I know, this is a old thread, but yes, I know what you are talkin about... unfortunately I fell for it's beefy lookin rigidity and partially unweighted the car
on it and it left a nice little jack stand impression as it sunk in....! Does anybody know
what functional value it has by the way?!

 

those stupid thin *** rails are holding up the bumper support beam and will distribute the impact force from rear collision. when someone bumped my car parked on the street, the 5mph bumper was unscathed, but the impact on the bumper beam, partially bent the very end of the left rail, right where a crumple hole is in that beam, and that made the thin metal trunk floor crease up

 

so that's what those "strong" beams are for huh..? Thanks for answer bud b/c I was pretty pissed at myself for not checkin the manual that I couldn't find at the time...
thanks again..!

 

Here is a great store bought jack pad: http://69.20.111.53/index.asp?PageAc...dID=1792&MMP=1


Btw.... does anyone know of any local chain stores that carry such parts? i wanna change my oil right now. heh....

 

I know I am bringing up an old thread but I have been meaning to ask this for a while. The previous owner of my car obviously used a floor jack to jack up the car on multiple points on the frame rail and this left behind a bunch of indentations in the rails. Although it doesn’t seem like the marks are doing anything (besides looking ugly), could there be any detrimental effects?

 

I would not worry too much about it. The car drives fine right?

 

Oh yeah it drives fine...I think my biggest worry was corrosion or weakening of the frame. Thanks for the reply.

 

Don't worry Sir, if the weak rails beams that dent when touched were supporting structures, the car would collapse from it's own weight.

The only bad result would be bumps on the floor or smashed brake lines.

 

hey guys, im sorry for sounding stupid, but im going to install my exhaust today and i just wanted to double check if anyone who has used the tow hook in the rear as a jack point; have ne problems with it. thanks

 

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, very very bad idea. Jack the rear of the car up by the diff, as the factory service manual shows. You will end up bending the tow hook and maybe the trunk pan by jacking that far back on the vehicle in a relatively weak area.

 

Really? You got evidence backing that statement?
I thought many other car manufacturers use tow hook as jacking points.
On top of that.. Evo's front jacking point is on the tow hook isnt it??

 

I would think that the rear tow hook should be strong enough to support the weight of the vehicle. I use the rear tow hook to jack up my Honda. The FSM recommends using the rear diff on our cars. The front jacking point is under the cover on the undertray.

 

Evidence? How about this, go jack on the rear tow hook a few times and tell us how things turn out. Look at the area where the rear tow hook is. It might be strong for pulling the vehicle, but that DOES not make it strong for lifting the car. Your comparing tensile strength to bending strength. To be strong in one area doesnt make it strong in another.

As the post above shows, the front tow hook is not a jacking point. To summerize, no I do not have evidence to show that the back tow hook is a bad idea. But common sense and a knowledge of forces and moments leads me to believe its NOT a good idea.

 

FYI... just to add a little something to this thread and get my post count up:

All MINI's come with jacking "pucks" that fit into the oval shaped holes that are used as tie-downs in the unibody frame. These fit right into the EVO tie-down holes perfectly. Insert them into the hole and jack the car up safely on the "pucks".

They are made of some kind of hard resin/plastic and you can purchase them at any MINI dealer.

Corey #89 STU

 

just so you guys know, i've used my towhook as my rear jack point since i've owned my car and have used it at least 20-30 times with no obvious negative effects.