Quick question about jacking a DB9. So I just want to do a fast oil change before winter ( 3000 miles on oil and I'm a little fanatical about maintenance). I just want to be able to get under the car enough to get the drain plug without removing the front under tray. If i jack it up from one of the two forward jacking points, is that ok or do I have to completely lift each side of the car and support all 4 points with jackstands. I know it's safer doing it with all 4 wheels off the ground but I just want to change the oil quick and not make a production out of it. I guess my main concern is would lifting this car like that tweak or twist anything it's not supposed to.

Thanks

 

I find that it's hard to put these cars on 4 jack stands. In the interest of not working under a car held up by just a jack, when I change the oil on my car, I lift up each corner, put that corner on a wheel stand (in my case, I use a rhino ramp) and then change the oil. The car is then totally stable and flat. It takes less than 10 minutes.

 

I was thinking of doing this too. I have a set of ramps that aren't low enough to drive up on but jacking up the car and putting the wheels down on them will definenty work. Glad to hear someone else doing this!

 

I think if I were going to do that and leave the car in the air for more than just a few minutes I would use two jacks and jack up the entire side of the car from the front and back points so that it had support at both ends. That obviously assumes you have two jacks. However, I wouldn't get under a car without jackstands. Jacks do fail. You could jack up the car in the center of the side using something to spread the load and then put jackstands under the jack points. There's a how-to on Redpants' site for jacking up a Vantage and you could do something similar.

If I were you I would just go to home depot and get some 2x10 boards and build a couple low profile ramps. Make a stairstep three boards high and you'll have enough room under the front of the car to change the oil or whatever. I built some ramps for a previous car and haven't used them on the Vantage yet, but they should work. You just need to make sure you make the stairsteps long enough to clear the front splitter/valence. If you have your design and measurements beforehand you can even get the boards cut at hd.

 

BTW, I only got 1000 miles on my Vantage this year and still changed the oil when I put it away for the winter, so I get fanatical

 

No filter change?

 

Absolutely! Thought that was a given.

 

You said quick, and no removal of the front tray.

 

Pretty good idea. I was even looking at modified car trailer that has front and rear stabilizing legs someone put on to use it as an elevated work platform (redneck car lift)!

My main concern is lifting one corner of the car at a time rather than the whole side. I'm afraid in doing so might twist it is a way that's not good for a DB9. Most cars I wouldn't even think twice about this. But I can't be too careful with this one.

 

Yes. Or at least that's what I was planning on.

 

Car is designed to lift on one side at the proper lift point. Check your manual, it might specify that the undertray should not be removed until both side are on jackstands.

 

It does no harm to lift one corner of the car.

 

If you do not remove the undertray you are going to have one heck of a mess that will drip for a long time after you are done.

 

Get some low profile 2 piece race ramps

 

The service manual specifies not to remove the stiffener that is on the transmission tunnel without supporting all 4 sides of the vehicle. I didn't see anything about undertray, so that should be safe.

My preference has been to either drive or lift the car onto ramps, which gives enough clearance to crawl under the car. (I really, really need a lift though....)

Matt