My biggest fear with working on this car just happened. I jacked up one side, put a stand in place, and when jacking the other side it slipped off the stand. It moved away from the car toward the side skirt and the weight of the car drove it through the skirt into the front fender and door. Many thousands of dollars I'm sure.


I have always said this is the most difficult car to jack up that I've ever owned but never had this happen before in my life. I've jacked it and had it on stands at least a dozen times. I had my Porsche's jacked maybe over a hundred times. What was different this time was I used one of those aluminum custom pads you see for sale. I admit I was worried about the possibility of it slipping from the smooth pad surface but I'd never heard of anyone else have this happen before with them.


Sucks. I hope insurance will cover it and this means I probably won't have the car for most of the summer.

 

Wow man! So sorry to hear about this! Glad you're OK.. That's what's important. Truly the nite mare for all of us who work on our cars.

 

Glad you're ok. This is something I'm always afraid of.

 

So sorry to read this, but glad it ended injury free.

 

Deckman, I just look at the pic and my stomach tightens up. Would a little touch up paint to camo the damage get you through the season?
Whose jack pads are you using? I don't think that the manufacture of them is to blame. Just need a way to secure the pad to the jack.

 

I'm not blaming anyone but myself. I must have done something wrong. I always worry when one side is on stands and it comes time to do the other side. I know the car can shift a little when doing this. In the past I have used these plastic like pads used by BMW home mechanics for jacking. They deform a bit under pressure but do the trick pretty well. This was the first time I used pads for the stands themselves. In the past I always rested the saddle directly onto the rail of the car. I should have left well enough alone. I think the saddle in the stand may have been a bit wide for the aluminum pads, not enough room for any movement. There may be a Quickjack in my future.

 

Horrible thing for sure. Can I ask why you went side to side on your procedure, I was taught to lift the front first in the center, place stands and then move to the rear for a 4-wheel lift. Hopefully no one else will have this happen, with the aluminum blocks or just in general.

 

There is no rear center lift point. Most cars you can lift up on the diff, but not the Vantage. I would not want metal on metal and would put a rubber pad or something between the aluminum lift pad and a jack stand. I got the quick jack specifically because of the Vantage.

 

I would like to know how this is done. Are there jack points in the front other than the two points on either side? What you describe is how I have done it with every car I've owned except the Aston.

 

I am really glad that you are ok, that was my main reason to buy a QuickJack as I didn't trust myself jacking that car and putting it on jack stand.

 

Oh man! Sorry to see that.

something very similar happened to me when I tried to get my Vantage of the jack stands.

The stands I used were very high and I had to do a two step to get the Vantage down and used Rhino ramps.
Lifted car on drivers side, replaced Stands with ramps.
lifted car on passenger side, removed stands, released jack and....

front Rhino ramp collapsed, gear jumped out and no hand brake since I was working on the rear wheels and forgot to pull again.

Car rolled off the second ramp and I was on the passenger side where the wall was (no opening door possible and a few ft rolling, the door would have hit the garage frame.

My luck was that my Vantage is so low, the Jack with rubber pad on top, stopped the car on frame with the garage concrete edge. Around 3 inch before the door would been messed up.

 

I use rubber hockey pucks in between the jackstand and the car. I live in Canada and you can find these pucks just laying around. How's that for a stereotype.

 

As previously stated, glad to hear there was no injury. Hope the repairs go your way. I admit this is always in the back of my mind any time a car goes up on jack stands. I've had the stands leaning before and that was scary enough. My wife saw a leaning jack stand once and finally agreed to a lift for the garage. I still use hockey pucks with the sliding scissor lift. Good tip.

Regards,

 

Lordy! Glad you are intact, that is the main thing.

 

Oh man, nightmare. I'm glad you weren't under the car when this happened.