Jacking up your Blackwing

[raptor5244]

My understanding is that the 5BW is good to go, you can use the same Camaro lift pads seen below. Great solution, they stay on the car all the time, used them on my Camaros. The issue is really with the 4BW that uses the Alpha 2 chassis. There are no permanent lift pads available on the market that will fit. I use this ZL1 pinch weld adapter with jack pad. It works ok in the rear pinch weld but it is very tight on the front and I wish there was a better solution for the 4BW, like there is on the Camaro/5BW. Furthermore, until I saw the post above from the service manual I had no idea where you should actually lift the car. You would think something like that would be posted in the standard user manual.

 

[Ergoc5]

Got feedback from ZL1 addons that there will be contact on inner rocker panels with some bending when the stealth pads are mounted....they left it up to the customer if they wanted to go with it or not. They confirmed some customers notch out the inner panel there while others won't want to do that. I may end up sending mine back and get a mag pad instead.

 

[jbawden]

I did a wheel off detail when I first picked up my 5 and just used a rubber pinch weld puck that I've had for years in the spots clearly intended as pinch weld lift points. Maybe there is a wide range of floor jack designs, but had zero issues or contact with the rocker trim.

Permanently installed lift adaptors aren't something I have a desire/need for (don't want to add more flying objects to motorcycles and others sharing the road with me) but the entire lift point area is plenty strong, so for a temporary lift point I think there might be some overthinking going on here.

 

[lantz]

Is the reason this topic is 10 pages is because some folks are trying to find lift points adaptors that touch both the pinch welded lip and the immediate body structure at the same time? Or is it you guys only want it to touch one or the other surface only?

Not for me. I could care less about whether the pinch weld is used or if there is a pinch weld adaptor or if there is another place on the car to use (like this CT4 it turns out). I just wanted to know where to put my jack to safely lift the car to change my wheels. And the owners manual doesn’t have a section on how to jack up a CT4!? Folks on here seemed to have suggested that because the car does not have a spare tire GM engineers were justified in not addressing the issue. The logic being - just use the fixaflat. But that’s ridiculous on a car that only comes with summer tires. You are expected to put winters on where temps go below 37 degrees Fahrenheit. It takes less than a hour to swap your wheels with a floor jack and hand tools - I’ve been doing it for 20 years on cars that came with summer tires - OG G35 Coupe 6MT, Audi S4 and BMW M2

 

[1BadTundra]

So where are we with the CT4 lift points? I used my Quickjacks during my oil change. For the front I lifted at the bolt head just outside of the plate with 2 holes punched out that everyone keeps posting. For the rear, I used what looked like the U channel from the control arm mounts. Is that wrong? I used the 3" rubber blocks that come with the jacks

 

[Dirkbg]

So where are we with the CT4 lift points? I used my Quickjacks during my oil change. For the front I lifted at the bolt head just outside of the plate with 2 holes punched out that everyone keeps posting. For the rear, I used what looked like the U channel from the control arm mounts. Is that wrong? I used the 3" rubber blocks that come with the jacks

Jacking up your Blackwing

So, not for nothing, what was the point of your post? There is no adaptor - that‘s the whole darn point! Point of the post was that people were fussing over using the pinch weld that has been the jacking point for years. I don't find it a big deal to get an adapter for use with a floor jack...

www.cadillacvnet.com

 

[OldGoat]

So next members that head out to Spring Mountain please bring this question up to crew there. I'm sure with the amount and frequency of tire changes done there that they would give some finality to this subject.
I look forward to hearing what they have to say.

 

[shbox]

So next members that head out to Spring Mountain please bring this question up to crew there. I'm sure with the amount and frequency of tire changes done there that they would give some finality to this subject.
I look forward to hearing what they have to say.

Maybe they should include a tour of the maintenance area in the package.

 

[MatthewAMEL]

Maybe they should include a tour of the maintenance area in the package.

They do that at Dirtfish. At the beginning of the 1st day, we get a tour of the MX facility.

Bet Spring Mtn uses 2-post lifts like any other pro shops. Pro shops/dealer don’t lift via welds.

 

[rubberduck]

Realistically this is something any competent Cadillac dealer should be able to address. Good luck with that.

 

[OldGoat]

Two words that are much easier to use in a sentence than find in real world. Competent dealer

 

[shbox]

Two words that are much easier to use in a sentence than find in real world. Competent dealer

Sadly accurate commentary on the current state of the industry.

 

[Ergoc5]

For those who got the Magpads from ZL1 Addons which one did you get? The 3" one or the universal 2" one? Thanks!

 

[Lithoss]

The jacking information from the CT4 service manual says:

Frame Contact Lift:

The vehicle should be lifted so that the hoist pads and or lift arms do not contact the rocker panel molding. The hoist pad must be located in the designated area. In the front location, place the lift pads on the rocker outer panel weld flange. In the rear location, place the lift pads on the rocker outer panel rear cradle brace. Care should be taken to ensure the hoist pad is inside the rocker panel molding cut out area (notch) to prevent damage to the vehicle.

Front Lift Pads
View attachment 17802
When lifting the vehicle with a frame-contact lift, position the pad as close as possible to the rocker molding cutout.

Rear Lift Pads
View attachment 17803
When lifting the vehicle with a frame-contact lift, cover the inner and outer edges of the rear suspension bracket (arrow). Use the cutout in the rocker molding to correctly position the pad for/aft. If you need to remove the rear suspension bracket, place a jack stand under area X. Raise the jack stand high enough to free the hoist pad from the rear suspension bracket for service.

Vehicle Jacking:

Caution: When you are jacking the vehicle at the front locations, be certain that the jack or the jack lift pad does not contact the front fascia, front fascia air dam, or the front fenders. If such contact occurs, vehicle damage may result. When jacking at selected front locations additional clearance may be required for the jacking points.

Note: When you are lifting a vehicle with a service jack, block the wheels at the opposite end from which you are lifting. Use jack stands to provide additional support.

Front of vehicle
View attachment 17806

When using a service jack under the front of the vehicle use one of the following locations:

Place the service jack pad in the same location as shown for the front lift pads or on the front center jack pad shown.

Rear of Vehicle

Note: Place jackstands ONLY under strong and stable vehicle structures.

Place the service jack pad in the same location as shown for the rear lift pads.

So I'm quickly closing on my 1500 mile oil change and trying to understand this thread. Thanks for sharing the above pictures but like others have said they're pretty weak.. Silly GM..

To confirm, for 4BW, the front jack location:

And rear:

If so... What a pain!

The front center location picture.... It looks nothing like mine does so I think I'm going to have to jack the sides to crawl under and really take a better look....

 

[Snowwolfe]

Oil changes - Race Ramps

 

[raptor5244]

So I'm quickly closing on my 1500 mile oil change and trying to understand this thread. Thanks for sharing the above pictures but like others have said they're pretty weak.. Silly GM..

To confirm, for 4BW, the front jack location:
View attachment 18014

And rear:
View attachment 18015

If so... What a pain!

The front center location picture.... It looks nothing like mine does so I think I'm going to have to jack the sides to crawl under and really take a better look....

My understanding that those locations are for when using a 4-post lift. I am not sure if you can put a regular jack there on those spots when you are not distributing the weight evenly but maybe others will chime in. I use the pinch weld with the ZL1 jack pad adapter to get some height to clear the rocker panels.

 

[Lithoss]

Oil changes - Race Ramps

Which model do you recommend?

 

[lantz]

The jacking information from the CT4 service manual says:

Frame Contact Lift:

The vehicle should be lifted so that the hoist pads and or lift arms do not contact the rocker panel molding. The hoist pad must be located in the designated area. In the front location, place the lift pads on the rocker outer panel weld flange. In the rear location, place the lift pads on the rocker outer panel rear cradle brace. Care should be taken to ensure the hoist pad is inside the rocker panel molding cut out area (notch) to prevent damage to the vehicle.

Front Lift Pads
View attachment 17802
When lifting the vehicle with a frame-contact lift, position the pad as close as possible to the rocker molding cutout.

Rear Lift Pads
View attachment 17803
When lifting the vehicle with a frame-contact lift, cover the inner and outer edges of the rear suspension bracket (arrow). Use the cutout in the rocker molding to correctly position the pad for/aft. If you need to remove the rear suspension bracket, place a jack stand under area X. Raise the jack stand high enough to free the hoist pad from the rear suspension bracket for service.

Vehicle Jacking:

Caution: When you are jacking the vehicle at the front locations, be certain that the jack or the jack lift pad does not contact the front fascia, front fascia air dam, or the front fenders. If such contact occurs, vehicle damage may result. When jacking at selected front locations additional clearance may be required for the jacking points.

Note: When you are lifting a vehicle with a service jack, block the wheels at the opposite end from which you are lifting. Use jack stands to provide additional support.

Front of vehicle
View attachment 17806

When using a service jack under the front of the vehicle use one of the following locations:

Place the service jack pad in the same location as shown for the front lift pads or on the front center jack pad shown.

Rear of Vehicle

Note: Place jackstands ONLY under strong and stable vehicle structures.

Place the service jack pad in the same location as shown for the rear lift pads.

That is not a pic of the underside of a 4BW. There is no cross member like that.

 

[lantz]

Dealer told me today that they bought some sort of ramps for jacking up 4BWs. It's so low that their standard four point lifts don't fit well under the car. Last time I was in, in order not to scratch the side skirts, I watched the tech jack up the car to get it on the lift! Not sure where he jacked up from. Somewhere under the front. I will be under my car again on Monday, so I will take pictures and let you all know if something got screwed up. I'll add it to my list of frustrations with a car that has 825 miles on the clock.

 

[raptor5244]

Which model do you recommend?

Race Ramps are the best. 67" are ideal but you could get away with the 56" model. You can get them in one piece or two piece.

67

Race Ramps XT ramps lift your car a full 10

www.raceramps.com

Speedway sells some bundles with wheel chocks.

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