Jack points

[jadnashuanh]

Most modern radial ply tires do not take a permanent set...it may take a few miles to get them round again. Let us know when you get back if it is an issue on yours.

Now, not sure why someone would want to leave HI in the middle of winter, but that's another story altogether!

 

[alohart]

Now, not sure why someone would want to leave HI in the middle of winter, but that's another story altogether!

We won't leave until April, but with a new car, I wanted to try to place it in storage in advance to see whether I would have any problems. Sure enough, placing an i3 on jack stands seems almost impossible to do safely and without risking damage to the car. I didn't want to learn this a couple of days before departing, so now I know what I can and cannot do.

I'm pretty disappointed that BMW seems to have designed a car that cannot easily be placed on jack stands. I like to be able to examine brakes, suspension, and other things underneath my cars periodically. Removing wheels makes this easier, but BMW seems to be discouraging such things.

 

[I33t]

How about this option:

http://www.ezcarlift.com/ezcarlift_productinfo.html

 

[alohart]

The EZCarLift looks nice, but then it should at ~$2,000! I could replace all 4 flat-spotted tires for several years before exceeding the cost of an EZCarLift, so I'll not be trying to figure out where I might store one.

I'm starting to feel like "Mr. No" with all of my rejections of your good suggestions.

 

[websterize]

Would curved wheel stands be less hostile than flat concrete?

"These stands are made from a special EPS foam with an anti-skid coating." $107/pair

http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-I01-i3-IB3/Tools/Jacks/Jack_Stands/ES2748976/

 

[alohart]

Would curved wheel stands be less hostile than flat concrete?

Possibly slightly less hostile, but these would still require jacking up the car which isn't safe unless I also buy a floor jack with a flat lifting surface. I don't trust my scissor jack with its shallow V-shaped lifting surface because it deformed and broke the modified hockey pucks that I purchased. Maybe the urethane jack pads would be more durable, but they, too, would be deformed by my scissor jack. The expensive solid aluminum jack pads wouldn't break, but their flat, round bottom surface wouldn't mate with my scissor jack and could possibly slide off my jack.

If I were to buy some curved wheel stands, I would buy FlatStoppers which can be used without jacking up the car. But I'm skeptical that any curved surface would help much unless its curvature exactly matched that of the tires which isn't likely.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Anyone you know have a bandsaw? You could cut out an exact curve from a hunk of wood and make a nice ramp to drive up onto it for a very small investment.

I've not experienced flat spotting with modern tires. It did happen with the old ones.

 

[I33t]

The EZCarLift looks nice, but then it should at ~$2,000! I could replace all 4 flat-spotted tires for several years before exceeding the cost of an EZCarLift, so I'll not be trying to figure out where I might store one.

I'm starting to feel like "Mr. No" with all of my rejections of your good suggestions.

I think we're running out of ideas too!

The EZCarLift is a fraction of the cost of the i3, and it would give you great and safe access to checking the brakes and suspension. It's relatively light, I reckon you could just fold it against the wall or perhaps hoist it up to the ceiling of your parking space.

 

[i3atl]

The EZCarLift is a fraction of the cost of the i3, and it would give you great and safe access to checking the brakes and suspension. It's relatively light, I reckon you could just fold it against the wall or perhaps hoist it up to the ceiling of your parking space.

Mine just stands up folded against the wall when not in use - it's great. With that said, I'm not sure it's worth it just for storage - it's great if you do a lot of maintenance on the cars, though.

 

[hili3]

Art, for long-term storage, what is your plan for the hi-voltage batteries? Have them fully charged?

Aloha,
RL

 

[alohart]

Art, for long-term storage, what is your plan for the hi-voltage batteries? Have them fully charged?

I will do as I did with my previous EV: I will store my i3 with its battery pack at ~40% charge and with the 12 v. battery disconnected. This might be in contrast to what BMW recommends, but storing a Li battery pack at ~40% charge is quite likely to be better for longevity than at full charge. The self-discharge rate of a Li battery pack is very low, and nothing in the car will be discharging the battery pack, so I expect to return 6 months later to a battery pack at almost the same charge level as I left it.

 

[Tomasz]

would it make sense to disconnect HV battery? Does i3 even have an accessible disconnect (like Leaf)?

 

[ted99]

I just read this and haven't gone to the manual to check; but is it possible to put a storage charger on the 12v battery? I understand it is charged by the High voltage battery, but if the long-term storage "trickle" charger maintains a higher voltage than the HV to 12v charger, will this circumvent draining the HV battery to keep the 12v battery charged?

 

[mindmachine]

I just read this and haven't gone to the manual to check; but is it possible to put a storage charger on the 12v battery? I understand it is charged by the High voltage battery, but if the long-term storage "trickle" charger maintains a higher voltage than the HV to 12v charger, will this circumvent draining the HV battery to keep the 12v battery charged?

The HV battery does next change the 12 volt battery when the car is turned off. The EVSE does charge the 12volt when it is plugged in. That is why they recommend leaving it plugged in for long term storage.

 

[alohart]

When we are away, we discontinue our electricity service, so our EVSE will have no power, and, thus, we can't leave our car plugged in or a trickle charger on the 12 v. battery. I wouldn't want to do that, anyway, in a shared parking garage where an EVSE, battery charger, or car electrical problem could cause a huge amount of damage. I don't even leave our EVSE powered when it's not charging our car. All we need is one EVSE or EV fire to give EV's a major black eye.

 

[alohart]

I asked the BMW of Honolulu parts department for a BMW jack to lift our i3. I was told that no jack is sold for the i3 or for any recent BMW all of which but the i3 are delivered with run-flat tires. He could not guarantee that the jack kit sold for earlier BMW's would work for the i3, had none in stock, and would not accept a return on a special order item like the jack kit. Do you know if it would work?

I asked the service manager for suggestions about jacking our i3 up to place on jack stands during our absence. He recommended using a floor jack under each front side jack point to life the car high enough to place jack stands under the rear side jack points. Then he recommended placing a floor jack under the lower pivot points of the front suspension to lift the front far enough to place jack stands under the front side jack points.

I asked him what jack pads he uses to protect the plastic jack points. He doesn't use anything! He lifts all BMW's by placing a jack or lift directly under the plastic jack points! When I tried this using hockey puck pads, the sharp lower surface of the jack points cut through the hockey puck, so it doesn't seem to me that these jack points are designed to lift a car directly. Maybe BMW treats these rather expensive plastic jack points as consumables

This is my first BMW, so I don't know how owners jack up their cars. Do you lift your car directly on its plastic jack points? The service manager also recommended placing the jack stands directly under the jack points with no pads. This seems dangerous and potentially damaging.

I remain amazed by how difficult it apparently is to safely place an i3 on jack stands.

 

[i3atl]

This is my first BMW, so I don't know how owners jack up their cars. Do you lift your car directly on its plastic jack points? The service manager also recommended placing the jack stands directly under the jack points with no pads. This seems dangerous and potentially damaging.

I use jacks/stands directly on the jack pads on all of my BMWs, as stated earlier in the thread, and have never had a pad damaged/broken or even come out of the car except when I intentionally removed them.

I've done the same with the i3, and also placed it on my lift without any adapters for the pads - no issues there either.

 

[jadnashuanh]

I always use an adapter. My other car (a 535GT) had one of the jack pads broken at the last service, and the dealer is going to replace it the next time I need to go in. The jack pad adapter for my GT fits the i3 just fine, so I would think that the BMW jack kit would work http://www.amazon.com/BMW-Wheel-Jack-Set/dp/B003AP95SU OEM P/N 71-10-6-773-536 (old) 71 10 2 182 448 (new)

But, with any floor jack with a flat pad and an jack pad adapter, you should be able to lift the i3 without damaging anything. The adapter is designed to keep the working part of the jack from moving while the car is being lifted, and no pressure is applied to the sidewalls of the jack pad, only to the bottom of it which is up against the frame and protected from scratching by the bottom of the jack pad so you don't end up with that point rusting (not an issue with the i3, but pretty much all others in their line). The walls of that plastic jack pad are strong, but not all that strong.

 

[user 3172]

I've always used a trolley jack under the jack point but with a small block of wood (cut specifically to fit snugly inside and protrude a few millimetres) inserted into the recess so that it takes the compression force rather than the sidewalls of the jack point. The plastic jack points are pretty robust in my experience but the purpose of their sidewalls is to stabilise the emergency scissor jack BMW used to sell with cars, not to take the weight of the car.

I haven't got my i3 yet so can't experiment or see what's under there! Are there plastic jacking points in place?

 

[jadnashuanh]

BMW uses pretty much exactly the same jack points as used on their other models on the i3.