Jack points

2006 Impreza, I have read he Haynes repair manual, looked online, YouTube, whatever, can't find where to actually jack the car up. Haynes says the 'front' and 'rear' jack point is on the rocker panel, so do I jack one side up at a time? As in jack the front left, place jack stand, jack front right, place jack stand? That sounds like the stupidest idea I've read in a while unless I'm just reading this wrong. Not to mention that it says to place it under the pinch on the rocker... So that's why I have horribly mangled pinches on both sides of my car because it's supposed to be jacked there... Who thought this up?

I'm frustrated because I just want to replace my rusty lugs and I can't even figure this out.

 

I jack the front on a plate that's right under the steering rack. You'll see it. Right in the center between the motor and tranny roughly. Has 4 bolt heads sticking out.

In the rear I jack right under the diff.

For stands I put my front ones right at the end of the "u-brace", just behind the front wheels. In the rear I put them on the little pad looking area that the rear trailing arms connect to, which is just in front of the rear wheels.

Only "issues" I've ever had are the front u-brace kinda bent in in the front from holding the weight there, but it's frame rail right above it, so it's not going anywhere. Plus almost everybody says that thing is mostly cosmetic and is really only there for US crash safety or something. Anywho, you'll find a solid place under there once it's up in the air.

 

Factory jack fits the pinch joint... I use a 3 ton floor jack on the plate to the rear of the oil pan for the front, and the rear diff for the rear.

 

Got it! Thank you everyone. Lugs are replaced and some rust brushed off. However, the entire underside is rust, the first real look under the car. I'm going to take some pics and make a post in a few days about it. It's bothering me that there's no way to clean it aside from just replacing everything but I'm wondering if I should be concerned about the level of rust. I know it's MN, but this is rough. I just hope I can get the caliper bolts off when I go to do the brakes in a few days.

 

Speaking of rust, the 2006 is under a recall campaign for control arms rusting through. Might want to check to see if that's been performed. They'll either replace them or coat them.

This is MN so expect lots of surface rust.

I just did my front brakes on my 2006 with plenty of rust on the bolts. Soak them in PB Blaster for a couple days.

 

Thanks for the pics, this really helps the people asking this question, especially the front point. And for those that might look down on jacking on the rear diff, I have done this on every vehicle I have ever owned over 42 years (many of those years with Subarus) and have never had an issue.

 

It's in the service manual too, for both old and newer Subarus, so it truly should not be a problem. I always use a block of wood on the rear diff so I'm not gouging the case.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the recall, I'll definitely look into that. I had the dealer in Bloomington do all the recall work that was still open on the car (had numerous still needed so the previous owner really took care of it). I'm curious if this was done. Also, you know any way to clean up rusty bolts? I don't have a bench grinder or nothing but I've seen some stuff on soaking em in apple cider vinegar.

 

Talking about the threads, I assume?

I use a wire wheel in my die grinder. If you don't have a grinder, a drill mounted one works pretty good as well. If it's a small bolt and my fingers are in danger I'll lock the head into a vise grip to hold it.

 

I want to replace everything but I just have so much to fix so I'm trying to work with what I have as much as possible. My wheel liners are chewed up in the front, that alone is about $80 with some of the clips. I've got 10 little things like that too, floor mats, new shifter boot (with plastic ring), new key made ($90). I've kind of been forced to pick and choose my battles with this car.

 

My 07 was recalled for the control arms too but they just coated mine. Probably because it was a Georgia car its whole life except 2 winters.