How to jack car up without damaging side skirts?
 

Ok, it's getting close to the time when us Northeasterners need to swap our summer wheel/tires for the winter set of wheels. Usually, I have no problem jacking up the car myself and swapping the set of wheels, but this year, I'm wondering how I can do this without damaging my newly added side skirts (since they wrap under the sill area of the car). Anyone know a good method? I have a standard floor jack and hear that jack pad inserts can damage side skirts? Can I use a hockey puck instead?

http://i56.tinypic.com/5fn6hc.jpg

Use the scissor jack first to make room for the floor jack then reverse the process.

Never thought to use the scissor jack. Thx.

If you are driving it in the winter why are you worried about damage from a jack?

I've driven this car since 2002 in the cold winters of NYC and NJ, without issue. I run smaller 17" wheels with snow tires in the winter, and no problems. The car, as you can see, still looks amazing. As long as you rinse off the salt from the underbody after the snow storms, there's no issue.

I worry about the skirts because I don't want them to crack from sloppy floorjack use. Get it now?

Depends on how low-profile your jack is, but for my car, which is somewhat low, I use a low profile jack along with a hockey puck, and it clears the sideskirt...

Thanks Chaud. Will try the floorjack with hockeypuck first, as I'm too lazy to pull out the scissor jack. :D

Apparently lots of people drive these cars right through the winter. Probably not much of a problem in NYC or Toronto where it never really gets that cold. I would be worried about starting it up when the temp's down around -30, not uncommon here in mid-winter. Has anyone fitted a block heater to these cars? Do they have frost plugs in accessible locations?

If you crack them doing this you will never forgive yourself, if you use the scissor from one side, you can then raise the entire rear by placing the floor jack in the center from the rear making sure to land on the brace shown in the Bentley book. It's not like the jack and spare are under the car, don't be lazy man!!!!

Very good point. Alright. Out comes the scissor. :D Thanks again guys.

If you store your car in a garage, the temps shouldn't be less than freezing when you start your car, so shouldn't really be an issue. If it's that cold up where you are, however, I'd be more worried about the tires not being able to warm up.

As I just pointed out to my friend Christina ('00 S) these cars were built in Finland. How cold does it get up there ? :)

I don't want to deviate from this thread but there are a few Porsches that are driven year round in Alaska in -30F and colder temps. Many manufacturers also cold weather test their cars in Alaska and Sweden including Porsche so they can be used in the cold. You just have to prepare for it. Speaking with some Porsche owners there, air cooled VWs and Porsches are even better in the cold than most other cars.
I didn't have my Boxster there but I used my VW GTI year round with no block heater. I just had an oil pan heater and battery pad/warmer/trickle charger and it was fine as long as you plugged the car in overnight. January temps would get below -65F. At those temps, if there was no place to plug into, you had to keep the engine running. With the Porsche having an all aluminum engine case it would propably be ok with just having an oil pan heater and battery pad/blanket. Just remember to plug in when you're parked. I would run an extension from the battery blanket and trickle charger to the rear and have those two plugs and the oil pan heater plug come together into a three way and have the plug exit out the rear. That way you keep the higher powered heater with the shortest cord. You'll just have to back up to your outlet.
The other thing to consider is don't mess with any plastic parts. All plastic parts get as brittle as glass. And get Blizzak tires. They're better than chains.

+1 there. I don't see these cars as not being worthy of winter driving. On the contrary, I figure if it was built to be driven on the Autobahn, it was built to be driven in the winter...on the Autobahn. :D

In keeping with the thread subject, that scissor jack trick sounds great...gotta keep that in mind.

JTP - Just sent you a PM....again, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Been over a month since I logged in to the forum, sadly.

OP - I haven't used the boxster scissor jack, but I absolutely hate scissor jacks. Feel they are dangerous.

If you simply need a bit more height to get your jack underneath, I recommend driving up on 4 blocks of 2x4s for an extra 1.5" of clearance.

Also, I have this jack: http://www.harborfreight.com/rapid-pump-4000-lb-capacity-lightweight-low-profile-aluminum-racing-jack-92782.html

Despite a few of the reviews, I can tell you that it will get just about anywhere under the boxster and lift it effortlessly. I just swapped on my blizzaks with this + a 2-ton jack stand and, aside from the PITA that are wheel studs (instead of lugnuts), it was a piece of cake :)

I use a hockey puck and it works very well with the side skirts. I got the idea from the local Porsche master tech so people have obviously been doing it that way for a while.

So if you use a hockey puck, the puck still touches part of the underside of the skirt in the rear portion, but doesn't deform it while lifting?

To give people without skirts on their cars an idea of why I'm concerned, below is a pic of one of my skirts being prepped for install, and you can see the rear of the skirt where there is a lot extending below the side sills under the car...
http://i52.tinypic.com/5z1k6f.jpg

The hockey puck doesn't touch the skirts at all on my car.

Ok, thx. The jacking point is right next to the skirt on my car, so the puck would be very close to the skirt.

great jack. I used it at an autocross once, toss in a great impact gun like a Bosch and one of those red torque attachments...you're doing all four corners in 10 minutes.