Upgrade your spare tire jack!

I had the misfortune of running over some construction debris in a work zone last week. Flattened two tires, dented a rim, borked the front suspension, the whole nine yards. Not fun.

When changing one of the tires, I used the spare jack to raise the car. In all their zeal to save weight / cost, Toyota provided a jack handle that has all the strength of a wire coat hanger. I bent the handle before the car even got off the ground.

Even better, Toyota failed to provide a wheel chock. My car fell off the jack stand since the e-brake does nothing to hold the car when the rear tire's been flattened.

PLEASE take a lesson from my misfortune and restock your spare kit... throw in a pair of wheel chocks ($9 at Harbor Freight) and an upgraded jack handle ($5 at your local junk yard) so you don't get stuck in a bad spot.

In other news, Toyota wants $410 for a new steel wheel. I found one from a Toyota wrecker, reconditioned, for only $160.

So... who wants to help me fix my front end?

This'll be my first go with the string method (ex: http://www.elantraclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15456). I'll take some pictures and put up a thread if folks are interested...