A6 jacking point - pinch weld damaged

[MrNobody]

Hello @all,

I'm currently driving a Q5 3.0 TDI and looking for an A6 C7 as replacement.

Knowing that VW and Audi always had problems concerning corrosion at their jacking points I checked them at several cars. I was supprised that even with the plastic inserts the pinch weld behind the jacking point were slightly damaged at more than 1 car. Probably this is due to the reason, that the pinch weld is slightly lower thus the jack stand puts pressure on it. In consequence the protection gets squeezes a bit.

Since this place is the ideal surrounding for rust I fear problems in the future. Therefore I'm interested to understand, how the rocker panel is build up. On*the photo it seems that the pinch weld consists only of a single piece of metal since it is very thin. Or are there 2 pinch welds put together like a sandwhich?

I'm asking because the risk of expensive repairs whould be much lower if its just a single pinch weld. Humidity, salt and water could not creep in the pinch weld. Having rust in between you would never get rid if it again. With a single pinch weld it would be easy to clean the weld and seal it afterwards.

I added another picture for a better understanding. Variant 1 shows the rocker panel with a simple pinch weld, Variant 2 shows 2 pinch welds next to each other.
For sure my Da Vinci is not correct, I'm not a car engineer, but it might help to understand what I mean.
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​​​​​​Does anybody have a technical drawing showing the complete rocker* panel? Or a picure from the other side of the pinch weld?

Sorry for the german in the drawing but as explanation:
Wagenheberaufnahme=Jacking Point
Falz=Pinch Weld

[Crasher]

We have a couple of sets of jacking pads that are made from Hockey pucks with thick round plastic rod machined flat and then screwed and bonded on, these are inserted into the recess and they work very well even with a trolley jack, similar to below but there are lots of different versions on fleaBay.

[MrNobody]

Thanks, but do you have any info, how the pinch weld is build up. only one piece of metal or 2 layers like a sandwhich?

[A6S]

The c7 doesn’t/shouldn’t use a pinch weld jacking point. As crashed pointed out with his jack pad thing there’s an indentation along the sill where you use as a jacking point.
Maybe you are seeing damage cause people are jacking the cars at the wrong point not that the pinch welds are weak or anything like that. The a6 is a heavy car so jacking it using the wrong points will cause damage.

[Crasher]

The seam is spot welded and it is a three layer double box section assembly of inner sill, reinforcement diaphragm and outer sill PLUS jacking point area reinforcement elements, all that needs doing the it is the area cleaning up and re-sealing.