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Toyota RAV4 Spare Tire Cover Noise

17 messages,  Last post on Jan 21, 2012 at 11:33 AM

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What is this discussion about? Toyota RAV4, Toyota, Exterior, SUV

Messages Page 3 of 3

#16 of 17 Leather/Vinyl spare tire cover by popparob

May 03, 2010 (5:45 pm)

I recently went to put the brand new spare on the front of our 2003 chili edition....the covewr was a pain to remove and after realizing the sparetire was a diffrerent make of tire .....cannot get it back on the tire no way no how...any ideas ...I almost gave my self a heart attack trying so long and so hard to get it to work

#17 of 17 Re: Leather/Vinyl spare tire cover [popparob] by chromehammer

Jan 21, 2012 (11:33 am)

Replying to: popparob (May 03, 2010 5:45 pm)
I have 2007 Rav4, the other day I put air in the spare as that needs to be done from time to time. I have the hard/soft spare tire cover and could not get it to go back on. It was 30 degrees and the wind was blowing so after fighting with it for 30 minutes I decided that it would wait for another day as the vinyl was very stiff and brittle. Today it is 43 degrees so a bit warmer but not warm enough to make the vinyl soft but nicer to work in. After doing battle for 30 minutes an idea came to mind, why not use a heat gun or a hand held hair drier to get it to soften. I had the cover part of the way on, to the point that it would not fall off, but could not get it to go all the way over the tire. I grabbed the heat gun and warmed a section about (1/3 of the circumference) of the cover to about 110 degrees (warm to touch) and found the vinyl had become pretty pliable, I was able to slide that section further on so I warmed another 1/3 of the cover and was able to get it to go all the way on. The bottom line is that the cover has to be warm ( 110 to 130 degrees) in order for the vinyl to be pliable enough to stretch over the tire, one other very important note is that you will need the gate open while you are doing this as you can not get to the bottom of the tire with it closed. If you live in a warm climate with lots of sunshine this may not be a problem for you but if you live in a climate that is cool and lots of cloud cover this is probably the best method to get that reinstalled.

Messages Page 3 of 3

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