So I've been all over the internet and I keep finding information that is close, but not quite what I need to know. Maybe I'm dumb for asking this question but I would rather be safe than sorry and not damage my car. Anyway, I have a 94 Civic Hatch that I just purchased. I need to take the wheels that are on the car off to have the new tires mounted, so I need to lift the whole car up on jackstands so i can take all 4 wheels off at once. I know where to jack up the car and where the side, front, and rear jack points are, but in terms of safely placing the jack stands on the side jack points, that's where my question comes in. My jack stands have deep grooves in them, so I place them where the pinch weld would go into the groove, then the surface of the car that is actually putting pressure onto the jackstand is the area around the pinch weld that sticks down. If i place the jackstand on the jack point with the groove in the jackstand perpendicular to the direction of the pinch weld, then the jack stand is putting pressure on only two small areas of the pinch weld and it doesnt seem like a sturdy enough situation. I've included a crudely drawn picture showing the two ways I could place the jack stand on the jack point area. Which way of placement is correct? Are my jackstand's grooves simply too deep? The sooner the answer the better. Thanks

 

if the car still has the original radiator support, jack the front up by the lift point underneath, in front of the AC condenser. Place 2 jacks on each side, behind the front 2 tires. As for the rear, place the floor jack under the center tow hook, in the middle of the tire well. Place 2 jack stands on each side as well, in front of the rear tires. Don't worry, the pinch welds wont be damage when you put the JS there. Those welds are better than most other cars with flimsy double-stamped welds

 

#2 is how you want the "cup" of the jack stand on the jack point on the sides of the car. #1 is extremely dangerous and unstable.

The thing I found is if your jack stand "cup" is a deep style the outer tips dig into the underside of the car.
I invested in shallower cup stands and that metal tab now sits on the lowest point of the jack stand cup.

Old ones were like this (great for rear differential axles and the like) bad for Honda jack points:





My new ones are like this, much better for the jack points: