thurley

As much as I love my 05 Acura TL, on two occasions recently I had to change a flat tire on the road and had to use the OEM jack to do it. The jack is very hard ard to use, though it does work. When I have changed tires are home (switching to snows in the winter, for instance) I use my hydraulic jack and its easy to lift the car. But when I am forced to use the OEM jack and its lame cranking arrangement, the process is unnecessarily slow and irksome. I replaced the useless tire iron as soon as I saw it with a cross shaped tire iron, so I don't have a problem getting the nuts off, but I am still relying on the OEM jack when I need to change a tire on the road. I assume others have had this problem and would appreciate any suggestions on a good replacement jack that's reasonably compact. Thanks for any suggestions.

Tim in New York

cbptls

Agree 100% that the jack included with the car is useless.

I too use an hydraulic jack when at home to change/rotate my tires. However, it would be impractical to keep that thing in the trunk all the time.

A bottle jack is compact and would be easy to carry around. Or you call always call Acura Roadside Assistance and have them change the tire for you.

blkaspec

is there another option?

do they make an efficient, but small and portable, jack that we could throw in the trunk?

avs007

Sounds like a good suggestion, but make sure the bottle jack fits under your car. I bought a small/compact bottle jack, but had to return it because it wouldn't clear the side skirts of my car.

pekkieboyz

when rotating your tire, do we cross the back weeks to the front?

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

I dunno, I can jack up a car pretty fast with the OEM one, are you sure your using it correctly? It's pretty common that people mis use them.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

Depends if your tire is directional or not. Read the sidewall it will tell you. If it's directional then NO.

MWalsh9152

my jack shit the bed leaving me no choice but to use the factory one, and although it wasnt as easy as a floor jack it certainly isnt terrible

Bearcat94

I was thinking the same thing. It's certainly no contest v a floor jack, but if you rig it right, it's not bad in a pinch. Certainly no worse than most of the other OE jacks now-and-days.

thurley

Thanks for the replies. Since I started this thread I have purchased online a Torin Scissor Hydraulic 1,500 lb jack from Northern Tool. I looked about right and seemed pretty compact from the online photo. Might even fit where the OEM jack goes. I'll have it i a few days and post my views on how it performs.

Also, there was a question as to whether I was using the jack properly. I attaced the metal rod with the hook on the end to the jack and then fit the tire iron with the hole in the cneter over the end of the metal rod and used arrangement to turn the threaaded screw that raised the jack. I assume this was what's intended. Was I missing something? I found that arrangement pretty inefficient and the tire iron was always coming off the rod and the hook on the metal rod kept jamming on the jack. It works after a fashion, but makes a relatively simple job a real pain. It seems like something the French would design, not the Japanese.

Will Y.

Hey, it's the Italians that prefer designs of form over function; don't insult the French!

Yes, all the Honda jacks are similar- you should crank and extend the jack so it just fits under the car before putting the jack underneath the car. Otherwise, it takes forever to crank the jack up to meet the frame rails/notch. Once the jack meets the frame, it doesn't take more than four full turns to get the tire in the air, IIRC.

jmkiang

iTrader: (5)

Use the tire iron as a handle (like a Jack in the box handle). Hold the metal hook rod with a cloth and crank that bitch! You might look like an idiot but it works quick...

JnC

iTrader: (12)

I work on my cars all the time and the standard jack seem to do the job just fine

BukvaMan

i agree completly .... i dont know why some of you make suck a big deal