Introduction: How to Make a Replacement Spare Tire Cover

By

My old spare tire cover was made of compressed cardboard and 26 years old. Not a good combination. So I decided to fix that. This tutorial will be for a 94'-01' Acura Integra spare tire cover, but you can apply the same principles to other cars as well.

Supplies

- Scrap mdf, plywood, sheetwood, etc.

- Paint

- Sand paper

- Jigsaw

- A sharpie

Step 1: Finding Yourself Some Old Wood

You can find scrap wood in a number of places. Home Depot and Lowe's, for example, have a scrap wood section in the back of the store where you could possibly find some cut plywood. I decided to pick some up from my Dad's shop. He happen to have a large piece of scrap wood laying around the office, so we used that. I layed the old cover on top to make sure it would be big enough.

Step 2: Cutting the Wood to Size

Find yourself some sort of cutting device and cut the wood into the rough shape of the cover.

Step 3: Tracing

After you cut the wood to a rough size, take the old cover and trace around it with a sharpie to get a outline so you can use a jigsaw to cut it out.

Step 4: Cutting It Out

Now that you have a line to cut off of, you can use a jigsaw or some type of saw to cut out the shape. Get as close to the line as possible to save yourself time with sanding or more trimming of the edges.

Step 5: Sanding

Start off with some heavier grit sand paper to get rid of all the slivers and rough spots in the wood. I started off with 60 grit, went to 150, then 220 to finish it off.

Step 6: Painting (optional)

I would reccomend painting it just to keep the elements out a bit more, but if you like the wood grain look, more power to you. Before painting, make sure to get as much sawdust off the wood as possible. I reccomend a roller but you can do it with a normal brush as well.

Step 7: Let the Paint Dry Then Slap It in the Trunk

After the paint has dried, if you are not satisfied with some of the imperfections left from the paint, give it a light sanding with some light sand paper. After that though, you're done. Put it in the trunk and off you go.