Shop Lift Damage ?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,026
Likes: 2
From: NV
Shop Lift Damage ?
I don't want my RX body and undercarriage damaged by improper lift procedures but I don't know what is the correct procedure to lift the cars in shops.
The manual shows where to place floor-based jacks, and the car jack using the slotted mount under the body seams at the indicator notches. I cannot find any reference to putting solid metal blocks flat up against the body seam to support the vehicle, which I think would just knock the paint off and bend the seam, as was the case on my car, presumably from this type of lifting.
I noticed at a brand new dealer that all the lifts have what appear to be just solid metal lift pads at the ends of the lift arms. On RX's they seemed to position these pads apparently from what I could see right under the body seams. On one car it looked from a distance like the inside of the rather-long metal lift pad was hitting a brake line or scraping the undercoat from the bottom of the vehicle. An LX was lifted by placing the pads under various tie rods or body beams under the car which seemed better and closer to the recommended manual procedures for the RX.
Why wouldn't Lexus use a rubber lift to protect the paint on the seams or am I really missing something?
Has anyone noticed what do other dealers do?
The manual shows where to place floor-based jacks, and the car jack using the slotted mount under the body seams at the indicator notches. I cannot find any reference to putting solid metal blocks flat up against the body seam to support the vehicle, which I think would just knock the paint off and bend the seam, as was the case on my car, presumably from this type of lifting.
I noticed at a brand new dealer that all the lifts have what appear to be just solid metal lift pads at the ends of the lift arms. On RX's they seemed to position these pads apparently from what I could see right under the body seams. On one car it looked from a distance like the inside of the rather-long metal lift pad was hitting a brake line or scraping the undercoat from the bottom of the vehicle. An LX was lifted by placing the pads under various tie rods or body beams under the car which seemed better and closer to the recommended manual procedures for the RX.
Why wouldn't Lexus use a rubber lift to protect the paint on the seams or am I really missing something?
Has anyone noticed what do other dealers do?
Lexus Champion
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 2,851
Likes: 4
From: Arkansas
parula, there are rubber pads available for the lift blocks to use in precisely the situation that you refer to; either your dealer doesn't have 'em or the techs don't use 'em. No excuse for it either way, though...........
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,026
Likes: 2
From: NV
The pads certainly appeared to be yellow painted blocks of metal, not black rubber on all the lifts I could see, but maybe they had painted the rubber pads . . ... Where the paint was chipped off from contact with car metal I saw a brownish color not a black rubber color I have seen on other lift pads elsewhere.
And if the manual says to lift the car at various structural points meant to take the weight, why would anyone even consider lifting the car from the side body seams with rubber or metal pads anyway; just seems odd to me, or this normal for shops?
And if the manual says to lift the car at various structural points meant to take the weight, why would anyone even consider lifting the car from the side body seams with rubber or metal pads anyway; just seems odd to me, or this normal for shops?
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