How to Make a New Spare Tire Cover Trunk Board

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Spare tire cover cracked

• Thread starter kyle_agronick
• Start date Nov 8, 2016

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  cover spare tire trunk

• Thread starter
• #1

When stuff falls down into the spare tire well in my trunk I've always just lifted the cover to get what fell down there. On every car I've hard this has not been a problem. On this car the cover feels like cardboard and made out of a very thin plastic. It is either for weight or cost savings. But honestly what would a sturdy one weigh? 2 pounds? With a small amount of weight on top of it it snapped by lifting it up. I'm really surprised at how low quality such a minor and simple part is. I love the car but this is one thing I don't like. I might need to look at getting another one and reinforcing it somehow. Is it that flimsy on the touring as well?

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• #2

When stuff falls down into the spare tire well in my trunk I've always just lifted the cover to get what fell down there. On every car I've hard this has not been a problem. On this car the cover feels like cardboard and made out of a very thin plastic. It is either for weight or cost savings. But honestly what would a sturdy one weigh? 2 pounds? With a small amount of weight on top of it it snapped by lifting it up. I'm really surprised at how low quality such a minor and simple part is. I love the car but this is one thing I don't like. I might need to look at getting another one and reinforcing it somehow. Is it that flimsy on the touring as well?

Did you ever find a solution? I hate this flimsy thing too. I have the sport touring and can't believe how crappy the cover is compared to how truly awesome the rest of the car is.

• #3

Did you ever find a solution? I hate this flimsy thing too. I have the sport touring and can't believe how crappy the cover is compared to how truly awesome the rest of the car is.

I agree that the covers these days aren't as strong as they used to be.

I can offer a suggestion from the past.

My recollection is that these covers were made of a product called Masonite hardboard. This is the stuff that you would use to make a pegboard with to hang carpentry tools on the wall of your garage/workshop (except without the holes). You could buy a sheet of this, put your Honda cover on it for a tracing template, then use something like a scroll saw to trim away the excess.

Keep in mind that Masonite hardboard isn't water resistant. If you have a spill in your trunk, the board will absorb some of it.

Another suggestion would be lexan. More expensive material and more difficult to cut, but also stronger.

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• #4

For my EK Civic, with a full sized spare, I used the original cover as a mold and laid fiberglass roving and semi-flexible resin on it. I built it up a bit less than a quarter of an inch. Once dry, I used a jigsaw to cut it to size. This is the 15 year old product.

Since the 2016 Civic's cover is flat, any flat surface with mold release compound will do.

The first piece I made was too thin and flexed too much. That became trash. I repeated with more layers on sections that have no bottom support. Get an appropriate mask for the job because of the fumes and fiberglass particles.

That thing as been in my car for over 15 years and still going strong.

It's messy, itchy and smells but lasts a lifetime and better than stock.

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• #5

The molded styrofoam tool holder that sits down inside the spare tire sits flush under the center of the cover to support weight on it. It's not going to collapse from anything sitting on it. It might bend/break if you try to lift it up with something heavy on it, but that's a pretty easy problem to avoid.

It's pretty tough, though. I had my spare tire out for a while so there was no support under the cover, and slowly over a few months it started bowing in from my 12" subwoofer sitting on top of it. And a few weeks ago I had that plus six one-gallon jugs of bleach sitting on top of it and it was still ok.

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How to Make a New Spare Tire Cover Trunk Board

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