UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

changing wheels just on the jack is ok (BUT unless VW have improved the quality of their bogstandard jack i would HIGHLY reccomend getting a 1.5ton, wide-based scissor-type from halfords/etc - the mk3 in particular is useless and downright dangerous) ...... though once you have the bad wheel off it is a good idea to chuck it beneath the metalwork under the nearest bumper to allow you at least those 5 inches or so of protection.

more more protracted work, axle stands or a ramp are better
(dislaimer: next bit is STUPID)

but can be fiddly if all you're doing is having a peek, and certainly so if you're leaving all 4 wheels on - i do find it quicker, as i trust my 3rd party jack, to put it up a modest distance and have the briefest possible look underneath required to see whats going on, eyes on the jack point at all times, and then get the hell out.

Standard VW jack's useless, if they're still using the same one that was standard in 1980's cars, which wouldn't suprise me.. perfectly adequate for changing a wheel once in the car's life, but using it more than a couple of times as I did before I laid hands on a trolley jack and it actually warps.. mine's distinctly rounder now than it should be. Wouldn't ever want to rely on it for anything more than a quick wheel change, certainly wouldn't stick my head under the car before I'd stuck bricks under it.
A car can do an awful lot of damage.. I spoke to a guy a while back who was an ex army mechanic - ex because he had a hydralic ramp fail on him and an MoD landrover brought down rather heavily on his head. Very, very lucky to survive with damage to his back and neck... certainly wouldn't ever want to risk the same happening to me, so I now use a decent trolley jack, ramps and axle stands and I give the car a good firm shove before I venture underneath it to make sure it's not going to fall off.

my standard issue jack is pretty solid, but it's still useless

went out and bought a new one not so much out of fear, as frustration - having tried to jack it up for some reason or other (AFTER having got stands), very wobbly, getting one stand under it, then starting to jack the other side up.... on a lake-flat car park.... and having the whole affair slowly start to lean drunkenly to one side, and then, before anything can be done about it, coming completely off the stand and jack (luckily all 4 wheels still on) and resting on the suspension at an entirely unnatural camber. Not doing my nerves, the paint, shape of chassis seam or underseal any favours at all.

this happened several times before the requisite braincells rubbed themselves together by the way

oh, and axle stands - about £3.99 a pair from Lidl, back in t'day (2002) - bloody bargain that but i understand that Aldi are currently doing them for about £5.99 ... barely more than the petrol spent parking in their jokey carparks. In other words - it's cheaper than a 70CL bottle of their rough vodka. Strong, easy to use.

Hard to describe where to put them, took a bit of trial and error, but most basically can be described as "lowest solid part of car", usually part of the non-springy suspension apparatus eg wishbone mounts at the front, torsion beam mounts at the rear.

Difficult to get very good elevation with such boggo kit (although I still havent explored the stands very maximum height - the jacks the problem), it's alright for sliding under on an £11 Aldi creeper (lower to the ground than anything from machine mart!) and having a go at awkward bolts, rusting sumps, loose gearbox linkages etc