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Jacking up a Spark


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Hello,

If I get a spare wheel kit for my Spark, where are the undercarriage jack-safe positions? Nothing in the manual about this. I looked under car in front of rear wheel and didn't see any obvious place to put the jack.

Thanks.

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Glad to see this topic as we had the same question (though not related to tires but rather for doing our own oil changes etc. if we so chose). We're used to Mini Coopers which had very specific places to put the Jack so it's odd to not see that now.

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There's a slots on each side of car just like most cars . I bought a jack from Harbor freight and a full size spare . If they come out with a donut spare tire kit I will buy that but this works fine for now.

How do you define slots? There are long narrow ridges that hang down about half an inch. I can't see how a jack could accommodate downward protrusion. I imagine we would be using a scissors jack with a flat top, and there doesn't seem to be any undercarriage flat space near the tires. I read that the coming "spare wheel kit" will have a 14 inch tire so it will fit in the trunk well. Why isn't jacking the car pros and cons mentioned in the manual? It seems to be a very important matter, at least to me.

Edited by zogburr
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You jack on the seam, one point near where the front of the front door hinges, the other is near where the rear door closes. They both have the same sort of cut out that every car I've owned in the past 20 years has had. I bought a thick rubber tire block and cut a big flat chunk out to use as a jack pad since my jack was basically flat.

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You need a Jack that has a cutout on the pad this will fit right over the slot that's cut in the seam . It wil be obvious to you when you look under the car near the wheels . A jack with a regular pad will crush the seam unless you use or make an adapter like Greg did . I went to a bunch of auto parts stores and they didnt carry that type of scissor jack . I found mine at Harbor Freight for around $20 and that's what I keep in the car . I use a hydraulic version at home . Walmart didnt carry it either and that's where I bought my last one .

Edited by sparkfanatic
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On the front of the car, I picked my jack point in the center, where you'll see a single bolt that connects the front bumper to the frame. In the rear, I placed the jack under the bar that supports the two rear wheels (keeping it simple).

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