Cal Club Autocross Forums

Hi everyone,

I was set on making a set of these and my understanding is that they are made from duct insulation? But when I sent to Lowe's and Home Depot, all I could find was foil insulation with messy fiberglass sandwiched in between instead of the bubble-wrap type material.

Does anyone know where to buy the correct insulation material to make these? Alternatively, does anybody have a set for sale or is willing to make them for a set of 15" wheels? Please PM me the asking price if you do. Thank you!

I don't know if it would work for custom made tire blankets, but when I've needed that material, I just went to Walmart and bought the biggest cheap windshield sunshades they had. Cut it up with scissors for my custom application, and then trimmed the edges with high quality black cloth "gaffer" tape.

Not exactly this, but something like this (I just bought the cheapest "Jumbo" sized ones in the store):
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Motor-Trend- ... g/50136189

In my case, I was stuck parking my car in the sun for a few weeks a few summers back, so I made my own custom window shades for all of my car windows. I don't know if you've ever flown in like a small Cessna or Piper, but most little planes have custom cut window shades out of that same basic material that fit snug in each window and really do block out the sun. I basically copied that concept, and when all the shades are installed, it is actually very dark in the car.

Just a thought for ya if you're trying to do something on your own. I think the in store large size windshield sunshade is like $5. You could put together a prototype (or maybe 2) for $10. Although, real nice high quality gaffer tape isn't cheap (like $18 per roll: https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Grade-Ga ... Btape&th=1). In my case, the good gaffer tape has held up quite nicely in the sun.

The product you're looking for is Double Reflective Polyethylene and is available here. This is also available through hvac suppliers. I will check my cost for the product. If it's substantially less expensive, I'll let you know.

Bill Schenker found with his testing that using the 4' wrap, but around the entire car worked better than individual tires. However, for this to be legal and not-considered an active heating device you'll want to turn your car off before wrapping it.

Thank you all!! Exactly the info I've been looking for!

Anthony Porta wrote:Bill Schenker found with his testing that using the 4' wrap, but around the entire car worked better than individual tires. However, for this to be legal and not-considered an active heating device you'll want to turn your car off before wrapping it.

Even better, less work to make individual blankets

George Schilling wrote:The product you're looking for is Double Reflective Polyethylene and is available here. This is also available through hvac suppliers. I will check my cost for the product. If it's substantially less expensive, I'll let you know.

Thanks George! Is a 25' roll enough to wrap around the entire MR2?

Randy Gonzalez wrote:I don't know if it would work for custom made tire blankets, but when I've needed that material, I just went to Walmart and bought the biggest cheap windshield sunshades they had. Cut it up with scissors for my custom application, and then trimmed the edges with high quality black cloth "gaffer" tape.

Not exactly this, but something like this (I just bought the cheapest "Jumbo" sized ones in the store):
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Motor-Trend- ... g/50136189

In my case, I was stuck parking my car in the sun for a few weeks a few summers back, so I made my own custom window shades for all of my car windows. I don't know if you've ever flown in like a small Cessna or Piper, but most little planes have custom cut window shades out of that same basic material that fit snug in each window and really do block out the sun. I basically copied that concept, and when all the shades are installed, it is actually very dark in the car.

Just a thought for ya if you're trying to do something on your own. I think the in store large size windshield sunshade is like $5. You could put together a prototype (or maybe 2) for $10. Although, real nice high quality gaffer tape isn't cheap (like $18 per roll: https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Grade-Ga ... Btape&th=1). In my case, the good gaffer tape has held up quite nicely in the sun.

Thanks Randy! That's really creative, the thought hadn't even occurred to me to use windshield shades!

Ed T wrote:
Thanks George! Is a 25' roll enough to wrap around the entire MR2?

I don't think so. If google is correct, 153″ L x 67″ W are the dimensions of your mr2 spyder.

I got 440" which is about 37ft. so you should get 38-40ft for some slack if you want to do a giant single roll around the car.

Kevin Pao wrote:

Ed T wrote:
Thanks George! Is a 25' roll enough to wrap around the entire MR2?

I don't think so. If google is correct, 153″ L x 67″ W are the dimensions of your mr2 spyder.

I got 440" which is about 37ft. so you should get 38-40ft for some slack if you want to do a giant single roll around the car.

My gosh, why didn't I think of doing that? Thanks Kevin! Looks like I'll need 2 rolls

Anthony Porta wrote:Bill Schenker found with his testing that using the 4' wrap, but around the entire car worked better than individual tires. However, for this to be legal and not-considered an active heating device you'll want to turn your car off before wrapping it.

6.11 PREHEATING TIRES Pre-heating of tires prior to competition by electrically heated covers or by similar means is prohibited.

As far as I can tell, 6.11 is the only rule on pre-heating tires or tire blankets in general. The rules prohibit electronically heated covers or "by similar means." Until they amend the rules, I believe one could easily argue that leaving the car on with the car wrapped is vastly different from electronically heated covers or blankets that are similar to electronically heated covers.