[mbeezy13]

Hi all, this is our first BMW (my wife's car) so i have a couple basic questions that are not really clear to me after looking through the manual.

1) Do i need jack pads to change wheels on this car? Or does it have just a traditional pinch welds for jack points? (Rivian and etron GT in my garage both require specific jack adaptors)

2) Does the software have a kind of "tire change mode"? On cars i've had previously with air suspensions, you have to tell the car you are going to change a wheel so it doesn't adjust the suspension while you are working on it.

I have a set of winter tires and rims mounted/balanced ready to go in my garage for this car, just wanted to clear up a couple things first.

Thank you!

[jad03060]

There are rectangular (plastic) pockets that accept a jack pad. The typical ones are a round puck for the jack, with a matching rectangular block that fits into the hole, and ideally, bottoms out against the body at the bottom. It isn't hard to crack the socket if you do not use a properly shaped pad.

While you don't have to disable the air suspension, if you hold the adjustment lever at one extreme for about 7-seconds, it disables it from trying to adjust. That's covered in the manual.

If you do end up cracking the jack socket, they pry out, and a new one can be installed easily. You'd probably need a big flat-blade to get under an edge to pry it out. If your jack has a good rubber pad, and doesn't lift at an angle, you might not crack the thing, but it's better to have one. This is a nice one that would last you forever. https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-part...pter/ecs10721/ There are some much less expensive plastic ones...I don't know how robust they are. SOmeone may have used them, and can comment. I've had the predecessor to the ECS Tuning one now through 3-BMWs that got regular winter/summer tire swaps, so used often seasonally.

[Qsilver7]

Remember that there’s an owners manual built into iDrive, too. And it has a keyword search feature so you can probably just put in JACK or LIFT to get the info about raising the car.

There are 4 rubber jack pads in the frame that runs between the front and rear tires. Shouldn’t be hard to see/feel them…that is where you lift from the sides. They are #1 & #2 in the diagram below:



As mentioned above, lifting with air suspension shouldn’t be hard to do…and if there’s a procedure you should follow…it will be in the owners manual (paper version and digital version in iDrive).

I’ve had three BMWs that had air suspension (e32, e39 & e53) and there was nothing required to lift the vehicle (back then). The system had auto features that kicked in and would prevent the suspension from activating if the vehicle detected it was being lifted. But check your owners manual in case things have changed on these modern BMWs.

If you have a trolley jack…you can lift the entire axle using one of the center jacking location below the engine bay or the rear diff. If you do left an entire axle…REMEMBER to CHOCK the other axle that is still on the ground to prevent the vehicle from rolling fore/aft…especially if lifting the rear axle because there’s no parking brake or transmission park pawl to offer any rolling resistance.

[mbeezy13]

thanks for all the info guys.

I finally got home and took a look under. Yup, has those rectangular jack pad slots. Fortunately they are the same exact shape as the jack pads for my etron GT. Appreciate the help

[eelnoraa]

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

Remember that there’s an owners manual built into iDrive, too. And it has a keyword search feature so you can probably just put in JACK or LIFT to get the info about raising the car.

There are 4 rubber jack pads in the frame that runs between the front and rear tires. Shouldn’t be hard to see/feel them…that is where you lift from the sides. They are #1 & #2 in the diagram below:



As mentioned above, lifting with air suspension shouldn’t be hard to do…and if there’s a procedure you should follow…it will be in the owners manual (paper version and digital version in iDrive).

I’ve had three BMWs that had air suspension (e32, e39 & e53) and there was nothing required to lift the vehicle (back then). The system had auto features that kicked in and would prevent the suspension from activating if the vehicle detected it was being lifted. But check your owners manual in case things have changed on these modern BMWs.

If you have a trolley jack…you can lift the entire axle using one of the center jacking location below the engine bay or the rear diff. If you do left an entire axle…REMEMBER to CHOCK the other axle that is still on the ground to prevent the vehicle from rolling fore/aft…especially if lifting the rear axle because there’s no parking brake or transmission park pawl to offer any rolling resistance.

wow, serious great info. I have been using #1 and #3 all the time, on X5 and other cars for a long time I have never seen document saying that is OK, they just look like a good solid jack point. Good to have confirmation.

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by eelnoraa

wow, serious great info. I have been using #1 and #3 all the time, on X5 and other cars for a long time I have never seen document saying that is OK, they just look like a good solid jack point. Good to have confirmation.

…the rear diff jacking location has been a long debate…but as you can see…BMW suggests this area…but with a caution…DO NOT LIFT W/JACK BELOW THE REAR DIFF COVER. Just be sure to place the jack pad below the diff without putting any weight on the rear diff’s cover.

And if you look at the rear subframe…you can see how it is designed to distribute the weight really well if you lift from directly below the rear diff.