UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

hello all,

Newbie user with a Polo 6C 2014 1.2 TSI here. Owned it for the last two years.
I've decided that rather than have VW charge me another 600 quid to do my brakes, which would likely be more expensive now with prices still rocketing, I've decided to tighten my belt, spend less half that amount on parts + tools and learn how to do it myself. I'm more than willing to give it a go but the concern I have here is that I have absolutely no idea where is safe to put my axle stands on the underside
I intend to use the thicker pinch points to jack the car up however I can't really see anywhere that I'd be comfortable placing my axle stands.
I've spent the last few hours looking around for specific information, diagrams or even images that are clear but I can't seem to find anything that is much help.
I'm not really willing to try to use the VW jack or leave the jack on the pinch point for risk of it giving way. Is it likely? No. Am I willing to take the chance, especially when I have axle stands? Absolutely not.

The job at hand is just getting the entire rear of the car lifted so that I can do the rear brake discs, pads and handbrake cables. Nothing overly complicated.
I was thinking of using the pinch points with the trolley jack and then mounting the axle stands somewhere on the rear axle. But where to place my axle stands is my problem. It's the only thing holding up me doing the job at this point and I've wasted the majority of the day trying to work out where to do it as I can't get the axle stands on the pinch point while the trolley jack is there.
I have seen people lifting one entire side of the car using the front pinch point and placing axle stands under the rear, which would be ideal but when I tried to get the car up earlier via this method, a creaking sound began emanating from the rear and I freaked it. It was probably fine but as I've never done it before, I'd rather consult before causing myself more financial problems and be left with no way to or from work.

Unfortunately time is of the essence and after having seen plenty of posts the Audi TT jack point pads (which will definitely be a future investment), I can't wait to get them as I need the car for getting to work and Im needing to pull the handbrake higher and the rear pads are squealing louder with every passing day.

Next up is an oil change so I would like to be able to get the car entirely up off the ground for that to give me room to work under it.
Knowing where the best support points on the front and rear underside of the vehicle are for my axle stands would be very handy.

Anybody able to help a guy out?

Cheers

under front control arm bolts, or anywhere under front subframe


marked with blue color, just place it so it sits flat. ( also you have a spot more to the left you will see the subframe is flat)

on rear under rear subframe. But there is enough space to place the axle stands and a jack on the jacking point.

Thats where i place mine

If you have hydraulic lift, jack on front subframe and place jack stands on jacking point. you can do this with a Scizor jack. The widow maker sucks

What I did for my wife's previous car, a 2002 VW Polo, and again for her current car a 2015 VW Polo, is to buy a set of 4 "Audi TT MK1 Jacking point protectors" and fit them to the car permanently - then use these rubber points to jack the car up using a trolley jack.

That leaves the 4 strong points to place your axle stands under - maybe after fabricating some fancy shaped adaptors that include a heavy rubber top surface to protect the folded section paintwork.

I've gone a lot further, but my other car forced me down that route as it is covered in plastic underneath!

Before needing to find a way to safely raise my other car, I just placed axle stands with a bit of wood to suit, under places like amer6R suggested.

Edit:- the other thing that I keep "banging on about" is that nowadays, I always plan to the folded strong point on the sills/cills as a locator for any jack stands that I use, and keep the weight of the car on the inner area and outer area at these points, keeping a slight clearance all round the folded seams on the sills/cills.

Quick update.

I appreciate both of you replying!
Amer, I don't know what happened but the first time I read your reply, the images hadn't loaded so I was still left a bit baffled.
After coming back to it again it made waaaaaaay more sense and this allowed me to get the car up to do everything I needed to do including my oil change.
I appreciate it very much!

RUM4MO
Anywhere you can recommend I pick some of those jacking points up cheap? I seen the two covers on the rear subframe that have been mentioned before but wasn't paying too much attention to the front when I was up there, I've been skimming through your posts and I definitely think that they will be the way forward for me once I pick them up.

aero-spaced-out wrote: Sat Aug 26, 2023 9:28 am Quick update.

I appreciate both of you replying!
Amer, I don't know what happened but the first time I read your reply, the images hadn't loaded so I was still left a bit baffled.
After coming back to it again it made waaaaaaay more sense and this allowed me to get the car up to do everything I needed to do including my oil change.
I appreciate it very much!

RUM4MO
Anywhere you can recommend I pick some of those jacking points up cheap? I seen the two covers on the rear subframe that have been mentioned before but wasn't paying too much attention to the front when I was up there, I've been skimming through your posts and I definitely think that they will be the way forward for me once I pick them up.

I'd expect that your nearest Audi dealership parts department will be your cheapest option, any "third party" re-seller will need to add a bit onto the cost to make it worth their while selling them.

Edit:- maybe contact CCL via his facebook account and ask for a price, though P&P might wipe out any discount.