Hi everyone,

hope it's ok to ask a question as a new member.

My wife has burst a rear shock absorber on her 2014 Mazda 2. I've never worked on a Mazda before and there doesn't seem to be a Haynes manual to help.

The shock absorber replacement doesn't look too bad but I've been under the car and searched the internet all day and can't decide the best place to position my trolley jack.

The car only has the air compressor for punctures so I don't have a scissor jack for the sill and I'm not keen to place a trolley jack there.

It seems that alot of people raise their cars on the rear suspension beam but I always thought that could do damage and I need to have the suspension dropped anyway.

I noticed when I was under the car that there is a fairly substantial looking bracket just inboard of the sill jacking point. It looks like a corner bracket. It has 2 fairly large bolts connecting it to the suspension beam mounting (near the bushing) and at least one more that I can see that connects it to the chassis rail.

I was thinking of putting a small block of wood on this bracket to spread the load and jacking on the wood. Does anyone know if this area is strong enough?

Thanks for reading this and any advice is much appreciated!