Jack pads - or, why nothing is ever simple
 

Given the importance of properly lifting an Aston (and the dire consequences of doing it incorrectly), I thought I'd summarize what I've learned over the last 8 months of making them.

First, why it's important - you can have your car totaled by lifting in from the wrong locations:

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...firestone.html

Note that Rich at Redpants.lol has put together a great tutorial on how to correctly lift one of our vehicles for DIY work. This is a somewhat scary process but allows you to put all 4 corners on jack stands. The jack pads I've made apply more to when using a lift, and providing the correct clearance to the under panels of the car to lift securely.

In their wisdom, Aston has chosen to use a variety of different jack point layouts (the main design is the same, but there a many variations in how the body panels tie in). I'd dearly love to see what they do in the factory to accommodate different models on the same line....

Here are the jack point details of each vehicle. Note that normally, there is a plastic cap covering the jack point - this needs to be removed to actually lift the car.

V8 Vantage coupe.
There were various sill designs over the years, but the jack points are the same - only the vertical clearance from the jack point to the jack itself has changes.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...f01d27485e.jpg
V8V coupe front

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...b79ce1d5f5.jpg
V8V coupe rear

V8 Vantage S and Roadster. There is a larger rear undertray in these cars that complicates the design, and shrinks the contact area. There is a also a front undertray.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...807ceb0d3.jpeg
V8V S and roadster front

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...d779f9a9bb.jpg
V8V S and roadster rear

V12 V - these use a very different arrangement in the front, but the same undertray as the V8 S and roadster.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...1c7ce12bb2.jpg
V12V front

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...fde9e72269.jpg
V12V rear

DB9 is completely different, and offers much better contact area.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...162a64c45b.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...77a12a9539.jpg

I do not yet have verified designs for DBS, Virage, Rapide or Vanquish.

I have also come up with a more complex jacking bar to make lifting a V8V coupe much safer - it is however much more involved, and therefore more expensive. It does however remove pretty much all the stress of lifting up a car from all 4 wheels.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...a707c8346a.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...5ca9b1f54f.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...6e01c3c5f2.jpg

I would be remiss in not thanking all those who provided input on various designs. Thanks for your measurements, comments and patience.

Matt

Lots of great info! I get questions all the time about this even still, so a lot of people are going to appreciate this.

I have a set of Matt's pads for my DB9 and used them today with my QuickJack. They work MUCH better than using the Quickjack's rubber blocks alone or the hockey pucks many of us used previously. Highly recommended.

I have his pads for my DB9. They are great to jack up one point. I do not have the set that incorporates the bar. I don't often or rarely need to put whole car on jack stands. However, I have run into the ---how do I transfer once lifted a corner to a jack stand issue. So my suggestions are to buy the whole bar pad kits and this is solved. Even for a change out of one wheel, might as well jack up one side of the car, put jack stands in place, and be done. But, HSM Precision pads are of the highest quality and work exactly as advertised. We are very fortunate to have a forum member who has taken this issue head on, and then made improvements. Thanks from me !!!!!!!!!!!

I also have a set of Matt's pads and also use them with my QuickJack. It's an awesome solution that takes all the worry out of lifting my Vantage.