Is it possible to jack the car up one wheel at a time without damaging the pinch welds / frame rails along the side skirt using a Figs Jack Jaw, notched hockey puck, piece of wood, etc? When I swapped my winter wheels on I was nervous, so I just used the jack points called out in the owner's manual (front crossmember, and rear differential), but it seemed much more time consuming because it entailed getting up on ramps first in order to get the jack far enough under the front of the car.

I take it they use those 4 points at the dealer when using a lift, but that you're picking up all points evenly with ~1/4 load. I've never had a problem with any other cars jacking on that point, but I've read some posts and heard from owners that they don't recommend jacking there on Lexus.

What's your method?

 

With the Figs Jack Jaw or similar tool, there is little risk of folding the seam over as long as you are between the two notches where you have three sheets of metal. If you get the pinch weld where there are only two (off the jack point) it is very easy to fold the seam over especially if you're only lifting one corner.

I have been doing this for many years without the aid of Figs tool, and I have had to straighten seams with my 16" crescent wrench from time to time. It's not really what you want to do, but seeing the seams folded over is also pretty common even for cars serviced by "professionals." So, you can do it without a special tool, but you do risk bending the seam even when you are doing your best to be careful. You would be very hard pressed to damage the seam with the Figs tool in place.

 

Thanks Lobux. I think I'll give the Figs a try. Wish Lexus made them more robust like other manufacturers.

 

If you have the spare money to do so, I'd suggest a really long low profile floor jack and you can just drive your car up on two pieces of wood and jack the car up.

That is what I've been doing, I purchased this exact floor jack and I would drive the car up on two pieces of wood just to raise it by an inch or two and I would slide the floor jack under the crossmember. Takes me minutes.

Buy a long low profile floor jack like the one I bought to save time. Since I do not like to jack up by a corner at a time and my welds were already bent when I bought the car........

 

I made these from a single 2 x 10 for expressly that purpose:



I don't need a super low profile jack to get the car up. I bought a Hein Werner 2 ton jack because I've had problems with lesser units and I had no interest in buying another jack in my lifetime.