Spare Tire Cover

We've got a 94 Isuzu Trooper...a while back we had a flat tire, and my wife tore up the old spare tire cover getting it off to get to the spare. Seems like those things shrink with time and if you don't tear it up, you're lucky to even get it back on after it's all over with. Anyway, I'm leaning towards just trying to find one of the hard-shell covers like our 2002 has. Does anyone have a good source to purchase such a part? Or maybe someone has one laying around they'd like to get rid of? Preferably in that silvery-gold color? :-)

Thanks,

Wesley

Reply to
Wesley
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We have a 1992 and a 2002 Trooper. I used the spare one time on my 1992 and never was able to get the cover back on it, due to shrinkage. So I just left it off and think it looks kinda cool like that. I do have a nice white letter Michelin on there, which helps. Having the 2002 makes me yearn for one of the newer style hard covers, but they are pricey. I've seen them on eBay for around $200 and I think they are about $500-600 if you buy one from the dealer.

For a Trooper that old, why worry about the spare tire cover?

Regards, Eric

Reply to
Eric

I'm kind leaning that way...I'd just like to protect the tire, so that it's in decent shape should it ever be needed again. I called the local Isuzu dealership and talked prices...it was about $200 for the outer shell (unpainted) and another $75 for the inner part. Found St. Charles Isuzu on the web (very helpful, and gave a 15% off list discount) and they gave those as list prices, and knocked off 15%...but they also talked about the letter kit (another $40) that you put on after you paint it to match your Trooper. I passed... They quoted me a price of like $66 for the original vinyl type one, and I may yet go that route, we'll see. The guy on the phone mentioned that after Isuzu stopped importing Troopers there was a stock of the hard covers that they started selling off at a pretty good price (compared to current) and were already painted, but those are all long gone now. Apparently the Troopers came into the US w/o the tire covers and they were put on when they got here. An interesting thing about our 2002 Trooper is that it doesn't have the lettering on the wheel cover. Don't know, but maybe it has to do with how late it came into the country...I think if memory serves, that the import date was like August-October of 2002, and we bought it new in April of 03. Who knows...but the one thing I do know, is I won't be buying a new hard-sheel cover for the 94... :-)

Wesley

Reply to
Wesley

But aren't you supposed to rotate the tires every 10,000-km?

Reply to
tourist

nobody rotates spares anymore,most are undersized temps too,but these are not only full size spares but have an alloy wheel too,....for as short as the vechicle is going to last at this point,get a vinyl one from jc whitney or e-bay and save some money.up to you. good luck

Reply to
RLGIRSCH

And beside, the hard cover is too heavy imo and I wouldn't want extra stress on the door hinge when I hit the rough road. My 2 cts.

Over here, vinyl/plastic/fabric ones cost less then US$20 apiece I think.

Reply to
tourist

You mention rotating...but typically in my experience, folks just rotate front to back or crossways depending on the vehicle. I thought about using the brand-new looking spare when the tire blew, but at 10-years old, I didn't trust that it would last as long as the other tires...

Good thought about the hard cover weight...though I wouldn't think it would make too much of a difference as heavy as the tire is to begin with...?

Wesley

Reply to
Wesley

As I mentioned in the other posting, the previous model Isuzu Trooper with the 2.8TD engine has weak rear door hinge. Seen too many sagging rear door and the tire hanging onto it didn't help matter. I checked. 90% of those Trooper I came across has sagging rear hinge door. So I didn't want to risk it with my 1997 when I bought it new in 1999 brand new.

As for tire rotating. I follow the manual rotation pattern and ues all 5 tires. Been doing it for decades. Not using the "brand-new" tires is wasteful to me and unsafe when you have to use it as you mentioned.

Reply to
tourist

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