Well,

I was jacking up my driver's side front tire so that I could take it off and check for a nail puncture. After I had taken off the wheel, I noticed that the jack was a little crooked. I decided to put a jack stand underneath it at this point but the car was still a little too low, so like a moron I decided to jack it up a bit more and thats when the jack gave way. It folded underneath the car and the front rotor fell to my carpeted garage floor. I got it back up in the air but could not see any damage. The driver's side front of the car must have fallen about a foot and a half, but the jack and carpet seemed to cushion the fall. Do you guys think that it could have caused any frame damage or control arm damage?

Thanks in adavance

 

You should be fine, at that height the biggest issue would be cosmetic like the bumper or fender getting damaged from hitting the ground, just scary as hell, careful next time.

 

lucky u werent underneath the car...

 

Jeeeze no-kidding! I always have nightmares about stuff like that. I can barely concentrate underneath my car b/c I am afraid of it falling on me.

 

rxtrom, I live in CA now, but when I lived in CT (Hartford area), a neighbor was a seasoned mechanic (years and years). he was working on his car at his house and the car fell on him and he was rushed to the hospital. It didn't kill him, but I'm sure it wasn't a pleasant experience. After that, I am very uneasy about jacking up cars and getting any where near being under them.

 

I doubt it damaged anything. Just check the rotor for cracks and such. Please don't tell me you were using the stock jack to do maintenence in your garage? That jack is only meant for emergencies and it sucks in comparison to a true floor jack which every garage should have. I'm not talking about a $20 MVP jack from Wal Mart either.

 

+1 I've had a stock jack fail on me as well. Luckily I wasn't under the car.. and luckily it was a piece of crap car that fell to the ground.

 

wow, thats scary. did he have the car on jackstands when it fell?

I hate working underneath cars on jack stands, but I have to on my 300ZX because finding a competent Z32 mechanic is like looking for a leprechaun except you better have the pot of gold in cash or check form, and you give it to him. I always use jackstands but its still scary.

 

I don't think you caused any serious damage, if any. Glad you're okay. Do yourself a favor & invest in a nice floor jack & stands. Most all OEM jacks just suck & are barely usable in a roadside emergency (flat).

 

Invest on nice jack stands and floor jacks. i always work underneath our cars and if im not working on suspension i always put the car on the ramp but if i have to work on wheels, brake, or suspension i always have jackstands underneath the car and floor jacks just incase the jackstand fails. it's better to have a secondary support when working on your car.

 

. I chained sawed a railroad tie to a desired length. And slide it under the car with me while it's up on jack stands. In the event of a mishap. The railroad tie is stout enough to hold the Z up. And give you wiggle room to bail out.

 

Of course you wisely choose wood not concrete blocks. Concrete blocks can suddenly give way and crush.

 

Yeah, the OEM jack that comes with the car sucks, I say invest on a low profile floor jack from Sears, that `s what I did, I feel I `am worth it and so is my ZZZ..

 

Good Idea!! I'll have to grab something like that.

 

MulhollandDrive...Perhaps you didn't understand my previous post ... when I wrote that I used a chainsaw to cut the railroad tie. THAT WOULD BE WOOD.

 

whats the safest way then to be under the z? it always scares the crap out of me.

 

Build yourself a nice set of ramps to drive
up onto.

 

does that work real good? what kinda ramps? can you give some general info on what you used and how you built them?

 

How would you change the brakes or rotate the tires then??

 

just use jack stands and support it with two sets of floor jacks just incase the jack stands gave way.