Side by side with the stock wheelGot off a flight from Korea this morning, needed something to do so I'd stay awake.
Just finished installing this Handkrafted steering wheel.
yes, it's been tested to take 10,000x gunned with impact gun while not failing nor losing torque spec...crazy stuff.
sorry, it's for track duty and some r&d work coming up...
Seems like you're beating a dead horse here...boom! perfect fit of overland designs alcantara dash visor/hood on our 2nd of 3 cars used for r&d with overland. we now have our champ white and black pearl cars done. rally red car is to install with same design but all black alcantara.
I apologise I had just got in from the pub, I am not normally that rude. "It's not for me but it's good to see others trying some different things"
SmH helping you guys out is a tough job. I don’t choose shit parts. I choose high quality for a reason. No, they don’t just send free shit to me. I pay for most of them along with my team. We’ve spent nearly $40K in parts.
You just don't need to defend the company when someone else gets parts that didn't fit as well. They know how their parts are fitting and you come accross as rude when you insist that they must be doing something wrong. It's entirely possible that the parts you recieved fit better than someone else. There's going to be some variation no matter how good their processes are.
Boom! Perfect fit of Overland Designs Alcantera dash visor/hood on my 1st of 1 cars used to install the Overland Alcantara dash visor/hood. I now have my Rallye Red car done with the black and red alcantara!boom! perfect fit of overland designs alcantara dash visor/hood on our 2nd of 3 cars used for r&d with overland. we now have our champ white and black pearl cars done. rally red car is to install with same design but all black alcantara.
Can you possibly try taking some close up pics of the OEM dash visor vs Overlands (sounds like you have Sweidit's too?)? Perhaps we can help identify if the clips aren't long enough or if the shape isn't curved enough, etc. Because the physical differences could be small (but their impact huge), can you try taking one of those same angle pics for all products, like this sample photo.Boom! Perfect fit of Overland Designs Alcantera dash visor/hood on my 1st of 1 cars used to install the Overland Alcantara dash visor/hood. I now have my Rallye Red car done with the black and red alcantara!
Except it's not a perfect fit. Notice after driving:
Sorry for the cruddy phone cam in the second picture, it's a PITA to get a camera down there, but you can see the clip isn't in. I can get it in but it'll pop out while I'm driving.
Note that the first picture you see (same that I posted the other day) is with that clip popped out. You can't tell by looking at it unless you stick your head down there though. This is what I mean when I say it fits, but isn't an OEM fit. I can whack it in and it'll get the clip in deeper where it'll look OEM, but the clip will still come back out after I drive (but the OEM doesn't pop back out).
Note 2: that with the OEM visor, I do get some light leak (there is a hole visible if you look through the bottom in the same area) like you see in the second image. However, the hole is smaller and the clip is clipped in properly.
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Also note: You're really starting to sound more like a salesman for Overland than you are a reviewer right now. It's not helping anyone for you to do this.
Warning: long post ahead. TL;DR: upholstering may technically put parts out of spec and cause fitment issues, but rarely does (I feel like stitching may also make problems worse). Visor hood is very finicky and is known for fitment difficulties, but most work out. Sweidit pops out at the front edge of the car and clip nearest driver on right pops out after driving. Overland has clip nearest driver pop out after driving. OEM has no issues. Picture below depicts Overland after driving (note the thickness and the visible clip). OEM picture shows narrower panel gap but it does let light in, I think I also see the clip itself visible, but it's secured in place. I've tested 3 upholstered visor hoods so far (2 from Sweidit and 1 from Overland). Overland fits good enough (but not perfect) while Sweidit had worse fitment, I'm waiting to see if stitching caused the worse fitment.Can you possibly try taking some close up pics of the OEM dash visor vs Overlands (sounds like you have Sweidit's too?)? Perhaps we can help identify if the clips aren't long enough or if the shape isn't curved enough, etc. Because the physical differences could be small (but their impact huge), can you try taking one of those same angle pics for all products, like this sample photo.
That red glove box looks dope
Great write up. I wonder then, if it would be possible to use a thinner alcantara while using something like padding foam on the 'open' surfaces (surfaces that don't have to be pressed/touching another surface). Interior plastic seems to share similar characteristics as putting on PPF on body panels. They're a tight fit. Add thickness, then... you pretty much loosen the grip of the clips.Warning: long post ahead. TL;DR: upholstering may technically put parts out of spec and cause fitment issues, but rarely does (I feel like stitching may also make problems worse). Visor hood is very finicky and is known for fitment difficulties, but most work out. Sweidit pops out at the front edge of the car and clip nearest driver on right pops out after driving. Overland has clip nearest driver pop out after driving. OEM has no issues. Picture below depicts Overland after driving (note the thickness and the visible clip). OEM picture shows narrower panel gap but it does let light in, I think I also see the clip itself visible, but it's secured in place. I've tested 3 upholstered visor hoods so far (2 from Sweidit and 1 from Overland). Overland fits good enough (but not perfect) while Sweidit had worse fitment, I'm waiting to see if stitching caused the worse fitment.
I sent back my Sweidit one, he's sending me one without stitching on the top to see if that helps. The backstory is that I purchased one (I think it was 240-250 USD with core) and the first one I received was from a batch of 6 that used a thicker Alcantara by accident. The second one used the right material (and from what I can tell is identical to what Overland is using) but still had fitment issues (only difference physically between it and Overland would be the additional stitching on top). At which point I was given a refund but also offered a visor hood, at no cost, with no stitching on the top to see if that would help. After receiving the Overland I took them up on the offer because I was curious at this point. My assumption is that it will fit like the Overland (clip comes out, but it's superficial; see below), but I won't know that until I receive it. In the event that it does fit like the Overland, I'm planning on doing a full compare and contrast writeup on here and giving one of them away. In the event that it doesn't, it gets tossed. Sweidit had informed me already that the visor hoods had been very tight fits to begin with.
On the Sweidit, the corner furthest the driver to the right would pop out which would cause the clips nearest the driver on the far right to pop out. On the Overland, the edge furthest the driver does not pop out but the clip nearest the driver on the right will pop out. The OEM is completely sturdy.
I measured the length of the problematic clip on the OEM and Overland part. They both measure about 25mm. They are identical (and why wouldn't they be? They all came from Honda). Note that I don't think this is an issue with the part being upholstered as I've been sent 2 hoods from Sweidit and 1 from Overland so far, none fit like OEM.
Both Sweidit and Overland use an OEM Honda part and wrap them in Alcantara/suede. The additional upholstering will add up to 1mm of thickness to a single side. So the wrapping of suede around the thinnest edge adds a total of up to 2mm of thickness. The thinnest edge of the OEM visor hood is already 1mm thick and slides into a very narrow opening towards the front of the car. Additionally, there would be an extra up to 1mm of padding pushing the clip out right where the clip connects. I know that some combination of the two causes the part to come loose. I had butchered a Sweidit part to remove all alcantara on the leading edge nearest the front of the car and the edge surrounding the problematic clip to get it to fit properly.
What I feel like is happening. The front edge (nearest the front of the car) has to wedge in and that edge is only 1mm thick at its thinnest to begin with. The larger area here causes the visor hood to be pushed out 1-2mm further than it should be towards the driver. This causes one of the clips nearest the driver to not attach properly and become loose. On the Sweidit, the stitching adds an additional 0.5-1mm of thickness on both sides pushing it out even further which also causes the corner nearest the front of the car to want to pop out.
What does all this mean? Well, if the housing for the front edge towards the front of the car is thicker due to manufacturing variance, it'll cause it to not fit properly. This means that you end up with the same results as me (1). If the variation is not nearly as thick, then everything will fit properly and you'll result in an OEM-like fit (2) which is what CTR-Mofo has had 3 successes on (Sweidit told me 50+ on their end, I'm sure the actual number for Overland is in the same ballpark too). If you're part of (2) (which seems like most), there are no issues; it's perfect. If you are part of (1), the stitching on the Sweidit one will cause the part to look very bad (popped out completely)over time. If you are using the Overland the issue is completely superficial as you can't tell that clip isn't attached anyways unless you look underneath so in my book it fits. If you're using a Sweidit without stitching, my hypothesis is that it'll act like the Overland, but I have no guarantees on that until I receive it.
And yes, the tolerances for the visor hood are that strong. A small batch of 6 from Sweidit that used a padded alcantara by accident resulted in 6 not fitting. This would add maybe 0.5-1mm of extra thickness to the material. Keep in mind that although extending something in 1 dimension isn't too bad, it will have a squared effect on the area and a cubic effect on volume which is what I feel the issue is. So that extra 1-3mm of thickness on the front edge caused major issues for Sweidit on those 6 parts. (causing most if not all to fail). The extra 0.5-1mm of thickness on the front edge by the upholstering creates a very tight fit which may technically be out of spec. However, if it's a tight fit, there is a likelihood that on some other car the variation will cause it to not fit (because possibly out of spec). This is what I feel like is happening in my case.
Now for pictures of the OEM and Overland. I installed both the Overland and OEM as specified by the countless videos I've been shown and directed to. Note that the latch comes undone on both the Overland and Sweidit after driving and that is what is shown here on the right. If you look at both, you'll see that the OEM one does remain tight to the dash while the Overland one separates slightly revealing the clip not in securely. On the OEM one, if you look closely you may see what looks like a hint of the clip showing through the crack which is why I feel like my car may fall into (1) above as well as a light leak.
