So, I recently found out at my Subaru dealership that my car is too low for their lifts. I have Tein H-Tech springs, S203 front lip, and Chargespeed V1 side skirts. Not slammed at all, but pretty darn low.

So now I have several problems (gotta pay to play I guess): I need to change my own oil (no biggie, I can get the front end up on car ramps) but how would I rotate my wheels? I'm not even sure with the Chargespeed side skirts if I can get a car jack at the jacking points at each corner of the car.

You experts must have an answer for me. I know I'm not the lowest and I know plenty of you low riders out there do all of the work yourself. So, please pass over some advice!

Thanks guys

Dave

Buy some 2x4s. Offset them and screw them together. Drive up the boards! :)

- dow

LOL. Thats easy.

Buy some 2x8's or 10's and park your car on them. That way the lift arms clear/swing under just fine.

Can't belive the dealership couldn't figure that out. They must not like you or dont want to work on your car...

^^^^^ sounds ghetto.... but it works really well

Well, the more I think about it, it'd be nice to do all of this myself instead of paying Subaru of Wakefield $35 for an oil change and $120 for this along with rotating the tires and other intermediate services.

The guy at Subaru of Wakefield didn't have anything to prop under the car to get it on the lift.

Still looking for a way to do this myself and be able to rotate my tires!

Uh...

1. Drive up the wood ramps
2. Put the front on jackstands
3. Jack up the rear from the rear diff
4. Put the car on jackstands

From what it costs for 4 jackstands, you now have tools and the knowledge of how to do it yourself ;)

- dow

+1 on the jackstands ^^^^^^^^^^
search for jack points and jackstands and you should be good to go

Wait....if I drive up the wooden ramps, I'd still have to jack up the front end to get the wheels off the ramp before putting it on jackstands right? ;)

I have lowrise ramps to get the car up high enough to get a jack under. then I jjack away and set up the jack stands.
Take it to another dealer, Hell, even the local jiffy-lube can work on a lowered car. I take mine to expressway when it's too cold and crappy to crawl under it (no garage).

Wait....if I drive up the wooden ramps, I'd still have to jack up the front end to get the wheels off the ramp before putting it on jackstands right? ;)

um... yes. and get 2x8s or 2x10s at lowes or some place that will cut them up for you. i had a 2x8 cut into four 2' sections at lowes for free.

If you can muster 3" of ground clearance at the jack points (which should be managable, I think stock is near 7" at that point), consider one of these, they are inexpensive and very handy.

Harbor Freight's Racing Jack: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91039

If you have less than 3" and can't park it on a crack or anything to give some extra space, try this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=36119
(It says 5" minimum, but they can be wedged pretty low, and Wal-Mart has them for like 14 bucks.)

u can also buy the takata ramps: they're for this specific case. drive up on them then jack the car up by the jacking point.:)

Driving up the ramps should give you enough room to put a jack under there. OR, lift the back up too, then floor it in reverse and see how far you can launch the ramps.

I use the wooden ramp method...works perfectly

yeah, just drive onto blocks..my STi with just gf210 springs, that's all, is about 3/4" too low to jack up without blocks.

happened to me too :) changed the oil myself... problem solved and saved $35 w00t...

Lowering a car is a bitch, ain't it! :devil: :D

That's weird, I have Megan Racing Coilovers, and my WRX is about as low as I can go. Yet I still get my $10 oil changes from the dealership and rotations done fine (Platinum card bs).

I use 4x4 pieces of wood about 2 1/2 to 3 feet long and cut the ends at about a 30 degree angle. Works great to get a jack under the car. Good luck.

My buddy has a GTI 337, like dollar bill width off the ground with all the stock body work. We always throw his car up on 4 2x4's and it works on our rack. Sometimes the boards shoot out from under the tires,but I don't think the Subaru would have that problem, well, the front only.

The 2x4's is a great idea...but if you ever are in a bind and don't have them available, you could try what I always did on my old car. You can use the stock jack to raise the car up high enough on the side to fit a real jack underneath it, then jack it up and use jack stands. The 2x4 idea is a great long term solution though...I never thought of that...

I bought one of those low profile aluminum craftsmen floor jacks fit under my old wrx when it was lowered

I bought one of those low profile aluminum craftsmen floor jacks fit under my old wrx when it was lowered

Low profile Craftsman car jack? They actually make those? I have a regular Craftsman jack (which I need to bring back and get replaced because it doesn't quite hold the hydrolic pressure anymore = VERY VERY BAD!!!!)

Erm... Am I the only one who thinks that, perhaps, your car might be too low?

I had H&R springs before; they were a bitch to drive the car up on ramps or jack it up with, it scraped on steep angles, tires rubbed the fenders, and it didn't even handle that great.
Got coilovers, raised the car up 1 inch (now its an inch and a half lower than stock), and not only could I drive it up on ramps and jack it up, but it also handled MUCH better.

Overly low car = ricer who doesn't understand anything about how cars are supposed to handle. Do some searching on the forum; after a certain point you lower your center of gravity below the roll center of the car and it will actually handle worse than stock.

Dude, if you read my original post you would see that all I have are Tein H-Tech springs. What's making my car so low is the CF front lip and Chargespeed side skirts. It is not 'slammed' by any means. I'm just someone that wants to be very careful with my car.

I don't think it's a great idea going around and calling people ricers so quickly....no matter how good it makes you feel

Dude, if you read my original post you would see that all I have are Tein H-Tech springs. What's making my car so low is the CF front lip and Chargespeed side skirts. It is not 'slammed' by any means. I'm just someone that wants to be very careful with my car.

I don't think it's a great idea going around and calling people ricers so quickly....no matter how good it makes you feel

I didn't call you a ricer, I just said that ricers like to slam ther cars to the ground. Ricer = wannabe racer.
Wannabe racer = having your street car as low as a race car, and then dealing with all the problems that explain why it doesn't come from the factory that low to begin with...

Well, with a WRX bumper and my car 'lowered' to 14.75" (still have the control arms above parallel and I am runnng 10/8 rates), I still have to use the above method. Heck, with the car stock, I was still using boards with the stock STi bumper so I didn't mess up the fascia.

No worries. Just boards, and you dont have to worry about messing up anything.

- dow