I thought I would just bring attention to this for when your vehicle has to be jacked / lifted by a garage or tyre fitting shop.
This specifically pertains to the 500X Cross Plus Off Road version. Same could apply to the City but as I don't have a City version I can really comment at this time.
I'll take this is three stages:
1) Roadside jacking with Fiat supplied jack. This should not be an issues because at long last Fiat have provided a little inverted triangle to show you where to place the supplied jack. If you now look closely underneath the sill you will seat a cut-out in the out sill plastic moulding to allow the head of the jack to slip into place and take the car load on *either* side of the *thin* sill vertical flange. Whilst looking *NOTE* that unlike many previous Fiat sill flanges there is no right angle bend to help strengthen and distribute the flange loading. This is *key*.
If you now look at the sill plastic mouldings then you will see that they attach to thin metal flaps on the vertical sill flange. You will also see that there is pure air and a good 1cm of space between the back of the plastic moulding and the true sill metal underside.
2) Typical tyre shop lifts. They use flat "bed" lifts and use rubber deforming lift blocks that are placed under the sills. If the fitter is not careful to actually inspect then these blocks will almost certain break the plastic sill trim and/or bend the support flange tabs.
3) Typical garage two post lifts. These have rubber covered height adjustable lift pads some 10cm in diameter. These lift pads are far wider than the sill trim cut-out slots mentioned in 1). There is no way they can safely (without damage/milder defoprmation/etc.) lift a 500X by placing the lift pads where the roadside wheel jack I placed. They could only do so if Fiat have supplied their dealers with and additional custom lift block to slot into the correct place.
Having inspected my 500X then I can see two front and two rear solid chassis member lift points (look like they were used the carry the chassis/car during manufacturing. However these are inboard with the rear ones be quit far forward. If they are use I can see no issues *UNLESS* the technician fails to wind the 2 post lift pad up a decent amount otherwise the lift arms will contact with the sill plastic trim and thin sill metal flange *before* the pads make contact with the lift points.
To say I'm having kittens over this would be an understatement due to seriously bad experience in the past.
I'll leave you all to review, inspect and come to your own conclusions / position but just though it was, IMHO, worth mentioning.
When I get a chance I'll speak to my Fiat dealer to see if they have any special instructions/guidance regarding safely lifting the 500X but from what I can see the traditional "kick the swing arms in" and lift along the sill line is going to be either a lottery or grief.
More to the point how many of you actual check you sill line, jack points, underside trim etc. after your vehicle has been jacked or lifted by another party?
This specifically pertains to the 500X Cross Plus Off Road version. Same could apply to the City but as I don't have a City version I can really comment at this time.
I'll take this is three stages:
1) Roadside jacking with Fiat supplied jack. This should not be an issues because at long last Fiat have provided a little inverted triangle to show you where to place the supplied jack. If you now look closely underneath the sill you will seat a cut-out in the out sill plastic moulding to allow the head of the jack to slip into place and take the car load on *either* side of the *thin* sill vertical flange. Whilst looking *NOTE* that unlike many previous Fiat sill flanges there is no right angle bend to help strengthen and distribute the flange loading. This is *key*.
If you now look at the sill plastic mouldings then you will see that they attach to thin metal flaps on the vertical sill flange. You will also see that there is pure air and a good 1cm of space between the back of the plastic moulding and the true sill metal underside.
2) Typical tyre shop lifts. They use flat "bed" lifts and use rubber deforming lift blocks that are placed under the sills. If the fitter is not careful to actually inspect then these blocks will almost certain break the plastic sill trim and/or bend the support flange tabs.
3) Typical garage two post lifts. These have rubber covered height adjustable lift pads some 10cm in diameter. These lift pads are far wider than the sill trim cut-out slots mentioned in 1). There is no way they can safely (without damage/milder defoprmation/etc.) lift a 500X by placing the lift pads where the roadside wheel jack I placed. They could only do so if Fiat have supplied their dealers with and additional custom lift block to slot into the correct place.
Having inspected my 500X then I can see two front and two rear solid chassis member lift points (look like they were used the carry the chassis/car during manufacturing. However these are inboard with the rear ones be quit far forward. If they are use I can see no issues *UNLESS* the technician fails to wind the 2 post lift pad up a decent amount otherwise the lift arms will contact with the sill plastic trim and thin sill metal flange *before* the pads make contact with the lift points.
To say I'm having kittens over this would be an understatement due to seriously bad experience in the past.
I'll leave you all to review, inspect and come to your own conclusions / position but just though it was, IMHO, worth mentioning.
When I get a chance I'll speak to my Fiat dealer to see if they have any special instructions/guidance regarding safely lifting the 500X but from what I can see the traditional "kick the swing arms in" and lift along the sill line is going to be either a lottery or grief.
More to the point how many of you actual check you sill line, jack points, underside trim etc. after your vehicle has been jacked or lifted by another party?
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