After loosening the lugs on one particular wheel, the lack of jack stands created a dangerous situation.

Using solely the scissor jack from the trunk, Carlson cranked the car in the air and started to remove the wheels. According to Carlson, he had purchased a set of new BBS wheels for his wife’s VW Jetta, and was excited to swap them over.

Home mechanic David Carlson can back up Bevacqua’s words, having previously experienced an unfortunate jack-related accident in his garage. If you’re going to have more than one wheel off of the ground, it's very important to have more than one jack stand under there.” “That’s a major safety risk you’re taking, and one that has dire consequences. “A mistake a lot of people make is thinking that just using a floor jack alone is acceptable,” ASE Certified master technician Mia Bevacqua, who also serves as the chief mechanic and technical writer for, told R&T. Like the folks who continue to do this, I’m lucky nothing bad ever happened. I too have even been guilty of this lackadaisical approach before, particularly when a repair needed to happen immediately. When it comes to safety, those are non-starters. We’ve all seen someone working on a car as it sits up on chunks of wood, concrete blocks, or on a floor jack alone. For the other half, you need jack stands. That floor jack might get your ride off the ground with ease, but that’s only half of the equation.

If you’re not fortunate enough to have access to a hydraulic lift, this means busting out a floor jack. Whether it's upgrading shocks or simply swapping wheels, a lot of the work enthusiasts perform on their cars begins by getting the vehicle off of the ground.

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