Fucked up today - sheet metal yielded to jack stand, detached rocker panel

[patrickb7]

So my plan for today was to do a quick wheel rotation prior to a small road trip I'll be going on in a couple of days. Seeing as it was a rough day at work, I wanted to get this done with and move on with my night. I have only two jack stands and a single jack, and in any other scenario I would jack my car up under the front or back cross members and place stands under the pinch welds. The only way for me to do a cross rotation on the wheels was to go one side at a time, while keeping a jack stand under one side (front driver's side) the entire time.

So, because I was in a rather impatient mood today, I broke my personal vows as a mechanical engineer and gave this absolutely zero forethought. I jacked up the driver's side on the pinch weld and threw the jack stand right under the bare sheet metal. (Note that I used to do this with my old 2009 Honda Civic all the time and never had issues/notable damage). Then proceeded to go wheel by wheel. As I'm jacking up the back passenger's side, I hear a loud clank and lo and behold the sheet metal yielded and the jack stand broke through at the location of one of the rocker panel clips.

The jack stand must have shifted to the edge while I was raising the other sides, because it was centered when I first had it set. The sheet metal folded around one of the rocker panel clips which also formed a small dent in the trim. Seeing as this is nearly unfixable without rebending and access to welding, my plan tomorrow is to just cut off the bent piece of metal and try to get the rocker panel back in place before heading on the road. If anyone has any thoughts I'm open to suggestions moving forward. This could have been a lot worse, but I can definitely say lesson learned.

 

[Neddih]

I suggest you buy a pair of rhino ramps for cheap and use them like jack stands but under the front wheels.... That sucks i hope maybe my suggestion can help next time though. My usual move is to jack the front wheels of the car onto the ramps, then remove the ramp and front wheel and jack the rear pinchweld just enough to clear the ground to make the switch.

In your case for rotation front to back just put the ramps under front/back each side as you go

(Dont use them as actual ramps they are useless)

 

[Boosted_01_R]

Dude ?..... A good lesson to everyone on the forum about not taking shorcuts.

I would avoid cutting if you can. Remove the sideskirt. Drill a 1/2" hole that you can plug after from the top. Get some blunt end punches and try to knock it back down. Good luck, that is painful to look at.

Ideal would be a slide hammer and tack weld from the bottom, and pull everything back.

 

[Kotaas]

This has actually happen to me twice lol don’t ask how haha mine didn’t end up too bad it just popped out the clip

 

[rhino]

So my plan for today was to do a quick wheel rotation prior to a small road trip I'll be going on in a couple of days. Seeing as it was a rough day at work, I wanted to get this done with and move on with my night. I have only two jack stands and a single jack, and in any other scenario I would jack my car up under the front or back cross members and place stands under the pinch welds. The only way for me to do a cross rotation on the wheels was to go one side at a time, while keeping a jack stand under one side (front driver's side) the entire time.

So, because I was in a rather impatient mood today, I broke my personal vows as a mechanical engineer and gave this absolutely zero forethought. I jacked up the driver's side on the pinch weld and threw the jack stand right under the bare sheet metal. (Note that I used to do this with my old 2009 Honda Civic all the time and never had issues/notable damage). Then proceeded to go wheel by wheel. As I'm jacking up the back passenger's side, I hear a loud clank and lo and behold the sheet metal yielded and the jack stand broke through at the location of one of the rocker panel clips.

The jack stand must have shifted to the edge while I was raising the other sides, because it was centered when I first had it set. The sheet metal folded around one of the rocker panel clips which also formed a small dent in the trim. Seeing as this is nearly unfixable without rebending and access to welding, my plan tomorrow is to just cut off the bent piece of metal and try to get the rocker panel back in place before heading on the road. If anyone has any thoughts I'm open to suggestions moving forward. This could have been a lot worse, but I can definitely say lesson learned.

best way to never have this happen again is to put it sideways on that bit of metal there not on the side of the car.....

sucks this happened and thats gonna be pricey to fix

 

[Doc_Mello]

I've long since wondered why manufacturers don't just extend the jack points to be larger than a jack head. Maybe long enough to fit both a jack AND a jack stand?! ?

 

[VTecYoSelfB4UWreckYoSelf]

I bought the cross bar at Harbor Freight for my jack, I put the pads on the metal pinch weld down the side of the car and because it distributes the weight it works great. Then I use jacks on the stock jack points. I think the bar is like $60. At least you didn't get hurt.

 

[SDAlexander8]

I've long since wondered why manufacturers don't just extend the jack points to be larger than a jack head. Maybe long enough to fit both a jack AND a jack stand?! ?

They want to make it difficult for you so you take it to the dealer for everything and empty your wallet. The size is perfect for the industrial hydraulic lift pads.

 

[WF19]

I made some wooden ramps that lift the car up high enough that I can get a floor jack under the center jacking point. I then used the jack to raise up one side of the rear end. This way I could at least get 3 tires off at the same time, did the partial rotation, lowered the rear and raised the other rear side to finish the job.

 

[patrickb7]

I made some wooden ramps that lift the car up high enough that I can get a floor jack under the center jacking point. I then used the jack to raise up one side of the rear end. This way I could at least get 3 tires off at the same time, did the partial rotation, lowered the rear and raised the other rear side to finish the job.

I was honestly not aware that there were "side" locations for jacking in the rear other than the pinch welds and the center point. Do you happen to have any pictures of where these are located? Would be very helpful for the future, I could always just do some research as well thanks

 

[WF19]

I was honestly not aware that there were "side" locations for jacking in the rear other than the pinch welds and the center point. Do you happen to have any pictures of where these are located? Would be very helpful for the future, I could always just do some research as well thanks

I put the jack stands under the front pinch welds and a jack under one of the rear pinch welds. Took off the front tire, put it on the same side rear, put that rear tire on the opposite front. Lowered the rear, moved the jack to other side rear pinch weld removed that rear tire, replaced it with the same side front tire and put that rear on the opposite side front. I only did it this way because I wasn't working under the car.

 

[Topsportsman916]

Man I hate that this happened to you. That's the reason I bought an EZ Car Lift for my Type R

 

[redcoats1976]

ouch.i use a 2 foot section of 2x4 between the jack and car bottom to distribute the weight.works on my camaro too which weighs a bit more than the civic.

 

[JT Si]

When I do tire rotations at home, I created this procedure:

1) Drive front onto ramps
2) Jack from front center lift point
3) Replace one of the ramps with a jackstand
4) Lower the front onto ramp + jack stand
5) Jack from rear center lift point
6) Jack stand both sides of rear
7) rotate diagonally the jack-stand front and the opposite rear corner
8) Remove jack stands and lower rear
9) Lift front, exchange jack stand and ramp sides
10) repeat rear lift + jack stand
11) rotate other front wheel diagonally to rear
12) lower rear
13) lift front, replace ramps
14) lower front onto ramps
15) drive off ramps

It's a bit convoluted but the car is extremely stable and it has proven to be a very safe method with practically no risk involved. I can pull it off in maybe 10 minutes now, which is about 90 minutes faster than going to the shop for a free rotation.

I am uncomfortable placing the entire car on 4 jackstands, especially with my inclined garage floor, so having one front wheel on a very stable ramp at all times really, really makes it more stable.

(I am also lowered so it is impossible to jack the front center jack point without first driving onto ramps. If you are not lowered and you have a sufficiently long/low profile jack, possibly you can skip driving onto ramps and go straight to step 2).

 

[JW0914]

...I jacked up the driver's side on the pinch weld and threw the jack stand right under the bare sheet metal.
(Note that I used to do this with my old 2009 Honda Civic all the time and never had issues/notable damage).

That is not how a vehicle should ever be jacked up or supported - there is a reason vehicles have pinch welds for jacks and jack stands.

If wanting to jack via the cross members, you'll need a long, low-profile 2.75" jack like the Larin LSJ-4000R, otherwise, jack up either front, place a jack stand, then the jack can be used on the front center point. The CTR has an amazing center of gravity and one jack point can get three wheels of the ground safely.

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