Hi Folks,
I recently purchased a floor jack to jack up my 2003 Chevy Venture in order to get a jack stand under it. I wasn't sure where to put the jack to raise the car so I called an auto parts store where the worker told me that I can either put it at the base of the control arm or the thickened metal portion underneath the car that runs from front to back of which there are two on either side of the midline (which he said was some sort of support portion of the car). I opted for the second option and it worked fairly well - I heard some clicks and creaks and pops, but in general everything worked just fine and I got the jack stand on the side of the frame where the spare tire jack is supposed to fit. When I lowered the car everything looked fairly good, but I did notice that this 'thickened metal portion' was slightly bent at the position at which the jack raised the car. So my question is: does anyone see anything wrong with what I've done, with the clicks and pops, with the slight bending of this metal portion, with the placement of the jack stand at the 'spare tire' side of the frame, etc.?
Thanks for your help everyone.