How to remove plastic jack pads?

[boostm3]

Originally Posted by SlickShift

Yeah, I guess. As long as you're not jacking it up on the side skirt. I think the main reason the jack pads are there is because the jack that used to come with BMWs fit perfectly in the concave surface of the jack pad.

You know, my e36 (1999) M3 comes with these grey plastic 'hockey puck' shaped things, which ram into a slot at the jacking points, just like these new 135i monstrosities, but hey, round plastic hockey puck-like thingies are just what the doctor ordered for most racing style car jacks and jack stands.. I only wish I could use them on the 135!

You mean, bmw used to include jacks that fit into those rectangular monstrosities? Now that they dont include jacks anymore, they oughta go back and use the round hockey puck style jack points..... Way better than these horrors.

[Rosaymaan]

I just don't want to damage the frame or paint by messing around... the fact of the matter is, i can live with a mangled jack point, but it's annoying me and i'd like to replace. However, i could make things worse by messing up the frame or scratching the crap of of a side skirt or something and then id be REALLY pissed... SOMEONE must have had to take these off and replace them...

[SlickShift]

Originally Posted by boostm3

You mean, bmw used to include jacks that fit into those rectangular monstrosities? Now that they dont include jacks anymore, they oughta go back and use the round hockey puck style jack points..... Way better than these horrors.

I agree 100%. Here's what the OEM jack looked like. You can see how the rectangular part fits right into the jack pad.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[boostm3]

Originally Posted by SlickShift

I agree 100%. Here's what the OEM jack looked like. You can see how the rectangular part fits right into the jack pad.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Geez that looks FRIGHTFUL!!

[hotbmwfan]

My wife removed the jack points on the passenger side of the car by driving over a curb in a parking lot. Throws the wheel alignment off though :-(

[BMW86]

Originally Posted by SlickShift

I agree 100%. Here's what the OEM jack looked like. You can see how the rectangular part fits right into the jack pad.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I used one of these from my E46 3 series and it's designed to fit our jack pads perfectly.

[Time_Attack]

Originally Posted by hotbmwfan

My wife removed the jack points on the passenger side of the car by driving over a curb in a parking lot. Throws the wheel alignment off though :-(

[AW128i]

I'm still miffed with these weird jack pads. Why not just have something that is round and rubber like some other cars use? At least that lets people use normal jacks and jack stands. I've seen a pic of modified hockey puck on this site, but I'm not clear on how it was modified or even how big the opening is. Certainly would help if I could just throw it up on a lift, but wait…

[lclevert]

I made a jack pad insert for the bmw jack points out of some scrap metal. It works great and doesn't trash up the jack points. My z3 had similar jack points but the holes were recessed so you could jack with a flat jack without messing them up.






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[SlickShift]

Nicely done. If I only had welding skills...

[MZWIE]

Sheesh. I just took a 2x2 piece of wood and made the size of the hole in the pad. I then glued it to a 3/4" piece of ply. I just use this when I need to jack up the car. I keep this in the car in case I need to jack the car up when away from home.

Why do people hate the pads. And how is it that so many people mangle them. What the heck are you doing?

[SlickShift]

+ Soft plastic jacking point + 3500 pound car = Mangled plastic

[tomkiti]

If anyone is still having trouble, I removed mine by breaking off the tabs with a screwdriver and hammer.

[SlickShift]

Good to know! I had a feeling brute force would be the only way to get them off.

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted by tomkiti

If anyone is still having trouble, I removed mine by breaking off the tabs with a screwdriver and hammer.

So if one wants to do it a bit more gently, they need to slip a screwdriver between the mount and the body of the car to push the tab in, I'm assuming you have to push in the direction you show the screwdriver going?

I wonder if a tongue depressor or something would be easier and more gentle?

One of mine got botched a little (still usable), and I've been putting this off...

[dm874]

Honestly I had to replace mine and using force is the best way. You're replacing the jack pad anyway

[Horigan]

I bought a couple of dinner knives at at thrift shop, bent the tips a little bit, and inserted them on both sides like the screw driver pic above and they unclipped pretty easily.

[FIRST1]

All of the plastic jack pads are completely not on any of my side jacking points. I bought the car used and I don't remember ever seeing those; maybe a shop broke them off at some point.

I've been jacking the car up on the metal that's hidden above the plastic jack pads, with no issue so far

[asbrr]

Waking this thread up from the dead - couldn't one just shave down the plastic jack pad edges with a dremel or something to make them more durable? Then using whatever jack stand/lift would be easier and less likely to cause damage....

[dancing__narwhal]

Old thread but I just did this same replacement on my E90 328i. I tore up my jack pads from a previous job before I realized they were so fragile. After learning about using jack pucks to place between the pad and the jack/stand, I figured I'd go ahead and replace them.

At first I had a dog of a time getting them out, yanking and banging on them for a while. Finally, I had the idea to stick thin screwdriver straight from the side between the pad and the chassis. I pushed it as far as I could and then took a hammer and banged on the end of the screwdriver. I kept pushing and hammering while prying the pad out with the screwdriver. Eventually the plastic tab on that side would break and the jack pad would partially hang down. Then it was just a matter of hammering the side of the pad and pulling until the whole thing fell out.

Replacing with the new pad was as simple as lining up the wholes and snapping it into black with a good smack.

Hope this helps anyone else doing this job!

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted by dgaultiere

Old thread but I just did this same replacement on my E90 328i. I tore up my jack pads from a previous job before I realized they were so fragile. After learning about using jack pucks to place between the pad and the jack/stand, I figured I'd go ahead and replace them.

At first I had a dog of a time getting them out, yanking and banging on them for a while. Finally, I had the idea to stick thin screwdriver straight from the side between the pad and the chassis. I pushed it as far as I could and then took a hammer and banged on the end of the screwdriver. I kept pushing and hammering while prying the pad out with the screwdriver. Eventually the plastic tab on that side would break and the jack pad would partially hang down. Then it was just a matter of hammering the side of the pad and pulling until the whole thing fell out.

Replacing with the new pad was as simple as lining up the wholes and snapping it into black with a good smack.

Hope this helps anyone else doing this job!

Prying against the chassis creates a high probability of damaging the paint and undercoating in a location where it is most critical. Did you prise against a block of wood or something? Did you check for damage and/or coat anything over?

[dancing__narwhal]

Originally Posted by JHZR2

Prying against the chassis creates a high probability of damaging the paint and undercoating in a location where it is most critical. Did you prise against a block of wood or something? Did you check for damage and/or coat anything over?

Yes I placed a thick towel between the bottom of the side skirt and the screwdriver. It's not like I was prying with hundreds of pounds of force. It mostly took some tapping with the hammer on the end of the screwdriver to force it in far enough to hit the plastic tabs.

No damage was done to the underside of my vehicle.