Is it feasible to use some stiff foam to shore up/fill the space under the spare tire cover to keep it from cracking? Has anyone tried this?
Richard

There is another post about this....people have been using tarps and towls to fill up the space. Do a search and you will find the one post that even has step by step pictures.

I just put an old bath towel in there and have had no problems.

Here is my solution (http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=789) using some rope (optional) and a tarp.

I read somewhere that it's really hard to crack those things... I stand on mine all the time and haven't had any problem with it.

Drew

I agree with Drew -they're harder to crack than thought. I weigh 180 lbs and stood on it many times with no problems. I've stood on it along with a 105 lb lawnmower with zero problems.

Could be some are flawed then? I'm a 120 lb. female and I cracked mine (visible only from underneath) with my knee while reaching to get some top soil with my seats folded up.

No biggie really, like I said, you gotta take the thing off to see that a couple of the planes in the plastic grid are broken. I'm just concerned that it will get weaker and weaker over time if those continue to break.

I like the rope and tarp idea. I think I'll try that.

i folded a pretty standard bath towel into a square, placed that on the spare and then replaced the cover. the fit is now snug and stable (no movement like there had been), and i am sure that the towel will come in handy one day.

A towel... is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have.
Douglas Adams

No LAment you're not flawed. What happened is that you put a "point load" on the cover with your knee. That is you put a great deal of your 120 lbs in a very small area (your knee cap). Had you stood on it thereby putting your 120 lbs over a much greater space i.e. your feet, it might not have cracked. Just a little engineering trivia for you - if you owned a pair of stilletto heeled shoes you could create a force of 3800 pounds per square inch with your small frame.