Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Custom Car Covers - Thank you Bitelblack!


So while I was overseas and my car was at Nismo Omori Factory, our friend Dino recommended I reach out to his friends at Bitelblack Cover Car Custom and inquire about a custom car cover.

I know - I have a fully covered and insulated garage - why would I need a cover? Well, if you have OCD tendencies like me, the answer is - to keep the dust off so the car always looks 100% super clean, of course.

Yes, I could alway buy a cover in Japan, but nothing I found really fit the bill -  they are either super expensive and do not fit snugly,  designed for outdoor use, or they are cheap and do not fit well either.  I wanted something strictly for indoor use, and so I was looking for a stretchy kind of lightweight material that would show off the car's curves. Did not have to be waterproof, or protect from UV, etc. 

If you check out the link above, you can see that Bitelblack does some pretty crazy car covers, with some printing stuff onto the car cover itself like headlight, windshield, etc. to make it look like the car itself! (which I was not interested in, obviously - keep it simple!)

Anyway, once I got back, shortly thereafter this arrived:

Opening it up, I found this:

I had ordered one in grey, and one in black, with the black supposedly being the more premium cloth. The other option I had asked for was the R33 GTR logo on the front and back, where the actual badges are, as well as the Skyline lettering on the trunk valance and the ClubR33 logo on the side to replicate placement on the rear quarter window of our Club sticker, as many of our club members have done.

I first used some quick detailer to remove all the dust that had built up over the last 2 weeks since I got the car back:
Unretouched photo taken with my Sony Xperia 1 iii. 

Yes, I am enjoying the camera feature on this phone. Much harder than on the iPhone to get a great photo, because very little correction by the software

Then, I tried on the grey one.
Very nice fit! And thin enough to see details like the outlines of the headlights, etc.

So I thought the SKYLINE lettering (in the correct font too!) might be a nice touch...

And the Club logo is spot on perfectly replicated!

Except unfortunately not located exactly where I wanted.

Then, the black one.
Due to the color, can't see the detail outlines as well

Unfortunately it also had the same problem with the Club logo being located not exactly where I wanted.



And I guess I should have asked for the SKYLINE lettering to be closer to the background color... or maybe just in outline form?

In addition to these minor issues, I also noticed that the GT-R logo font was slightly off. Take a look at this LED sign I have in my garage, made by Kusaka Engineering. You can study the small differences amongst the 32, 33 and 34 logos - once you memorize you can be a true nerd like me. 



So, given the very competitive pricing, I have to say I am fairly happy, even though the product could be better.  I think if the Club decides they want to offer this to members I can measure how much the logos should be shifted up and forward, and I can also try to educate Bitelblack on the proper log. As for the thickness, I really could not tell the difference.

This is how the backside of the cloth looks btw.



Meanwhile, these color coordinated carry/storage bags were a nice touch:

What to do you all think?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fitment Automotive in Australia now make a very good quality and fitment indoor car cover as well, albeit at the pointy end of the prices at $349. Interested to see how the pricing compares given I'm in the same boat as you Aki and simply want to keep dust off my dust collector

Anonymous said...

This isn't really related to the post but recently I ordered some kind of trunk lock finisher assuming it was supposed to be part of the car. I realize now that actually, looking at your car I think the part is actually supposed to go with the top trunk finisher piece. Part number is 84632-5L300. If you look at the parts catalog it only shows the bit that covers the "teeth" of the latch. The part I actually got has a joint on it that covers the entire latch assembly. Only problem is that I could not figure out how to actually get the cover to fit over the main body, only the teeth portion which slips on easily. If you're interested in seeing the part I can send you some photos. Unfortunately I accidentally snapped it at the joint just bending it back a little so it's pretty fragile.

I suspect the actual correct method of mounting it to the car requires the finisher you have, the carpet would sit over the main body of the latch and hold it in place instead of allowing it to flop around loosely. Another option would be double-sided tape I suppose.

Jason said...

How can we order the same car cover please?

Aki said...

Jason I am working with them to offer to Club R33 members - on Facebook if you have not already joined?