# Atlas Jack Pad Location?



## Savvv (Apr 22, 2009)

All this damn plastic underneath doesn’t leave a lot of options to place jack stands. I am using one of those jack pad adapters from ECS for the floor jack on the punch weld, but once the front is up, there’s no place to leave the stands. See photo below. Would this be a hole similar to the older cars that had rubber jack pad adapters that pushed into the unibody?










If not, what are some of you doing different?

There’s plenty of exposure in the rear for a jack stand to be placed under a subframe bolt, so at least we have that covered.


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## Savvv (Apr 22, 2009)

Bueller


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## mhjett (Oct 16, 2000)

I've been wondering the same thing, just never got around to posting about it. 

The huge front belly pan covers the subframe so you don't have that as an easy spot for jack stands. Like you said, once you put a floor jack at the factory lift point, there's not much left for the stands -- at least in front. When I rotated tires, I put stands under the front subframe but I had the belly pan off already for an oil change. 

Curious to hear what others are doing.


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## Savvv (Apr 22, 2009)

Let me preface this post by saying: BOOM goes the dynamite. 

I bought this kit from ECS a few weeks ago in hopes that it would work for the next time I had to rotate tires. 

 https://www.ecstuning.com/b-assembled-by-ecs-parts/jack-pad-adapter-kit/ecs10724kt/

These were out back in the ol Mk4 days and turns out they freakin work on the Atlas too. See photos below:

The kit comes with an aluminum plate to use on your jack or jack stand. It doesn’t stay attached to the car, just the other two pieces. 










You simply stack the items like shown, and then the jack and weight of the car do the rest. 










Here is the front hole to use on both driver and passenger side. 










Here’s a shot of the pad installed with a jack stand holding up the car. Turns out the aluminum adapter plate will center itself on these jack stands and I’ll probably use it next time to prevent the stand from damaging the hard plastic piece. 










For the rear holes, they are a little more forward from where the rear pinch welds are. Here’s the passenger side, which will have a black plastic plug you pull out. 




























And the driver side has a rectangular plastic shield covering its hole. Once you pull the cover off the hole is there to use. However, the cover won’t fit back on with the jack pad installed. I may try to cut a round hole out of the cover so that it can snap back in place. 










I tested these pads out as jack stand locations as well as using them as jack points and no issues either way. I typically will use the slotted hockey puck to jack the car up by the pinch welds and then place the jackstands under these pads. For anyone planning on doing their own oil changes or tire rotations etc etc these are a must have for the Atlas. 

Someone tell a Mod to put this in the FAQ, and someone else tell ECS to refund me for my order. :laugh: Cheers!


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## A4MOS19 (Oct 2, 2018)

Great info and nice find *Savvv*,

I too was struggling with jack points vs jack stand locations. Think this will work perfectly for my needs, especially for tire rotations. I'm using Rhino ramps for the oil changes, and these work great as well.

Thanks!


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## mhjett (Oct 16, 2000)

Interesting idea -- I remember these ECS kits from back when they came out. 

I think those four mounting points are what they use with the four-post assembly line lifts at the factory. 

You didn't notice any deformation or anything when you let the full weight of the car rest on the jack stands, did you? I remember this thread from way back, for what it's worth, there's a couple comments about that possibility but I have no idea if that's a legit concern. The Atlas is one heavy beast, so I'd want to be sure these lifting points are beefy enough. If so, this is a great solution. 

https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5110208-Do-These-Jack-Pad-Adapters-From-ECS-Really-Work


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## Savvv (Apr 22, 2009)

mhjett said:


> Interesting idea -- I remember these ECS kits from back when they came out.
> 
> I think those four mounting points are what they use with the four-post assembly line lifts at the factory.
> 
> ...


I didn’t notice anything unusual. Like I said my plan is to utilize the pinch welds for lifting and these pads for the jack stands. Beats the hell out of getting all the plastic off to find a subframe bolt to get the stand on.


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## Philly! (9 mo ago)

Ok. Now I really hope this works for my Atlas. This post really gased me up as far as a solution to change my own tires and do oil changes. As mentioned there is all plastic underneath the VW atlas - so no chassis jack points. 

I ordered from ECS Tuning. They advertise free shipping. 
But that's NOT in Canada. If live in the Toronto area it's gonna cost you $45 in shipping. Half the cost of the frigging product. Then, you've got the exchange rate and the bank conversion fee. That's $175.00 CAD total. Thheeeennnnnnnn, you've got import fees because they use UPS and it's coming into Canada from the US. That's $25 that must be paid. 

This jack kit costs $200CAD total after everything. And I hope it actually works, because it wouldn't be worth me paying to send it back for refund.


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## chrisccarrero (5 mo ago)

Let us know how it works for you!!


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## Philly! (9 mo ago)

chrisccarrero said:


> Let us know how it works for you!!


I do worry about the bending of the frame with these adapters, now that I am noticing the debate. 
🤔


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## speed51133! (Aug 5, 2002)

I put these on my atlas some time ago. They work. No idea if the unibody is meant to support weight there, but it works.


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## Philly! (9 mo ago)

So I got the parts today, and got under the vehicle to pop these bad boys in, but seem to be having trouble getting them to pop in? It's just really tight! 

Does anyone have advice on how to get the grommets in? 

For clarity I am just trying to pop in the snubber grommet first, and then plan to follow up with the snubber after. 
I am also laying down on the ground to get under the vehicle. Mentioning this to illustrate the lack of serious muscle availability for leverage.


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## bboshart (Aug 6, 2012)

Philly! said:


> So I got the parts today, and got under the vehicle to pop these bad boys in, but seem to be having trouble getting them to pop in? It's just really tight!
> 
> Does anyone have advice on how to get the grommets in?
> 
> ...


In a different VW thread I believe they used the jack to push it in, plus some lube to help.


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## Kushdaiin (Feb 24, 2012)

I just used the jack on my golfs. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Philly! (9 mo ago)

Kushdaiin said:


> I just used the jack on my golfs.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Did you just use the jack on the grommet? Or did you insert the snubber into the grommet before pushing the jack up on it?


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## Kushdaiin (Feb 24, 2012)

I inserted the snubber in the rubber grommet and then pushed it in. 


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## Philly! (9 mo ago)

Hey guys,

Grommets and Snubbers are now installed.
For those interested in doing this correctly from the comfort of your driveway, I lubricated the grommet rim alone with wd40 and pushed it up into the hole using a jack. I jacked it up to the point when I was lifting the car off the ground a bit. Then I let it down. You'll see that the grommet might not be fully inserted into the hole just yet. For this you can either try giving it one last shove with the hands and fingers, or you can now insert the snubber using the jack again. This will lock the snubber in place and the grommet is now secure.

Good luck guys, and be safe.
Thanks for all the help guys.


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## Chewbacka (Nov 9, 2020)

Just wanted to bump this, because I just installed this kit and can confirm that it's the holy grail of safely lifting this beast!

I tried the ole jacking up the back to put stands in the front but my two jacks were too short to get the front high enough (2 ton Pittsburgh racing aluminum (16") and 2 ton craftsman (19"), ended up buying a Daytona Super Duty to get up to 23 1/8" which ended up being good enough for that method, but only gets the front on stands.

The rear jack pad points are kind of in the center behind the drivers door. They are surrounded by plastic on the passenger side, I had to use my smaller Pittsburgh Racing jack to install it.

ECS recommends using their plate and your floor jack to lift the car from the pads and then put the jack stands under the pinch welds I think either way is fine if you're careful and use rubber covers on your jack stands.

If you're on the fence and interested in watching these get installed:


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