I have a pair of 3 ton and a pair of 6 ton. I sometimes have trouble getting the car jacked up high enough to get the 6 ton stands under the rocker panels. Using pieces of industrial rubber over the "V" on the stand keeps it form scratching and seems to make it quite stable. I have a piece of I beam I use on the top of the saddle. I made a mistake and used a 4x4x8" the tall way and dropped my wife's Honda onto the jack, crunching the oil pan. I had jack stands under it at the time so it "caught" it on the way down. It's still up on the jack stands. One stupid mistake can cost a lot but jack stands are very safe. If you have (4) 6 ton jack stands holding up a 5000 lb car you have nothing to worry about. Always shake the car to see if you cna move it. IT should not budge. I tend to use extra jacks, wheels, I-beams and ramps for security.

__________________
Steve
1985 Mercedes 500SL Euro (Gray market)
1995 BMW 520i Euro (Gray market)
1992 BMW 525it Wagon
1994 Honda Del Sol Si

I have 4 Harbor Freight 6 ton jack stands and 4 sears 4 ton jack stands. I also have the Harbor freight long body hydraulic lift. That raises the car to 33 inches. I always put in 4 jack stands AND the hydraulic jack is left just touching the lift point. If one jack stand fails I still have 4 more balance points. but as I said I use 6 ton units. by using 4 stands the car can at times balance on 3 of the 4 stands. I use shims to make sure the load is distrubuted evenly. But the car will ballance on 3 of the 4 stands. so there is some saety there. but with the hydraulic jack in place I feel very safe.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=38847

Only with this hydraulic lift t get the car up high enough

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=42820

I have been happy with them.

the unit that you attach to your car and role the car on its side is used in car restoration a lot. I have seen them in a English web sites and a few Us sites.

http://www.accessiblesystems.com/etfiles/et02.htm

Whats happening to all the fluids while the car is on its side??????????
the fluids are vented, usually.

There are also Rotisseries for when the car is dissasembled.

http://www.accessiblesystems.com/bul/bul40.htm

Dave

__________________
1970 220D, owned 1980-1990
1980 240D, owned 1990-1992
1982 300TD, owned 1992-1993
1986 300SDL, owned 1993-2004
1999 E300, owned 1999-2003
1982 300TD, 213,880mi, owned since Nov 18, 1991- Aug 4, 2010 SOLD
1988 560SL, 100,000mi, owned since 1995
1965 Mustang Fastback Mileage Unknown(My sons)
1983 240D, 176,000mi (My daughers) owned since 2004
2007 Honda Accord EX-L I4 auto, the new daily driver
1985 300D 264,000mi Son's new daily driver.(sold)
2008 Hyundai Tiberon. Daughters new car