RL 1

does anyone know if there are specific jacking points, to raise the vehicle with a floor jack, say to remove the tires or just raise the vehicle.

matt55

Use the jack that came with you car.If you use a floor jack you will damage the plastic jack points The jack that is with your spare tire has a plastic pad that fit the jack point correctly and will not damage the pad.

BudC

I'm disappointed in my E320 because they took away the rubber bumpers under the rocker panels where you could put a jack stand. Just another example of cost cutting. More and more of Mercedes long time features are gone.

Even so, there has to be places you can use a floor jack on the car. The car jack shouldn't be used for serious maintenance such as brake work.

GearHead

I believe those bumpers should be there. Mine was missing and I brought back to the dealership and they replaced them.

W/o those, you are not able to jack up your car and that is a safety hazard. I don't think MBUSA is that stupid to let that happen.

GL

konigstiger

These threads might be helpful:

https://mbworld.org/forums/search.php?searchid=2283728

BudC

I'm not talking about the jack points, I'm talking about the rubber bumpers that Mercedes used to put under the rocker panels that were used by shops to lift the cars. They could also be used for jack stands. My 190D and 300E had them but they were gone on the E320.

GearHead

Hmmmm ... I thought you were referring to the black piece (see below)


If not, pardon my ignorance

BudC

No, on older Mercedes the jack was inserted into a hole in the side of the rocker panel. There were also rubber bumpers under the rocker panel that were used to raise the car with a lift.

You could also use the car jack to raise the car and then set the car on jack stands that used the rubber bumpers. These bumpers could also be used with floor jacks.

Mercedes have now eliminated the rubber pads and also gone to a less expensive (and in my opinion) less secure car jack mechanism.

If you raise the car using the car jack, there is no place to put jack stands.

GearHead

Hmmm... I think this is also happening on the Bimmers too.

My older Bimmer does have the hole on the side for jacking while my newer Bimmer does not.

I guess this trend applies to both MB and BMW. Thanks for the clarification.

BudC

Of course the MSRP for my '91 300E was just about what I paid for my '04 E320.

If my 300E was built today, it would probably cost $70K or more.

jimbo1mcm

I purchased a separate 4x4 inch rubberized pad that replaces the steel jacking pad in my 2 1/2 ton floor jack. You just pull out the old pad and slip this new pad in. I roll the jack under the jacking point and I lift the car with absolutely no damage.

starbrite

I asked the shop foreman at my MB dealer and he stated that they use short lengths of 2x4's under those lift points to raise the cars on their lifts.
I used the same (about 10" long) on my floor jack and it worked just fine...no damage at all.

mbbodytech

The reason they eliminated the jack "tubes" is that they were a solution to lifting the car that caused corrosion. Back in the day the tube was stitch welded to the outer rocker panel, which was a big cause of corrosion. Then they went to a floating tube, but it was weaker and a lot of idiots would try to anchor the car from that and would tear huge holes in the rocker panel. So, in the end it's better for everyone that they are gone.

LAZARU5

I don't pretend to have all of the details with respect to the newer style jacking points used on the later model MB cars. But I thought I would share the information I have come across while making some jack pad tools to fit my 2005 W211 and 2005 R171.

There are at least three different part numbers available.

203-997-01-86 - This part is for the W203, W209, W211, W219, and front of the R171. It may also be used on the W210, W220, W215, and W219, but, this is not completely clear to me.

171-998-00-50 - This part is only used on the rear of the R171.

221-998-00-50 - This part is for the W221, W251, and W164. I think it may also be used in the W216.

The MB dealer prices for the W203 and W221 parts are about $6.00 and the R171 part is closer to $2.00. For people who don't believe that price and cost are not related (in the short run) these parts should convince you of that. There is no reason that the R171 part should be priced at 1/3 of the other two parts. From a "fit" stand point all of the parts are interchangeable among any of the cars that use this type of jacking point. The W221 part is by far the best contructed and highest quality of the three parts. If I ever replaced these on my cars, I would use the W221 part on all four corners. It weighs about 50% more than the other two parts. You can see the white plastic insert used in this part in one of the photos below.

The "pockets" in each of the three parts are very close to the same dimensions, but, there are slight differences between the three parts. I suspect that the jacks supplied with all of these cars use the same plastic "head".

There is a small "notch" in both ends of the pocket. I leveraged this notch in a design for a jack pad tool shown in the photos. This tool snaps into the jack pad receptacle and is suspended by bullet latches until you can position a floor jack under the tool. Unfortunately, the notches are not in the same spot for each of the three parts. The R171 part and W221 part require a tool with one offset for the bullet latches, and the tool for the W203 uses a different offset. An additional spacer is required for cars with side skirts that extend below the jacking point.

I have made some of these tools for my friends in the local MBCA club, and I sold some on eBay as well. If anyone is interested in one of the tools you can PM me for more details. If the MBWorld moderator thinks I am spamming the forum and decides to delete the post, I will understand.

LAZARU5

Disclaimer: Modifications shown are not approved by the jack stand manufacturer. Ironically the jack stands are not really useable on modern MBs without some type of alteration. Make modifications to your jack stands at your own risk.

I decided to get a pair of the Snap-on Blue Point aluminum jack stands. They can be found on eBay in the $55 to $60 range. List price is about $80. The Torin brand appears to be the same jack stand with a hex-shaped base for about $59.

The stands ship unassembled. The base is a casting. The saddle is also a casting and is not welded to the inner tube. It appears to have about a 25mm long stem that is pressed into the inner tube.

The saddle is 50mm by 55mm. I cut a length of 12L14 steel to a little longer than 50mm and easily filed it to the finish length of 50mm. It is 1-inch high by 1.125-inches wide. I counterbored a hole for an 8mm cap screw. I considered using two smaller 6mm cap screws but went with a single 8mm bolt since I had the 8mm counterbore.

.87-inches is about the minimum height block that can be used to work with the three different jacking points used on current MB models.

In the lower most position the saddle is about 10.25-inches off the ground. There are 6 holes spaced at 25mm which translates to a 125mm range from the lowest to the highest position.

I have not used the jack stands yet, but I expect them to work well. The jacks are made in China. The quality considerably exceeded my expectations. I have never seen this style jack stand at automotive super stores.

BudC

What are the jacking points on a W211 using a floor jack?

BTW, looks like another iMac user.

LAZARU5

It should be safe to use a floor jack on the plastic jacking point on the engine cross member and the four jacking points just inside the side skirts (pictured above in previous posts). I also have jacked up the rear with the differential, but, I am not certain if that is an approved MB jacking point. Although the SA at my dealer felt it was okay.

The problem with the engine cross member and differential is that most MBs are too low to roll the floor jack in place. If I use these jacking points I first drive up a stack of RV leveler ramps. They look like big "Lego" blocks. One advantage of these RV ramps is that they can be used with the low front AMG bumpers.

The problem with jacking points along the sides is that they do not extend far enough below the plastic panels and side skirts. Especially for the less expensive floor jacks which tend to have deeper heads. The flat rubber padded floor jack heads will help somewhat. Although most modern floor jacks do not have removable heads. For MBs with AMG side skirts, you need to use some type of adapter. Which is the reason I made the jack pad tools shown above.

BudC

Those RV leveling blocks are nice. I never had anything like that when I owned a 31' Airstream.

LAZARU5

One thing I forgot to mention about the RV leveling block ramps, is that you should not use them on all four wheels at the same time. Especially on a 2WD vehicle. If you place the blocks directly in front of your front and rear tires, the front ones will act as a wheel chock and the rear blocks will go flying when the rear wheels spin. This is not as likely on a 4WD car. One work around is to space the blocks so that the front and rear tires do not contact the blocks at the same time. A 4-inch stagger more or less works.

The safest thing to do is to either use the ramps in the front or the rear but not both at the same time.