Has anyone installed Jack Pads on their MK3?

ReddStripe

Active Member
Jul 23, 2019
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Lincolnshire
There is a YouTube video that gives you the general idea of what these are:


I have skirts on my Leon so jacking on the pinch weld under the sill (with the appropriately designed jack or groved trolley jack pad) is not really possible now, even if you remove the access flaps.

Curious to know people's views and experience if you have fitted them?
 

Jaco2k

AWD FTW
Mar 11, 2018
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I think there are some for Audi, but on the Skoda forum people said those created problems with corrosion and the fit was not perfect.
Don't know if it is different for the Leon, but interested to know also ;)
 

ReddStripe

Active Member
Jul 23, 2019
162
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Lincolnshire
Yeah I've found plenty of references to them being fitted on the TT, A3 and Golf but little about the Leon Mk3 until I saw that you tube video. They look to go in to the fixing points and fit quite tightly but I wonder if that also creates drainage issues which is what you refer to with corrosion.
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
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1,069
Im pretty sure these are only for 4 post lifts to lift the car with all 4 at the one time. Jacking from just one of them can push the floorpan in.

thats how it used to be anyways on the older models golf / a3 etc. So guessing its still the same
 
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RUM4MO

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Jun 4, 2008
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I don't think that any of them are for 4 post lifts, I fitted them to my wife's 2002 VW Polo just for my convenience when lifting it on trolley jacks and then supporting it on the sills using U section adaptors, I also fitted another set (could not get the originals out of the old car quickly enough) to her next new car a 2015 VW Polo. I've never ever noticed any issues with corrosions relating to fitting these Audi MK1 TT jacking point protectors. On the Polo, all these points were plugged up from factory - so no drainage issue when fitting these protectors.

Having watched that 2015 Polo up on a 4 post lift in the VW dealership, they did not use anything other than the sills to lift it - which makes sense as it is easier/safer for the operator to see where to locate the ends of the lifter when they are placed as far out as possible.

I've lifted up my older daughter's 2019 Leon Cupra and used suitable adaptors - hand made, that do not allow the vertical folded-welded seam lower end to be in contact with the adaptors - all the weight is carried by either the inner flattish surface or the outer flattish surface - I've forgotten now which it was for that car. One thing that is annoying for me is, I have a 2011 Audi S4, a 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS and a 2019 SEAT Leon Cupra that I tend to look after, ie need to lift up, and the profile of the fold-welded vertical seam and the surrounding flattish areas, are very different on each of these cars, which meant that I have needed to make up a new set of adaptors for each car - which for a single car building group, is a bit silly.

I'd be willing to bet that all of these 3 cars get lifted, at their own marque dealership, by applying the lifter on the lower edge of the welded-folded seams, okay with a hard bit of rubber as a padding, and that is that.

Even lifting with my style of adaptors, pressure/load is placed on the undercoverings and yes they creak etc a bit, but so far no cracking or bits breaking off.

As I bought myself a full set of Jackpoint jack stands (seriously expensive but very effective so far), I can't see myself suggesting that my older daughter fits Audi TT MK1 jacking point adaptors to her Leon Cupra - and I have to question my own decision to bother to fit them to wife's 2015 Polo, but if I'm being extremely lazy and ignore all lifting precautions, using these Audi TT pads and 2 trolley jacks, makes swopping Winter<>Summer wheels/tyres so quick and easy - okay when swopping them over in late Spring/early Summer, I'd probably every or every other year, service all the brakes - so I revert to using 4 Jackpoint jacking stands to make life safer.
 
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RUM4MO

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Jun 4, 2008
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Im pretty sure these are only for 4 post lifts to lift the car with all 4 at the one time. Jacking from just one of them can push the floorpan in.

thats how it used to be anyways on the older models golf / a3 etc. So guessing its still the same

I do agree about only using one at a time, some USA/Canada VW Passat owners used them on their cars and suffered slight deformation - I never ever considered fitting them to my VW Passat 4Motion for that obvious reason, on the Polo/Ibiza/Fabia/A1/A2 even, I'd always lift one side at a time and using both pads.

Nowadays, I'd only ever consider lifting a modern car one side at a time using 2 trolley jacks - at the same time, to avoid unnecessary body twisting, being overkill, but I'm just looking after what I and others have paid good money for.
 

martin j.

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Feb 11, 2007
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If your worried about corrosion why fill the cup with grease before fitting the rubber bung, any excess will be pushed out the small hole at the top when the bung is fitted?
 

RUM4MO

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If your worried about corrosion why fill the cup with grease before fitting the rubber bung, any excess will be pushed out the small hole at the top when the bung is fitted?

Oh no, Waxoyl - always, actually I'll probably find that location is already well protected with cavity grease/wax stuff, but lubricating the "prongs" with grease/waxoyl helps fit them in through the hole, same for the plastic plug/peg - maybe using a lot more of that would have meant that I could have removed them from my wife's 2002 Polo after they had been in place for maybe 10-12 years?
 

RUM4MO

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Jun 4, 2008
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I'm not too sure what the actual dimensions of the slots in these are, but I do know by experience that the dimensions of the area where these are meant to fit over vary with models, so not so simple as some of the sellers of these pads make it out to be.

I ended up cutting through the stone chip protection on the fronts of my wife's 2015 Polo when using ones I made up to fit my 2011 S4, ideally these pads need to be deep and wide enough to fit snuggly and only just so that the flat areas spread the load as much as possible.
 

ReddStripe

Active Member
Jul 23, 2019
162
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Lincolnshire
Lots of good info on here. Thanks guys.

The puck with the grove above is not going to be suitable unfortunately as the moulding from the side skirts overlaps the entire pinch weld under the car. The genuine side skirts use clips that fix the side skirts to the pinch weld when they are tightened. So if using a trolley jack the lifting head needs to go much further under the car to lift it at a suitable point. I'll look into prices for the Jack Pads and go from there.
 

RUM4MO

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Jun 4, 2008
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South Scotland
From what I can gather, any workshop or breakdown service will still be lifting them cars on the folded-welded seam at the "strong" points, so any side skirts should be able to handle that, though I was a bit confused when I found that there were no "cut outs" at the lifting points, ie areas of sill exposed that the lifting kit at workshops or a road side breakdown trolley jack could bear against without touching the side skirts.

Why some marques are still being sold without having one of the normal versions of workshop jacking interface as part of the car beats me, this is crazy and especially more crazy when most cars come fitted with full under covers/trays.

Lifting directly on the folded-welded sill vertical sections seems to be what all other cars end up with - and that means marking or damaging these areas of the sill and that leads to corrosion starting on a structural area of all these cars.
 

ReddStripe

Active Member
Jul 23, 2019
162
72
Lincolnshire
I don't think that any of them are for 4 post lifts, I fitted them to my wife's 2002 VW Polo just for my convenience when lifting it on trolley jacks and then supporting it on the sills using U section adaptors, I also fitted another set (could not get the originals out of the old car quickly enough) to her next new car a 2015 VW Polo. I've never ever noticed any issues with corrosions relating to fitting these Audi MK1 TT jacking point protectors. On the Polo, all these points were plugged up from factory - so no drainage issue when fitting these protectors.

Having watched that 2015 Polo up on a 4 post lift in the VW dealership, they did not use anything other than the sills to lift it - which makes sense as it is easier/safer for the operator to see where to locate the ends of the lifter when they are placed as far out as possible.

I've lifted up my older daughter's 2019 Leon Cupra and used suitable adaptors - hand made, that do not allow the vertical folded-welded seam lower end to be in contact with the adaptors - all the weight is carried by either the inner flattish surface or the outer flattish surface - I've forgotten now which it was for that car. One thing that is annoying for me is, I have a 2011 Audi S4, a 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS and a 2019 SEAT Leon Cupra that I tend to look after, ie need to lift up, and the profile of the fold-welded vertical seam and the surrounding flattish areas, are very different on each of these cars, which meant that I have needed to make up a new set of adaptors for each car - which for a single car building group, is a bit silly.

I'd be willing to bet that all of these 3 cars get lifted, at their own marque dealership, by applying the lifter on the lower edge of the welded-folded seams, okay with a hard bit of rubber as a padding, and that is that.

Even lifting with my style of adaptors, pressure/load is placed on the undercoverings and yes they creak etc a bit, but so far no cracking or bits breaking off.

As I bought myself a full set of Jackpoint jack stands (seriously expensive but very effective so far), I can't see myself suggesting that my older daughter fits Audi TT MK1 jacking point adaptors to her Leon Cupra - and I have to question my own decision to bother to fit them to wife's 2015 Polo, but if I'm being extremely lazy and ignore all lifting precautions, using these Audi TT pads and 2 trolley jacks, makes swopping Winter<>Summer wheels/tyres so quick and easy - okay when swopping them over in late Spring/early Summer, I'd probably every or every other year, service all the brakes - so I revert to using 4 Jackpoint jacking stands to make life safer.

Those Jackpoint jacking stands are a bit tasty aren't they?
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
To be quite honest about things, I'd never ever heard about things like these Jackpoint jackstands until I bought a slightly used 2011 Audi S4, got it home and looked underneath it and thought - "how the **** am I going to lift this car up and more importantly, support it in a safe manner while it is up in the air, my first reason for doing that was to swop Summer>Winter wheels and tyres in a few months after buying it.

Once I had bumped into a UK based Porsche forum, I discovered that some of the folk on there were buying these items and buying them cheaper than listed by creating "group" buys directly via the guy that owns that company, doing that save maybe 15>20% of the cost and then by a pure fluke UPS or another international air freight shipper, were running a really really cheap rate for shipping to UK. So, if I remember correctly, for each unit, which was a set of 2 stands, the cost was something like £15 including all post shipping tax "taking care of" - and they arrived in UK within 24 hours from the request for shipping from the seller - very few shippers within UK could have done that in that time and for that cost when you consider that these things weigh a bit! Quite amazing performance from UPS!

Or maybe it was the guy that owns that company that suggested that I made contact with a group putting together a group buy.

I can't say that I would have ever considered buying that sort of kit unless I really needed to, but having bought 2 sets of 2 jackstands, I'm quite glad that I have done.

My final comments on that sort of kit is - "why has no one in UK or even Europe not tried designing and marketing that sort of thing?".

Edit:- certainly there are plenty ramps that you can get the car up onto and leave on 4 short "tables" but that only works if you don't need to remove the wheels.
 
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