Frequently Asked Questions

No. A jack is a lifting device, not a support device — seals can pass, release valves can be nudged, and a jack on imperfect ground can shift. The weight goes onto jack stands and the car gets a firm push test before any part of you is underneath. See how to jack up a car safely.

Stands. You already own a lifting device: the scissor jack in your trunk. You own nothing that can safely support a car. That makes stands the first purchase even though it feels backwards. See the beginner tool kit.

Measure from level ground up to your manufacturer's lift point, then compare against the jack's published minimum height with about half an inch of margin — the jack has to roll in, not be dropped in. Minimum height is the spec that makes a jack useless, and it is the most commonly overlooked one. See best floor jacks.

Two ton is arithmetically plenty for one corner of a car — a typical sedan corner is around 1,000 lb against a 4,000 lb rating. We still suggest 3 ton, because within a manufacturer's range the higher-rated jack usually also lifts higher and flexes less. See the capacity guide.

It depends on the maker, and the listing frequently does not say. Torin quotes its T43002A as 3 ton per pair; ESCO quotes its 10498 as 3 ton per stand — the same headline number meaning half as much each. Read the figure on the stand itself and assume the lower interpretation if unclear. See jack stand weight ratings.

For oil changes and inspection, yes — ramps are faster and involve no load transfer. For anything that takes a wheel off, no: on ramps the wheel is what the car is standing on. See ramps vs jack stands.

Within their published rating, on flat clean solid ground, with the car secured and a rear wheel chocked — yes. The realistic failure modes are the ramp sliding as the tire meets it, and the car rolling backward off unchocked ramps. Both are preventable. See are car ramps safe.

No. Wood splits along the grain under a point load with little warning, and concrete masonry fractures with essentially none. Wood belongs under a stand's base to spread load on soft ground — never in place of the stand. See jack stands vs wood blocks.

A 1/2 in drive click wrench covering roughly 40-200 ft-lb. That brackets almost every passenger-car lug nut specification with the target mid-scale, which is where a click wrench is most dependable. See best torque wrenches.

To your vehicle's published figure. For context, Capri Tools publishes 70-100 ft-lb as typical for M12 x 1.5 — the most common passenger-car thread size — and 120-165 ft-lb for heavy-duty M14 x 2.0. Your manual overrides any chart. See the lug nut torque chart.

No. Published guidance states wheel torque specifications assume dry threads and cautions against lubricating threads or seats — lubrication changes the friction, so the same torque reading produces more clamping force than intended. See how to torque lug nuts.

It is published industry guidance — Alcoa and Continental both recommend a re-torque after roughly 50-100 miles, because the many mating surfaces in a wheel joint settle slightly and lose clamping force. It takes five minutes.

Not to specification — an impact wrench cannot measure torque. Use it to run nuts down if you have one, then finish with a hand torque wrench. See torque wrench vs impact wrench.

If the question is "why is my check engine light on", a cheap code reader does the whole job. If you plan rear brake work on a car with an electronic parking brake, you need a bidirectional tool and nothing less will do. See best OBD2 scanners.

Usually not. Basic readers cover engine and emissions only. Reading ABS or airbag codes generally requires an enhanced or all-system tool. See scanner vs code reader.

Not before you have recorded the codes and the freeze frame data, and not shortly before an emissions test — clearing resets the readiness monitors, which can fail you even with no faults stored. See how to clear a check engine light.

Because it has no live price feed, and a price recorded weeks ago is worse than no price — it is a number you might act on that is no longer true. Every price slot links to the current Amazon listing instead. See how we review.

Because we have no rating data source. Printing a rating we cannot verify would be inventing a number, and that is the one thing this site is built not to do.

No, and we say so on every page. There is no lab, no load testing to failure and no calibration bench. What we do is read published specifications, check them against the applicable safety standard, and publish the reasoning. See how we review.

Amazon Associates commission on qualifying purchases made through links here, at no extra cost to you. That is the only income. No brand pays for placement. See the affiliate disclosure.

Email contact@jackandtorque.com. Specification challenges get read first, and a factual error gets a visible dated correction on the page rather than a silent edit. See the editorial policy.