Piggybacking on this thread...
I decided that I wanted a hard cover for the spare tire. I looked at a number of them online ranging in price from $90 and way on up. Since I have 4
LKQ auto recycling yards within a half hour's drive, I thought I'd go the used route. I included the link in case there's one or more near you and you catch the fever
.
These pick and pull yards have online stores and update their inventory DAILY, with multiple photos. They even give you the row and spot number where the junked vehicle is parked so you don't have to trudge through acres of the wrong car, just to find yours.
First, I tried to recall which vehicles had exterior mounted spares with hard covers. I searched for Toyota Rav 4's, Suzuki Grand Vitaras, Isuzu Troopers (even though they were larger tires) and Honda CR-V's.
I measured the diameter of my 14" tire (26") and then checked the tire size specs online for the 4 vehicles listed above. It happens that turn of the century SUV's came with smaller tires. The first one I found came off the 1999 Isuzu Trooper and was much larger than my spare tire but it was a two piece complete enclosure with a snap lock at the bottom. Only 11 bucks and SUPER easy to remove in the event of a flat or to service the spare but it blocked the 1950's rear baggage door, covered part of the tail/brake light and stuck out way too far on the side.
I would need to relocate the spare tire to the other side and get a new license plate holder with a light. Also, I would need to peel off the hard plastic ISUZU TROOPER letters and repaint it.
I set it aside and kept looking. My son-in-law is interested and his 2018 camper has larger tires which might work.
A few weeks later, a 1998 Honda CR-V hit one of the yards and I had time that morning to go check it out. When I got there, my heart sank as I saw the naked spare tire mounted on the rear hatch but then I looked around the corner and the cover was lying there in the mud!
Another eleven bucks and I had it on the spare with a fit like a glove. The color even matched the lower stripe on the 1950! I used a heat gun to very carefully remove the HONDA CR-V vinyl lettering.
It zips on pretty easily (though not correctly installed at the bottom in the above pic).
I ordered a
Solaris decal ($23) from ebay to fill the blank space above the 3 straight lines where the Honda decal used to live.
I'll do that when the weather warms up and spray on some 303 for the vinyl bits as well.
