Mazda3 Jacking Points, Shocks and Struts Replacement

[yorch]

Hey everyone, this is my first post here and I’m looking for some guidance. I need to replace the shocks and struts on my 2019 Mazda3, 4th gen FWD hatch with the 2.5L non-turbo, front and rear.

My garage floor has a slight incline and I’m wondering if I can safely jack the car on the left side near the garage door as shown in the photo. My plan is to jack from that side, set jack stands at the pinch-weld jacking points by the wheels, leave the floor jack under the center jacking point as a backup, use wheel chocks on both sides of the wheels on the other side, and place the removed wheels under the car near the stands for extra safety.

Alternatively, am I overthinking this and can I do one wheel at a time, or is it better to lift both wheels on the same axle for strut and shock work since I keep seeing mixed opinions.

If lifting both is required, is there a safe rear center jacking point on the FWD model since it doesn’t have the AWD differential, and with the slight incline is my setup reasonable. Anyone with the same model who has dealt with this, I’d really appreciate any tips or recommendations. Thanks in advance.

 

[N7turbo]

Welcome to the forum.

Because you'll need to disconnect the sway bars and end links, you'll need both sides of the car equally lifted.

If you have 4 stands and want to do this safely, here is my procedure which I have used several times on my CX-5 and MX-5. The procedure is the same on both cars because I cannot jack from the front due to the low ride height of both cars.

1. Put car in Park and engage the Parking Brake. All 4 wheels should be locked, the front by the transmission and the rears by the EPB.
2. Jack from one of the rear pinch welds, place stand at front pinch weld on the same side.
3. Lower jack and repeat on the other side. You now have stands on both front pinch welds.
4. Jack from the rear differential or crossmember depending on FWD/AWD.
5. Place stands on both rear pinch welds.
6. If you need the car to be higher, jack the rear higher and raise both rear pinch weld stands.
7. Repeat up front to level the car, jacking from the front crossmember and raising the height of the front pinch weld stands.
8. The car is now on 4 stands at a workable height.

To get the car back on the ground, reverse the procedure. Raise the front and reduce the front stands to the lowest setting but keep them under the car.

Raise the rear and remove the rear pinch weld stands. Lower the rear.

Jack from each rear pinch weld to remove each front pinch weld stand, once per side.

If your jack can reach under the front of the car, you can skip jacking from the side and just do both fronts like you did both rears. Park + EPB + chocks, of course. But with the EPB, the rear wheels won't move. Only the front wheels will have a little bit of play due to the way the transmission parking pin engages.