How do you jack up the car and then put a jack stand under the same corner, since the designated jack point is big enough for either a jack or jack stand, but not both?
That, obviously, presents a challenge.
Normal well designed cars have a central jacking point under the front (near firewall) and rear (around diff) that allow you to lift one end of the car, and put the jack stands under the jacking points. Then repeat the same with the other end.
Those central jacking points are missing on Tesla frames. More below.
Or do you have to use one of the special jack stands, or jack up using a 4x4 and then put jack stands under the 4x4?
All side sills of cars are heavily reinforced for unibody integrity and crash safety. They are even stronger on Tesla's that use them as battery mounting points.
You can safely place a 1-2' (foot) long piece of 2x4 adjacent to the jacking points, and use that to lift a side of the car, then place the jack stand under the jacking point. I've done that on many cars in the past, including our Model 3 that incurred front under-engine shield damage that had to be jerry rigged in place before the customary 3-4 week delay with the SC service appointment.
That's only necessary if you need to jack the entire car up.
For swapping wheels, jacking either end of the car will get both wheels off the ground with any heavy duty jack.
I did qualify it with "...that will do the job well". That 3-ton looks very good, but it's bit too big and heavy for the condo garage and my storage soace. [...]Here are two of the ones I'm considering:
2 ton, rotating arm good for tight spaces, similar type available used near me for cheap:
Pro-Lift 2 Ton Low Profile Floor Jack-F-767 - The Home Depot
2.5 ton, the good one:
2.5 Ton Low Profile Garage Trolley Jack
The wheels on both of the above look a bit too narrow for my comfort.
My only advise to anyone shopping for a jack - go bigger and sturdier than you think you need for the current project, or you will go shopping again in the near future. It's not a tool where you want to cut things too close to the margins.
My shop jack is a heavy steel AC Hydraulics unit that I got 20+ years ago. Still works perfectly, and is solid enough to lift anything from small race cars to heavy SUVs. Here its current nearest equivalent (DK20Q) that I could find on Amazon:
If you are lifting on anything other than perfectly smooth and perfectly level concrete garage surfaces, the jack will shift both forward and sideways during the lifting process. You REALLY don't want it to shift sideways and then start leaning over because jack's wheel base is too narrow!
YMMV,
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