraction of cent) saving perhaps by VW, or supply issues, never would I suggest that it might be a further sign of further lowering of standards, I expect managers and directors expenses accounts remain at high levels.

 

Used sensibly in appropriate conditions scissor jacks are fine but certainly first choice.  Many years back I was given a Nissan (before Ren-No! but after Datsun) scissor jack and it was so well made I could raise a car a bit without the need of the lever handle, of course cars, and I, weren't so lardy then, I was a fool to give that jack away, so useful to support and locate components under the car too.

 

I don't know which design of jack your 2015 Skoda Fabia has, but if its the type that was provided historically as standard with VAG cars (and with my 2009 Roomster), it will be unsuitable for a Fabia Mk 4.

 

My Roomster does not have a scissor jack: it has a jack with an integrated 'fold-up' operating-handle as shown in the image below.

 

It's very neat and usable with cars that have an under-chassis reinforced metal seam (to which the jack attaches) fairly close to the car's outer side. That's where the seam is on my Roomster and I could also use the Roomster's jack to raise my 2021 Hyundai i20 (that came without a jack) as the i20's metal seam was similarly positioned.

 

However, the Fabia Mk 4's reinforced metal seam is much further in from the car's outer side, making it impossible to raise a Fabia Mk 4 with the Roomster's jack as, when the jack's head is beneath the Fabia's metal seam, the integrated handle cannot be rotated. This is why a Fabia Mk 4's OE jack is the scissor type with a long separate 2-section operating handle (image below)

 

 

that allows the jack to be positioned under the metal seam and the handle to then be turned.

 

It's not penny-pinching that defines which of the two designs of jack are provided as OE - it's where the seam is.

Edited 31 July, 20241 yr by DerekU

Thanks, I read your previous post as they were now including a standard jack as you illustrated, i.e. a generic jack.  I'm sure there's been plenty of cent-pinching on the Mk3 and Mk4 otherwise, but I admit I'm biased not being a VW fan.