Flat tire and the stock jack sucks!!!!

Dlm6568

So my night begins, on my way to my son's basketball game, first round of the playoffs and he's the starting point guard. It's like 30 mins away so we leave a little early so I can get gas and coffee. All good so far, I leave the station as I'm driving not even 100 feet from the station, I here a thumping sound coming from the rear. Oh he'll what did I hit, I pull into a parking lot to check things out, front good rear not so much, a huge bolt stuck in the tire, about 5 inches long.

Damn gotta change the tire, it's raining cold and in a dark parking lot. Get the jack, spare and tools out. Jack the car up all good, till my son went to pull the tire off, don't know what he did but next thing the jack slips and the rear end is lying on the ground! I was like holy s! This has never happened to me in 30+ years of driving. Long and short my son ran to the store next door and we got a another jack, changed the tire. We got to the game with 2 mins left in the half, he played they won now off to the semi's on Sunday.

All things considering we did ok, someone could have gotten hurt pretty bad if thins were different.

What did I learn,
Replace the stock jack ASAP. That thing is a piece of s***!
The spare is pretty good, 65 in the rain and it felt solid.
The rear of the Z is bullet proof, was really worried that the drop caused some damage but she was solid all the way to the game and home again.

So now I gotta find a place to plug the tire, it only has 2000 miles on it, hopefully they can do it.

Sorry for the long rant, but what a night. Stay safe all!

So I drove by the same lot this morning and noticed there was a slight incline in the lot. My car was positioned so the front end was slightly raised. So I think that was the culprit. Being dark and rainy probably didnt help me to see the incline and wanting to get my son to is game, it was a perfect storm.
Again thank God no one was hurt!

iceman21_23

my best bet being it was raining at night and cold is that the jack wasn't in the correct lift point? my stock jack has always felt very secure.

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CDepp

Wow! Block those front tires with a spare child you might have laying around next time!

/Actually, if I'm changing a rear, esp if it's an AT, I will cut the tires all the way to the left or right. If you can roll it to a curb or parking block opposite the flat and cut into the curb(not just towards it, but 'into' it), I suggest it. It's never taught anywhere, but I've dropped a '97 Pontiac GTP and a buddy suggested it and I've used that technique since.

//really glad you and your son weren't hurt.

///Edit: Don't use any child. Use someone else's child, possibly one of the other team.

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-CDepp-
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tWeEzY

are you on the 18" rims?

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Dlm6568

Yea stock 18. Why?

DEpointfive0

why?

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Dlm6568

My son is 16 and he said let me get the tire dad. We were in a parking lot totally flat surface, I even double check I had the right jack points. Took like 5 minute to find the little notch.

And yes we were really lucky!

b1adesofcha0s

I've never had any problems with my jack and I've used it plenty of times. With my car lowered, I usually have to use the stock jack to lift the car a little bit before using a bigger jack to lift it the rest of the way up.

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CDepp

What they said, or was it just a question of styling?

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Gauge

Fixed

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bmarcinczyk14

Unfortunately had to use the jack last Friday on my way home from work to replace a flat rear tire, worked perfectly fine for me and seemed solid?

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kenchan

i thinks your son is super strong and probably lifted the car off the scissors jack. im glad to hear the car didn't land on his foot or something.

did you break loose the lugs while the car was still on the ground? chances are you loosened them while in the air, shifting the car.

Dlm6568

Broke the lugs when the tire was still on the ground. got them loose enough to unscrew by hand.

Thought I did everything right.

kenchan

hummmm... yah, it's not rocket science so no idea then.

and i assume you placed the jack at the jack points (between the 2 indents) while on a level surface. it shouldn't slip off.

ive changed tires in wet and icy conditions on my other cars and never had an issue with scissors jack.

Dlm6568

So I drove by the same lot this morning and noticed there was a slight incline in the lot. My car was positioned so the front end was slightly raised. So I think that was the culprit. Being dark and rainy probably didnt help me to see the incline and wanting to get my son to is game, it was a perfect storm.
Again thank God no one was hurt!