A shop decided to use the frame rails looking beams (those running parallel about 8-inch inside the welded ridges under the rocker panels) instead of the factory jacking point for lifting up my car up on a hoist.
This left two small dents on both rails toward the front. My question is, should I be concern with the damages, or are they purely cosmetic? Would this have effects on wheel alignment and rigidity of the car?

The dent is located where the black undercoat spray got wiped off near the bolt.
Thanks

 

the welded ridges you speak of are "jack points"

the frame rails will typically be used when lifting a car on a lift

 

I make sure whatever shop it's at puts a rag on each left point before they lift it up, but you'll be fine just clean the area good and spray a little under coat on the scraped of areas.

 

I agree its not a big deal at all since the "jack points" you use with a floor jack you cant use easily with a lift so the next best thing is the unibody frame rails. but i usually try and put the feet on that bolt to the front of the picture to help hold the weight to prevent that since that is a FLAT STRONG metal vs 14ga sheet metal

 

I dont even see anything wrong besides missing paint. lol

 

If I were you I would do 2 things. First clean and paint the exposed are with undercoating spray paint. Second, thank the shop for lifting your car correctly.

 

Agreed. Its perfectly fine to use the frame rail.

 

Like everyone else has said, that is the right lift point next time just have rags handy on the lift! Spray and be happy they didn't place the lift feet any where, a shop lifted a friend of mines and ended up raising the floor board an inch and a half.

 

the "jack points" are the "lift points"
No problem where it was lifted, i doubt the lift caused these "dents"
Of course I wouldn't know since I'm a technician and do this daily.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I was told that the unibody frame rails are not good as jack point since they get dented easily from the jack, but I guess they are okay when using a lift.

 

Technicians who are true car guys will take the time to put some rags on the lift points to avoid scratching up the bottom of the car like that... especially a nice car, sports car, etc.... I always tell them to do it and I'd be pissed to if they scratched up my car like that.

 

This is dumb...

They were lazy and could have made a small effort to avoid this happening (see above post)... More than likely the guys working in this shop are hacks who drive rusted out piles of crap and could care less.

 

i purchased my car used and yours look a ton better then mine. Mine are bent up everywhere, its very annoying but at this point it is what it is.

 

you should use the welded "jack Points" those frame rails do bend in. everyone has their opinion, but on my cars and cars i work on i always use the welded point.

 

at least they did not put it on the running boards.