the widow maker justifies it's name...

[bakes]

Last night on my way home from work I had a front drivers side flat tire. Pulled into a school that was near by and when through the adventure of using the factory jack to take the flat off and fill and use the spare tire!

The factory jack worked well to raise the front enough to remove the front tire but then as I was getting the spare ready to put the spare on it gave way and the whole front end dropped to the ground! Holy crap! Now where I see how this piece of crap jack get's it's nick name.

Luckily I was only 10 min away from my house so I called my wife to bring over my proper jack that is in the garage. I had to use my home jack on the rear of the RS to raise the front up enough to get the jack from my wifes Honda Pilot under the front jack point. The Honda pilot jack is a nice solid piston type deal and it worked well. Put on the spare, pumped it up and made it home. I was worried the spare which hadn't been used before would be brittle or troublesome but it got me home. Are these spares reusable once they've been filled? Can I empty it of all air and then put it back in the spot under the trunk cover?

Has anyone replaced their jack with some better alternate version? I really liked the jack that was with my wifes Honda Pilot. Nice strong sturdy piston type device.

Now I have to go through the fun of contemplating replacing all of my winter tires or just this one. I may just replace this one for now.

Be careful everyone if you have to use the factory car Jack!!

[Bigglezworth]

How did this happen? Did you have the parking brake on? Have never had a failure with the jack. I learned a long time ago to put the tire I took off the car under the side of the car while I retrieced the replacement tire just in case something like this happened though. Especially if I was in the middle of no where. I would much rather risk possible damage to a rim vs. being left stranded.

[LIRS6]

I've seen this issue commented about on the boards previously - I believe there were comments that the Phaethon jack was a superior alternative to the RS6 jack.

[mrdave]

I've seen this issue commented about on the boards previously - I believe there were comments that the Phaethon jack was a superior alternative to the RS6 jack.

I'm not sure if thinner steel would be any better than our fully aluminum one - it's still the same design. Either way I'd only use those jacks in an emergency.

[Aronis]

I've used the stock jack more than once, on concrete garage floor, it worked well. I wanted to try it out. I used to travel with a full sized spare when going any significant distance, but was always fearful of using that jack on a soft surface.

At home I use a 2 ton floor jack since it is much easier.

My old 97 M3 had a similar one point jack but on that car there was a side cap you remove and the jack had a bar that slid into a slot with positive contact that kept the one point jack safely in place, so it could not fall off the jack.

Hope all is well after that sudden drop.

Mike

[fukinavit]

ive used the factory jack several times, it has to be used on flat surfaces for sure as definatley not much to it. where is the best place to use a floor jack on the front end?

[bakes]

I can comment that I used the jack in the parking lot of a school and the ground was snow and ice covered. I did try to clear as best I could the spot where the foot of the jack was placed so it wouldn't move. Either way, from looking at the jack, it appears that the plastic bolts (I'm probably not describing them well) sheared off or slipped out of the metal holes they were supposed to stay in. For a device that will generally be used in a road side emergency situation it shouldn't be built in a manner that needs a nice smooth base etc. when used. I'm going to look for some sort of replacement that is more sturdy.

Does anyone know if the spare is reusable? I've let the air out and it returned to it's smaller size and put it back in the spot underneath the cover.

[nubcake]

Does anyone know if the spare is reusable?

It surely is.

[Turbowned]

I've used it a few times (got three flats in a row the winter of 2014), it's not fun. What tread depth are the winter tires? if it's 7/32nds or lower I'd definltely get all four. Had that problem where they discontinued the tire I was using, and I got the last one from tirerack to replace a flat, only to get two more flats two weeks later. 225/45R18 is too narrow, in case anyone is wondering... Went up to a 245/40

[Dmb408]

It failed for me on a flat point in a garage (with thing 1), thankfully it is while using two jacks right before i had placed the jack stands (so fell an inch to a jack stand). The thing is a dangerous piece.