Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Wheel Skins: How did they do that?
The steering wheel on the Civic is not in the best of shape. I had put a cheap parts store steering wheel cover on it, but that's falling apart now. So I decided that rather than buying a new wheel, I'd get a good quality cover. I'd heard good things about the leather covers from Wheel Skins (actually, one of their resellers, who had it drop shipped). So I ordered one of their covers last Saturday. It arrived today.
What really shocked me? This was a custom cover! Or at least it would seem to be, as it's a two tone cover, and you can pick out the separate colors, the size, which of the sections have perforations and which ones don't, etc. It seems like there are too many combinations for a company to keep these in stock. Or are they? Wheel Skins shipped this out on Monday, the next business day after I ordered. I'm wondering how they pulled that off. I can think of a few possibilities.
What really shocked me? This was a custom cover! Or at least it would seem to be, as it's a two tone cover, and you can pick out the separate colors, the size, which of the sections have perforations and which ones don't, etc. It seems like there are too many combinations for a company to keep these in stock. Or are they? Wheel Skins shipped this out on Monday, the next business day after I ordered. I'm wondering how they pulled that off. I can think of a few possibilities.
- I was lucky and they had that exact size, color combination, and perforations on the shelf, ready to ship.
- Wheel Skins keeps almost every combination that you could order in stock and ready to go.
- The steering wheel covers are cut to length and stitched together as soon as they get the order, and they're just very fast about it. Gives "just in time manufacturing" a whole new meaning.
Labels: Civic
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Using cookware on project cars
Here's a tip if you need some cheap circular covers, heat shields, or similar items for your project car: Go to Wal-Mart, Goodwill, or other places that have really cheap cookware, and get your imagination going! Here's a couple good examples. First, we have MAZMAN of SupraForums.com showing how to make a turbo heat shield out of a cheap cooking pot. Next, check out the crew at New Hemi Racing as they fill their speaker holes and cover their steering column with $6.50 of goodies from Goodwill. Both projects turned out to look a lot better than they sound - you'll have to see the results for yourself.
Labels: Junkyard Scavenging, Tech Tips
