Jacking up your Blackwing

[xnifex]

Have had numerous cars with pinch welds to lift by and zero issue for me. I’ve used the universal ZL1 with floor pad adapter with zero issues on various cars over the years. (13 Explorer, 14 Mustang, 16 Z06, 17 Camaro ZL1 vert, 22 5BW)

I finally bought and installed these ZL1 pads on my 22 5BW. Didn’t have to cut anything and no issue with carbon skirts or even the original black plastic skirts. I use them to jack up the car and place the wheels on Race Ramp 10” cradles when I want a level car for rear end oil change. For normal oil changes, I drive up on Race Ramps.
As previously mentioned, take your time when jacking. I use two floor jacks, one in each side, lift the front first, then the rear and jack up a little at a time as evenly as possible until I can slide my cradles under the tire.

View attachment 32651View attachment 32650

Were the lift pads all the way up against the bottom of the car? Or just enough to hold in place?

 

[xnifex]

I tried to install the lift pads on my 5bw & it seems they do hit that plastic part from the rocker on both sides & makes it flex.

 

[KatyTxCT5V]

We're the lift pads all the way up against the bottom of the car? Or just enough to hold in place?

They were pushed up until they made contact with the pinch weld seam hanging down vertical. I’m not by my car, but memory is that a couple touched slightly until the pinch weld seam made contact.
The black inner plastic of the side skirt will flex inward slightly until it touches the metal underneath. The skirts are made up of 3 pieces and the black plastic is the far inner piece that the other two (painted rocker & either carbon fiber or black painted skirt attach to.

I’ve attached a couple of pictures (rearward one first pic and forward on second pic areas) and used a red triangle to highlight the black plastic area the pad would touch. It’s a flexible area and I’ve had zero issues thus far and have lifted by the pad 6 different times.

The entire skirt/rocker assembly is held on tight by many different clips and that small black plastic area can flex with no issues. I believe people tend to over think it, IMO. I’ve removed the original entire assembly to replace the black painted skirts with carbon fiber ones. I posted a complete write up on adding OEM carbon fiber CF1 & CF2 factory option to my non-optioned 5BW. That’s why I have these pictures to share.

Good luck with whatever you choose. They work for me and I’m happy.

 

[xnifex]

They were pushed up until they made contact with the pinch weld seam hanging down vertical. I’m not by my car, but memory is that a couple touched slightly until the pinch weld seam made contact.
The black inner plastic of the side skirt will flex inward slightly until it touches the metal underneath. The skirts are made up of 3 pieces and the black plastic is the far inner piece that the other two (painted rocker & either carbon fiber or black painted skirt attach to.

I’ve attached a couple of pictures (rearward one first pic and forward on second pic areas) and used a red triangle to highlight the black plastic area the pad would touch. It’s a flexible area and I’ve had zero issues thus far and have lifted by the pad 6 different times.

The entire skirt/rocker assembly is held on tight by many different clips and that small black plastic area can flex with no issues. I believe people tend to over think it, IMO. I’ve removed the original entire assembly to replace the black painted skirts with carbon fiber ones. I posted a complete write up on adding OEM carbon fiber CF1 & CF2 factory option to my non-optioned 5BW. That’s why I have these pictures to share.

Good luck with whatever you choose. They work for me and I’m happy.

You are awesome! I'm going to try again tomorrow when it's light out. I was hoping for a spot to jack up the car that's in the middle so i can see better & get them on.

 

[huemangos]

They were pushed up until they made contact with the pinch weld seam hanging down vertical. I’m not by my car, but memory is that a couple touched slightly until the pinch weld seam made contact.
The black inner plastic of the side skirt will flex inward slightly until it touches the metal underneath. The skirts are made up of 3 pieces and the black plastic is the far inner piece that the other two (painted rocker & either carbon fiber or black painted skirt attach to.

I’ve attached a couple of pictures (rearward one first pic and forward on second pic areas) and used a red triangle to highlight the black plastic area the pad would touch. It’s a flexible area and I’ve had zero issues thus far and have lifted by the pad 6 different times.

The entire skirt/rocker assembly is held on tight by many different clips and that small black plastic area can flex with no issues. I believe people tend to over think it, IMO. I’ve removed the original entire assembly to replace the black painted skirts with carbon fiber ones. I posted a complete write up on adding OEM carbon fiber CF1 & CF2 factory option to my non-optioned 5BW. That’s why I have these pictures to share.

Good luck with whatever you choose. They work for me and I’m happy.

Completely semi unrelated but good to know because I've got the CF side skirts to install this weekend and i already mounted the jack pads. I bet I'd forget those were on there while trying to pry the rockers off.

 

[bcwang]

I’m looking into the Rennstand, does anyone use it with the 5BW and can comment which adapter is ideal? Best if the universal pinch weld adapter works without issue because then I don’t need to get any secondary lift pads as well.

 

[rubberduck]

I’m looking into the Rennstand, does anyone use it with the 5BW and can comment which adapter is ideal? Best if the universal pinch weld adapter works without issue because then I don’t need to get any secondary lift pads as well.

I use the Rennstands on my 5BW for 3 years. I use the Castle Pad (18M-P05) with the ZL1 Addons. I put a hard rubber piece inside the castle pad cavity. You need two low profile floor jacks such as the Arcan 3 ton which it what I have. Need to be careful how the wheels on the jack are lined up or it may not be possible to get the stand on. It’s fine after a little practice. Learned that the hard way.

https://a.co/d/1QBrevr

 

[bcwang]

I use the Rennstands on my 5BW for 3 years. I use the Castle Pad (18M-P05) with the ZL1 Addons. I put a hard rubber piece inside the castle pad cavity. You need two low profile floor jacks such as the Arcan 3 ton which it what I have. Need to be careful how the wheels on the jack are lined up or it may not be possible to get the stand on. It’s fine after a little practice. Learned that the hard way.

https://a.co/d/1QBrevr

Perfect, I already have that jack so no more guessing if it’ll fit. But do you need 2? You can’t lift one corner at a time with one? I plan to do 4 jackstands to get the car level.

Do you mean the zl1 addons stealth lift pad or some other one of their products? If the stealth lift pad is what you mean, does it fit without bending any of the plastic underneath which earlier posts keep talking about their standard lift pads making contact with the plastic and bending.

 

[rubberduck]

Perfect, I already have that jack so no more guessing if it’ll fit. But do you need 2? You can’t lift one corner at a time with one? I plan to do 4 jackstands to get the car level.

Do you mean the zl1 addons stealth lift pad or some other one of their products? If the stealth lift pad is what you mean, does it fit without bending any of the plastic underneath which earlier posts keep talking about their standard lift pads making contact with the plastic and bending.

The stealth lift pads. Two floor jacks because the floor jack with the Rennstand top part won’t fit under the car unless the same side front or back is raised a little. I have not tried doing one corner at a time. I do either the front or back together working each side about 3 times alternating. It might be possible, maybe I’m just paranoid. Plus I have two floor jacks so I never felt I needed to try that.

 

[BW56M]

My setup consists of:

Two MyLiftStands, two floor jacks and two AGM Jack Rods.

Admittedly, I'd rather have two Rennstands, in place of the MyLiftStands, but at the time, Rennstands were out of stock with no ETA.

As a example:

Lift both sides of the front end, alternating between sides, using two Rennstands and two floor jacks. Secure the Rennstands and remove the floor jacks. Then using the floor jacks, lift the rear alternating between sides and secure with jack rods.

 

[xnifex]

They were pushed up until they made contact with the pinch weld seam hanging down vertical. I’m not by my car, but memory is that a couple touched slightly until the pinch weld seam made contact.
The black inner plastic of the side skirt will flex inward slightly until it touches the metal underneath. The skirts are made up of 3 pieces and the black plastic is the far inner piece that the other two (painted rocker & either carbon fiber or black painted skirt attach to.

I’ve attached a couple of pictures (rearward one first pic and forward on second pic areas) and used a red triangle to highlight the black plastic area the pad would touch. It’s a flexible area and I’ve had zero issues thus far and have lifted by the pad 6 different times.

Good luck with whatever you choose. They work for me and I’m happy.

Again, thank you. I went for it & got all 4 attached. I used the hydraulic jack to put enough pressure to keep each in place & up against the car while i tightened the set screws. Also used the blue loctite on the threads.

Very little flex on those internal black plastic pieces & no change to the rockers.

 

[bcwang]

The stealth lift pads. Two floor jacks because the floor jack with the Rennstand top part won’t fit under the car unless the same side front or back is raised a little. I have not tried doing one corner at a time. I do either the front or back together working each side about 3 times alternating. It might be possible, maybe I’m just paranoid. Plus I have two floor jacks so I never felt I needed to try that.

Hmm. I didn’t expect that the Rennstand top piece would not clear the mount point. Good to know.

Thinking now if I don’t buy anything new, anyone know a good way to lift all 4 wheels up on the 5BW with a single low profile jack and 4 regular height esco jack stands?

I was contemplating the Quickjack 6000elx and also alternatively 4 sets of the Rennstand to achieve lifting safely at a lower cost and using only approved lift points due to the Black Friday sales, but it seems they have their own complications. I’m not sure they would be markedly better than finding some method to use my existing Esco stands safely.

 

[rubberduck]

The Rennstands and another floor jack is 25% of the cost of a Quickjack. For me it came down to two things; the number of times I jack up my car every year, and lack of storage space for Quickjacks. Now if I was jacking up my car once a month I would work out the storage space issue.

As with pretty much everything in life, there are upsides and drawbacks to every solution. Most of the drawbacks don’t become apparent until one gets direct experience. It’s human nature to overemphasize the positives and ignore negative attributes and consequences. If we didn’t think this way we would not take any risks and stagnate as species.

 

[bcwang]

I think I have another safer idea. I can get the 10” race ramp tire cribs. I have existing race ramps I can drive the fronts onto. Then use the jack to raise up each rear side to get the cribs under the rear tires. That would get the car level for sure and be safer than trying to put jack stands or jacks on any unapproved parts of the car. Should make for easy diff maintainence.

 

[rubberduck]

I guess you never need to take the wheels off?

 

[bcwang]

I guess you never need to take the wheels off?

For wheels I only need a single corner at a time anyway, no need for tire rotation on this car. The 4 wheels up was a concern on getting a level car for diff maintenance. And for oil changes the ramp is enough.

 

[BW56M]

no need for tire rotation on this car

What about right to left swap?