Round Rubber Pads for Bendpak/Danmar Lifts

[lemmy999]

I always used to try to cradle the pinch weld area (so the support is on either side of the pinch weld) to prevent damaging it. I used hockey pucks or something like that on my floor jacks. But for the 4 cars I regularly lift with my Danmar M6 lift I just lift directly with the rubber pads that came with it and have not had an issue with damaging the pinch welds. When I first got the lift I purchased some magnetic adapters from ZL1 Addons that would cradle the pinch weld and provide a flat surface for the lift's rubber pads to contact. The company claimed they were "universal" fit, but on my wife's Audi Q5 they weren't very stable and didn't work well at all. They would want to roll off of the pinch weld. It is like they needed to have a narrower opening or taller sides.

Premium Universal Jack MagPad™

Our 2" Premium Universal Jack MagPad™ works with any car with a 2" opening within its pinch weld. Made of solid aluminum with 2 rare earth magnets embedded in a nylon insert with a red "remove before flight" to help not leave on the car when driving. Product Fitment: Any vehicle with a minimum...

zl1addons.com

I never tried them on another car, so I started just putting the pinch weld directly on the rubber pad and I have never had an issue with damaging the pinch welds and the car is much more stable.

But the problem I have is that when I lift some heavier cars, the pinch welds tend to cut the rubber pads up and they need replacing fairly often. Thankfully they aren't very expensive ($30 for a set of 4 on Amazon), but is there a better way to lift so that I won't have to replace the pads so often? Thanks.

 

[wssix99]

I use these types of pucks for my cars: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X7MYGYF/?tag=atomicindus08-20

(Not this exact product, but something like it.) Amazon has tons of different types and they come in different sizes with different groves in the middle. (So you can match them to the pinch welds you have on your cars.)

I just put the pucks on top of the lift pads and no worries. ...Except lifting a car on a 2 post lift by the pinch welds is a total PITA. I despise my 2 post lift and wish I had invested in a 4 post lift with traveling jacks instead.

 

[Imatk]

I have a set of these
https://www.quickjack.com/accessories/pinch-weld-blocks/

They work well. They also have these

https://www.quickjack.com/accessories/pinch-weld-pucks/

 

[lemmy999]

I have a set of these
https://www.quickjack.com/accessories/pinch-weld-blocks/

They work well. They also have these

https://www.quickjack.com/accessories/pinch-weld-pucks/

Those look really nice. How do you make sure they are lined up perfectly on the pinch weld as you are lifting? I usually raise the lift a bit and get them moderately close to the car, then go around and make sure that the pinch weld is somewhere near the center of the pad. If those had embedded magnets that would hold them onto the pinch weld it seems like it would make it easier.

 

[lemmy999]

I use these types of pucks for my cars: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X7MYGYF/?tag=atomicindus08-20

(Not this exact product, but something like it.) Amazon has tons of different types and they come in different sizes with different groves in the middle. (So you can match them to the pinch welds you have on your cars.)

I just put the pucks on top of the lift pads and no worries. ...Except lifting a car on a 2 post lift by the pinch welds is a total PITA. I despise my 2 post lift and wish I had invested in a 4 post lift with traveling jacks instead.

Those look good. But like I asked Imatk, how do you line them up to get the pinch weld in the groove as you are raising the lift?

 

[CraigStu]

I hate pinch weld blocks. Your Q about aligning them is the main reason. When you work flat rate, there is no way you are going to jack around w/ those slot blocks. Also they don't fit cars very well. The cut is too narrow sometimes and the depth is almost never correct. Besides I don't go with the theory that you want the lift load on the sheet metal at either side of the pinch weld. Usually that is just single thickness sheet there vs the pinch weld that is at least 2 and often 3 or 4 pieces of sheet. I think the key is spreading the load out. But also realize that most floor jacks will have a tendency at some point in the lift of trying to bend over the pinch weld. When lifting straight up, via a lift at 4 points at once, there is near zero tendency to bend it over. All the lifts I worked on had either the round maybe 4-5 inch pads w/ hard rubber or all steel pads heavily checkered that also flipped up. The advantage of these is they are large enough that hitting the pinch weld is pretty easy to do. One w/ the large steel pads had a 1/2 hole in the middle of each pad and we all had a 2-3 ft long 3/8" steel rod w/ a 1" 90deg bend on one end and a handle bent into the other end. On a car where we would lift on a subframe or something nearer the center of the car, we used our rod to position the lift arm.

 

[Imatk]

Yeah you have to align them