Best floor jack/jack stand for 2020 BRZ
 

Hey everyone, could somebody recommend a reliable/moderately priced floor jack and jack stands for my 2020 BRZ? Looking to get decent clearance for basic oil changes and changing out for aftermarket unequal length headers etc. Something that is extremely sturdy is my preference, don’t want my car falling on top of me lol Thought of getting wheel cribs, but I do wanna change for new coilovers and wheels at some point.

I'm happy with a Harbor Freight 3 ton low profile jack - it's easy to reach both the front jacking point and the diff. On the other hand, they seem pretty pricy right now. I bought mine a few years ago for less than $100.

For jack stands I have two sets of Torrin 3 ton (4 stands in total) with rubber pads from eBay that work well. Again they are going for twice what I paid for several years ago.

With the rubber pads on the stands the jack can lift the car to almost the top height of the stands and that gives adequate clearance with a creeper and great clearance from the floor, about 17".

I'll second the harbor freight jack, but I went with Esco 10498 stands.

https://esco.net/product/3-ton-perfo...ck-stand-pair/

Rock solid is an understatement.

I also use one of the harbor freight low profile 3 ton jacks.. do not buy harbor freight jackstands though

I use 6 ton stands that max out at 24.5" of lift. With a 2 ton low jack.

Pittsburgh aluminum (Harbor freight) is good to take anywhere. I use some wood planks to make sure that car have enough clearance.
Do not cheap out on the stands, it is not worth. Get esco, torin or something like that

why? because of 2 pesky recalls? there's more documented damage from the valve spring recall than any of the HF recalls...

Any safety recall involving some that's only purpose is to protect me from certain death is enough to prompt me to avoid

so you don't buy a hyundai, ford, chevy, or toyota product?

For maximum safety, quickjack. I've gotten the car on four jack stands before and never had an issue but having build in mechanical locks and not lifting half the car at a time is really, really nice.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2ed52b_z_d.jpg












For quick oddball things, daytona 3ton low pro and a bunch of non-HF stands I've collected over the years.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...11e50d_z_d.jpg

I have a chance of surviving a car crash with defective equipment. Any failure from the jack stand is most definitely going to kill me if I am under the car. I know you're making a point, but it's not comparable

i've never trusted any jack stand by themselves. well before any recall.

if i'm taking a tire off, i'm putting it under the car. i'm also putting the jack under too-- sure, it might fall over, but it's another layer of protection.


of note, HF is the only company that's recalled jackstands, despite much documentation to the fact that the same factories are churning out the same products with a different sticker for other brands on it.

what concerns me much much more than the hf recall are the other brands using the same factories and same tooling that never issued a recall.

Same here - I have two floor jacks and I leave one under each lifting point once the weight is supported by the stands. I also made a small wooden cube out of scrap 2x12 that I put next to me when I'm working under the car.

A valid point, but keep in mind that when manufacturing in China you typically can specify the level of QC you want (and pay accordingly (and keep a close eye on the manufacturer so that they adhere to your QC level)). The HF recall was blamed on worn cast iron molds, so I can easily imagine the new molds being used for the pricier brands and as they wear out moving down the line to the budget brands.

Still, it did make me wish I bought stands with a locking pin...

yep. though 'who is the better' brand in that scenario is the big question.. i went down a rather large rabbit hole looking for alternatives when the first recall came out. there's no apparent difference in quality to a number of other brands of similarly styled jack stands.

so barring buying and testing every single one to the point of failure, there's no guarantee that any of the other similar designs are a higher-tier or lower-tier that the hf variation.

knowing china, they likely are still using the hf molds on a different product with lower standards...

and of note-- the 1st recall was to address worn molds, the 2nd recall was to address a weld penetration issue--they clearly didn't have the machines calibrated correctly. so while there were 2 recalls, they were for different parts of the assembly, and 2 drastically different issues.

You can make a locking pin for piece of mind. I like the wooden block idea too.

I use this combo as well. Both great IMO.

The daytona jacks from harbor freight are actually super nice.

https://www.harborfreight.com/3-ton-...red-57589.html

I got that one, overkill and kind of big to be honest. Knock off of a snap-on jack. But i bet it will last me forever. Has zerk fittings too for lubrication. It unfortunately does not fit my lowered ~1inch FR-S. But stock you'd be fine. As is i need to use ramps first (or 2x6's).

I had sworn off HF jacks since the last jack i bought puked it's hydaulic fluid everywhere on its first use, but i heard good things about these and they come with a standard 3 year warranty rather than the usual shitty 90 days. Aside from this, Costco would be a good option. They usually have a low profile jack you can order, and you can basically return it whenever you want when it pukes.

For jackstands i second everyone's recommendation, the esco's are great. 3 ton per stand, whereas some other jackstands rate their weight capacity in terms of pairs.

Will these fit under stock height BRZ and if I lowered with coilovers in the future too? Watched a few YouTube reviews and said they’ll go under SUVs easily but smaller cars no.

I'm not aware of any jack that will fit under any of the 3 front jacking points of a lowered 86 (even a mild drop like RCE Yellows) without driving the car onto blocks/ramps first.

I would be there is. I'm on RCE Yellows with a pretty large front lip (HT Autos) and I have a small low profile jack from HF that gets pretty close to reaching the front jack point. Seems like the only reason it can't get there is my large front lip getting in the way, but it's very close. A long low profile jack would do the trick likely, but I can't say for sure.

I could reach the front jack point on my frs with the low profile 3 ton jack from HF. My frs was lowered 0.8”-1.0” over the years.

I have the tom's style lip and as long as you're okay with bending it quite a bit, the long reach low pro HF jack will do the trick. That said, I'll push the car up ramps if I just need to reach the front. :D

Yeah I've still been trying to figure out my next step with that. Thought about buying some ramps. Thought about building some custom ones instead as well. Or just skip all that goodness and jump to buying a QuickJack (which if I remember correctly from your photos, you own one). I don't have a very even pavement currently until I move to a new home. So I've been thinking it through for a while without making any moves. Been sticking to the classic - jack up each side and stick a jack stand under it.

The quick jack slides right under even with the rubber pinch weld risers. The car could be lowered 2" and still accommodate the quick jack. Maybe a smidge more.

I’ve also seen the ESCO 3 ton Performance Shorty Style jack stands as well. The minimum/max clearance is 11”/17” compared to the standard ESCO 3 ton jack stands which have a min/max clearance of 13.2”/21.5”. I assume the shorty jack stands would be better for when I plan to lower my suspension to get rid of most of the wheel gap, but I still want comfortable clearance for when I go Stage 2 tune with UEL headers/new exhaust. Would I still be okay with the standard ESCO 3 ton jack stands?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ESCO-3-T...0499/306368900

I don't see how the suspension height is related to jack stand height. So long as you can lift the car high enough, use a jack stand for that height. For the sake of working under the car I would opt for the highest possible jack and jack stands.

The only impact of lowering the car is on which jacks can reach the lifting points, but that's easily solved with low ramps (one or two inches) that you roll you car onto before using the jack to raise it.

I have four 12 ton jack stands because I need the height for my jeep. Not even sure I can fit them under this car. I have a pair of old 3 ton jack stands from back in the day I use for the car. I've had my 2500 Diesel front axles on them, they're worthy for this car.

And yes, please do take safety seriously. My cousin was a heavy truck mechanic who in June had some sort of equipment failure and the rig came down and crushed him to death. Not making that up for affect, such a shame, good man.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries...ry?id=36081418

I use ramps for oil changes. I'm about to do my second, the first took well under 10 minutes.

I've never used a jack stand with a flat top. Do you still put this under the pinch weld jack point? Does it put extra stress on the pinch weld, or am I over thinking this?