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Are lifting pucks necessary?

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Just throw a scrap of wood in there - it'll be fine. A little square of 1/2" plywood or something will work perfectly to protect the car and keep it stable while the jack teeth sink into the wood.

You could even drive a screw into the wood scrap to serve as an alignment aid and slip insurance if so inclined. But it's easy enough to just eyeball the alignment and wood is used all the time when jacking vehicles. It works fine.

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I made 4 lifting pucks as well, out of practice hockey pucks. Drill a ¾" hole, then put a piece of scrap PEX in the hole, then use hockey tape to make the diameter just large enough so that the pucks hang with a friction fit. I just put the pucks in when I take the car in for tire service, etc. That way if the mechanic needs to put the car on a lift, the pucks are in.

When I change the tires myself, I use my floor jack with a small diameter yellow urethane puck. I bought it for an older car that had a pinch weld lifting point. As has been noted, ice hockey pucks don't fit floor jack pads, you need something slightly smaller.

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Another novice question (!) - is it ok to jack up just one corner at a time? And since you're not supposed to take wheels off etc. until the car is on jack stands, how do you get the car from the jack to the stands with such tiny jacking points??

Cheers!
 
lift pucks aren't necessary as long as you hit the jack point correctly ... that being said ... lift pucks make hitting the jack points correctly MUCH easier and you avoid having potential $$$ battery damage. The only person i would let lift my Tesla without pucks is the Tesla service tech and that's about it. Discount Tire for example now mandates the lift puck use when you go there to get new tires installed (and floor jacks only).
 
lift pucks aren't necessary as long as you hit the jack point correctly ... that being said ... lift pucks make hitting the jack points correctly MUCH easier and you avoid having potential $$$ battery damage. The only person i would let lift my Tesla without pucks is the Tesla service tech and that's about it. Discount Tire for example now mandates the lift puck use when you go there to get new tires installed (and floor jacks only).

so DT can't damage if they're following protocol?
 
Yes, some mechanics are too dumb to find proper lifting points specified by the manufacture. Here are 2 examples of Corvettes falling off of lifts by not using the correct jacking points

Which begs the obvious question - how come Corvette car clubs are not freaking out about having their cars lifted, but Tesla folks do?
The answer is equally obvious, and is not a credit to some Tesla owners' IQ or EQ:
 
Which begs the obvious question - how come Corvette car clubs are not freaking out about having their cars lifted, but Tesla folks do?
The answer is equally obvious, and is not a credit to some Tesla owners' IQ or EQ:
plenty of corvette forums full of posts with people freakin' out about shops using incorrect lift points/ no pucks...
 
it's nearly impossible to use floor jacks incorrectly with the lift pucks... puck goes on the floor jack. much easier than trying to wiggle the floor jack right under the correct spot with many "techs" cant figure out
Hmmm.... I just hang the pucks first. Harder for the shop techs to miss them that way. When I had some rocker damaged fixed, I left my car at the auto body shop with the pucks hanging. Being salmon-colored hockey pucks, they were hard to miss.
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That's a nonsensical fear mongering. No car will withstand getting lifting arms placed under the soft under belly / floor pan / battery pack. All three types of unreinforced surfaces will bend and crumple, and "you will be in more than $20 of bother" with all three.
Alas, you don't read about this damage getting inflicted on cars daily, since even a random grease monkey can observe where they lifting points are. Hint - they are all in roughly the same spot on all cars.



That makes ZERO sense.
If the tire shop needed to lift a car with a jack, they would be using the same lifting points as they would with a lift.
Lifting points can be identified correctly and a lifting surface positioned correctly underneath the right spot without "magic" aftermarket Tesla pucks.

Really, folks.
:rolleyes:
Exactly, I jacked up my model Y without the pucks with no problem, but I bought one anyway.
 
One thing the pucks do is show the mechanic exactly where the lift point is. If they get it wrong you're in for more than $20 of bother, lost time and possibly expense.

Another thing - I shopped pucks and read the reviews. Many claimed their pucks had an awful smell. Read the reviews!
Hi, I just ordered a set, and they smell horrible. If you keep them in your garage, it's not a problem. If you keep them inside your car, that definitely will not work. I returned them and ordered a set made with polyurethane instead of rubber. All the reviews stated it had absolutely no smell. People state the smell is no big deal but I just opened the package in my living room, went out to get lunch and when I returned my whole house smelled terrible. Same thing will happen in your car. Who know how long it will take for the smell to off gas.
 
No they arent. But luckily, the 911 and the Tesla both use the same stupid holes so my tesla thing stands and my jackpoint stands all work.
Definitely NOT needed! As @FrostByt371 mentioned….the points are similar. I have a low profile jack for my Porsche 996TT and it works just fine with our 2022 M3LR.

I simply put my hockey pucks on the jack pad and lift it up! I literally JUST swapped our winter wheels back to the originals without any issues. You simply have to be careful and be certain you are centered on the jack points.

The Harbor Freight “Daytona” jacks work well. Inexpensive and work great with a hockey puck.
 
Hi, I just ordered a set, and they smell horrible. If you keep them in your garage, it's not a problem. If you keep them inside your car, that definitely will not work. I returned them and ordered a set made with polyurethane instead of rubber. All the reviews stated it had absolutely no smell. People state the smell is no big deal but I just opened the package in my living room, went out to get lunch and when I returned my whole house smelled terrible. Same thing will happen in your car. Who know how long it will take for the smell to off gas.
That smell will go away over time. Leave them out on your patio in the sun for a week or two.
 
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A few notes and a question:
  1. Don't forget to ask for your pucks back at the tire shop. I lost a set that way.
  2. Use jack stands at home. Lost a friend that way.
  3. In a pinch, some regular scissor car jacks will fit under the jack points sideways (i.e. so that the part you turn faces the tire rather than out). An LR4 jack for example has the post that goes in the Tesla jack hole and the ears that fit in the Tesla slots if turned 90 degrees. It is really hard to operate the jack that way but will work in a pinch, especially with an adjustable wrench.
My question is, why doesn't Tesla air suspension let you raise the car up, put the jack under, and then lower the car (to raise the wheel up off the ground)? If there is a way to do that I have not figured it out but it would be sooooo handy. Essentially what is described here in post #4.

...Citroën hydropneumatic suspension? Where you can use the system to raise the car, then put a stand under the car, and lower it. On the side of the stand the wheels raise themselves off the ground, due to the coupling to the wheels on the other side by a torsion anti-roll-bar. Making it possible to change tires without jacking...​
I'm pretty sure that currently, once you put the car in jack mode, you can't undo jack mode or lower the suspension while parked after enabling jack mode, but that seems like it would do the trick. It would be so handy.
 
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