I bought tires yesterday after work for my '79. I had 255/60/15 Eagles and liked the way they looked, but.......they don't last long. At least mine didn't, not even 20,000. They wore even, but fast. So I went with Remingtons, rated for 50,000. The Firestones are rated at 55,000 but my dealer here wanted about $450 out the door. The Remingtons were $345. I don't care for the look of the raised white letters on either one, so I went with the cheaper tire, 255/60/15, black side out. Now here's my question, when the local tire gang/pit crew swarmed on my car to jack it, they asked me to leave the doors and hood open. I told them I was there for tires and they proceeded to tell me that my car was made of fiberglass and could be damaged if they tried to jack it with the doors and the hood closed. I told them they weren't jacking my car with the doors or hood open. 'OK, wait one minute sir, I'll check with the boss". He came back and the boss said to do it my way. I waited outside with the car and watched from a distance. When they were almost done the lead guy was walking around the front of my car talking to the rest of his crew, looked like he was giving a class. I walked up and they all smiled but were quite. Now back to my question, was I right? They told me all the new vettes they do, they do with all the body panels open, hood, deck lid, and doors. They did say they had not done a vette has old has mine, my car is older then most of them. I'd like to find something on-line to back my position up and take it to them. The owner is a friend of a friend. I've bought a lot of tires there but this was the vette's first time there, last time I took the wheels off and took them to the tire store in the back of my truck, like I'll do next time. So is it ok to jack a C-3 with the doors and hood open?

 

My local store insists on the same thing. They just open the doors to the safety latch, though. They're not wide open. I guess theoretically if there is some tension on the striker to the door, and there is some flex in the frame the pressure could crack the fiberglass. It's probably one of those deals where it happened to one car somewhere with a rusty frame and the franchise management went out and ordered all stores to open the doors.

 

I jack vettes up all the time with the doors and hood closed, but I think it's a good thing that the tire shop knew enough to want to unlatch the doors and hood. It's just a safety precaution to prevent damaging anything. I'm OK with that.


-Justin

 

S.O.P. (standard operating procedure)

The older the vette, the more prone to cracking from body flex. :eek:
'68s are the worst since they lack the bracing of 69 and later C3's.

It certainly doesn't hurt to take precautions & cracking the doors & hood is fine. If you want, you can insist to do it yourself before they jack up the car.

C5's are sooooo rigid, I don't believe this is necessary but since they do this to all vettes then even the newer ones get the same treatment.

People everywhere are afraid of fiberglass like it's some delicate alien substance. :lol: .......let 'em pamper your car & you can smile later. :D

 

I do it with the doors cracked open, the hood popped, and the t-tops unlatched. I was pleasantly surprised to find the guys at Discount do it the same way, with the added benefit of two guys running the floor jacks so that both sides of the car were lifted at the same time.

If you want to see just how much these cars can flex, jack up the rear of the car, put it on stands, and push on the back bumper. The door gaps will open quite a bit. (Note: I've seen this done on someone else's car. Not mine.)

 

OK, sounds like they were right then. Just so I'm clear on this.........if I go to put my car on jack-stands, I should open the doors and hood? Or at least unlatch them. Is that right? thanks guys!

 

Or their insurance co. Some shops around here get pretty **** about stuff. "Sorry we can't ________ because of insurance reasons."

I haven't heard of keeping the doors and hood open when jacking. In fact I've always done the opposite with the thought that it provides extra bracing reducing the amount the car will flex.

I'll be sure to keep this in mind the next time I jack the car up. Learn something new every day. :cheers:

 

The door and hood gaps do funny things when these cars are jacked up. They are surprizingly flexible. I wouldn't be so afraid of stress cracks as I would a gap closing up and damaging the paint on the edges. Good point to bring up, though.

There's a flip side to this when considering the way some of the bird cages and frames rust on these things. A closed door may be all the structure that's left holding the frame together. The stress from jacking the car up with the door open might be the final straw for a weak frame. I can just see some irate customer blaming the tire store for damaging his already rust compromised frame.

 

It's my understanding that if you have glass T-tops, they also should be unlatched to prevent cracking of the top! I seem to remember a thread discussing this, but it has been a while.

Hans

 

Frame flex is of concern on convertible models (I've owned two). It isn't necessary to have the doors/hood open to jack, just unlatched.


:cheers:

 

Everyday I'm lernin' something. Thanks

 

Semper Fi Augie!

It only takes one...I remember reading somewhere, maybe on this forum or on the much earlier Corvette Fever forum that was shut down (1997?) about a member who experienced body flex when jacking up one side of his car for a simple oil change...one of the glass tops cracked. That became a very expensive oil change.

I now leave both doors open to the safety latch, pop the hood and release or even remove both T-Tops any time my car is raised; figure it can't hurt anything.

 

Milo, just wait til you read about the trailing arms! :shocked:

 

The top of my 95 coupe is cracked from not jacking it up with the top on. I've had to super glue it twice.

 

The first tire store I went to right after I bought my '79 insisted on unlatching the doors and hood, and would not do the work unless I agreed. I had no idea why and was scratching my head, but let them. Asked my Vette mechanic about it and he said it's a common practice to do so when jacking up Corvettes, and he always does so to mine if the service he's performing requires it. Once I forgot to shut the passenger door, and as I pulled out of his lot it flew open. :mad Never heard of unlatching the t-tops too though. But mine are not glass.

 

I'll agree with this theory on a convertible. If you don't want your body to flex, why open the doors so that it flexes easier? This is just inviting the body to flex and crack somewhere, especially along the center of the body somewhere under the open door areas. If your doors or hood get damaged when they are shut, you've got bigger problems than a simple crack. I'd say that this is an indication of an unsafe vehicle due to frame rot.

Convince me otherwise... :confused:

 

:iagree: :thumbs: :yesnod: :seeya

 

If I jack up my vette with the doors closed, I can't open them. It has been a problem at times. MJ

 

Some time ago when I first installed the rack/pinion on my car, I caught some jockey with the jack far under the car for front tires......I stopped him just in time....he was on the rack instead of the frame.....

went NUTS!!!....

GENE

 

I would say the fellows were acting in your best interests. The body does flex. Next time you jack up the car watch the gaps in the door alignment move as you do so.