A Trade Show That Gets to the Part of the Matter

The verdict is in. Custom wheels remain at the top of the gotta-have-it list for automotive buffs, with brightly colored finishes and oversize measurements setting the style trend for 1999.

Close behind and as tightly linked as bread to butter are tires: in ever-increasing widths; with narrower side walls; and, from one major manufacturer, with colored bands of red, yellow or electric blue molded into the treads.

But popular as they may be, tires and wheels don’t make up the entire catalog of parts and equipment that will jump-start the adrenal glands of car or truck enthusiasts this holiday season.

Think leather upholstery, high-performance shock absorbers, exotic wood trim kits for the dashboard, even practical items such as inflatable jacks and fitted storage bins for the cargo areas of sport-utility vehicles and minivans.

Nothing makes the enormous variety clearer than the annual car-stuff extravaganza put on in this desert town each November by the Specialty Equipment Market Assn. What’s more, the SEMA show sets the retailing trends for automotive aftermarket products for the coming year.

“It is a really important place for us to get feedback from the rest of the industry and to gauge reaction to our new designs,” says Jessie Korosec, a marketing specialist at Enkei International Inc., a Michigan-based manufacturer of custom wheels.

The company mounted a sizable display at the show this year, with a particular aim to capture the interest of wholesale buyers from Southern California--the nation’s single biggest market for custom wheels.

The Diamond Bar-based trade group represents 3,400 auto-equipment makers, retailers and service providers from around the globe.

SEMA’s reason for being is the promotion of neat stuff to make cars and trucks look, sound and perform better than they did when they rolled off the factory floor.

This year that stuff filled 2.2 million square feet of show space. There were 1,200 exhibitors crammed into the sprawling Las Vegas Convention Center, and at the last minute the show organizers set up a huge temporary structure in the parking lot to hold 100 more exhibitors who clamored to get in. More than 70,000 people attended the show, which is not open to the public.

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Much of what is displayed at SEMA is evolutionary, but there are always items there that are so new they won’t be hitting retailers’ shelves for several months.

The show highlights trends. And knowing those trends can make the savvy shopper a big star when the wrapping paper comes off:

* One of the items that drew most attention in the new-products arena was the air jack, an inflatable jack from Fresno-based Multi-Lift Inc. that can lift up to 5,000 pounds. The air jack weighs just under 10 pounds and is less than 4 inches tall when deflated; it expands to 12 1/2 inches when pumped up by a compressor that plugs into the vehicle’s cigarette lighter battery. It uses a flexible bellows for lift, so it remains stable on uneven or loose surfaces.

The company is still signing up retailers. It says the jack--which comes alone or in any of a variety of kits that add an inflater, extra “riser pads” to give more lift and even an electric impact wrench to make wheel removal easy--should be at major auto-parts chains by the middle of December.

* On-board entertainment systems, usually in the form of small television screens and videocassette players installed in center consoles, have been popular with minivan and sport-utility owners. But because the systems are built-in and require some space, they haven’t been readily adaptable to passenger cars. And some would-be owners are put off by the fact that the systems are in most cases permanently attached to the vehicle, meaning they go when it’s time to buy a new car or truck.

* Several companies are now offering self-contained systems that come in removable consoles. And one firm, Meritt Electronics of Pismo Beach, Calif., has now put an entire system into a soft pack that straps in between the front seats and jacks into the cigarette lighter/voltage port. Meritt’s Original Video & TV Traveler can be moved from one vehicle to another; it can be unplugged from the car and carried into the hotel room or camping tent to provide video entertainment when the driving day’s driving is done.

Meritt is arranging distribution and says it will be several months before the systems are available through retailers. Meantime, information, including pricing, can be obtained on the company’s World Wide Web site, at https://www.videotraveler.com.

* Storage of loose items such as maps, garage door openers and sunglasses is always a problem. Several companies were showing overhead shelves, colored to match upholstery, that install above the windshield using existing sun visor mounts. Sorry, they’re for trucks and sport-utility vehicles only. Also offered in abundance: fitted organizers for the cargo area of most sport-utility vehicles, vans and station wagons; tool and cargo bins for pickup truck beds; and special storage trays that slip into trailer-hitch receivers and hold up to 500 pounds of bulky items such as tents, firewood and luggage.

* Leather upholstery, often in colors and patterns that no self-respecting cow would ever walk around in, is big and getting bigger. Most upholstery and customizing shops install aftermarket leather--you generally get what you pay for--and for late-model cars and trucks the hides are often pre-assembled as complete seat-cover kits so the price stays somewhere in the reasonable zone.

* So what are the trends in custom or styled wheels? Several, as you might expect from a market segment attended to by more than two dozen companies. The basic finishes are polished or powder-coated aluminum (usually in silver or gunmetal gray) and chrome. But colored finishes are starting to show up and are likely to become big in coming months. If you don’t want to spring for a new set of wheels, several companies are making colored lug nuts and center caps that will add color to the wheels you’ve got.

* Also on the wheel front: Bigger is better. Stock 14- and 15-inch-diameter wheels are out; the really stylish are going for 17- to 20-inch sizes. Bigger wheels are also wider, and when fitted with the right tires and properly matched to the vehicle, they can improve handling. (A set of forged titanium wheels International Forgings Group of Eureka built as a showstopper was on display at the eye-popping price of $5,000. Per wheel. Tires extra.)

* Tire sidewalls (the part you see when the car rolls by) are getting thinner as wheel diameters go up. And tire makers are in overdrive in an effort to come up with new tread patterns that improve handling, shed more water and look cool.

* B.F. Goodrich showed off a set of high-performance T/A radials with a unique twist--colored bands in the tread area itself. The tires, which will be produced for retail sale if the tire maker discerns enough demand, have bands of tread in yellow, red or blue molded into the rubber. Company officials said they believe the tires will be especially popular with the so-called import performance set--the enthusiasts who spend every spare dime souping up Hondas, Toyotas and other imports.

* On the import front, customizing and performance parts for European cars, from BMWs to Volkswagens, are coming back after a long hiatus during which the efforts went into goodies for the Asian imports.

* Performance shock absorbers, springs, suspension bushings and sway bars are gaining popularity outside of racing and off-road circles as ordinary drivers begin to appreciate that these can offer vast improvements in handling and performance over the usually soft suspension setups car makers provide.

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The best places to find such items are customizing shops and retail stores that specialize in automotive equipment and performance items. Tires and wheels, of course, can be found on almost every corner.

Remember that the car enthusiasts on most gift lists are really fairly easy to please. If leather seats and fancy wheels are beyond the budget, you can do fine with a good set of wrenches; a professional-quality tire-pressure gauge; a set of high-performance spark-plug wires; or even, for the do-it-yourself mechanic in the family, a box of shop rags and a big jar of waterless hand cleaner.

And be assured that giving a set of shock absorbers to the car person in your family is not like giving Mom a new Hoover. You won’t find yourself in the doghouse.

Just ask John Clinard, a real car guy--he has owned several classic Alfa Romeos in his lifetime and once had two Ferraris parked in his garage. “Now I’ve got one Ferrari and a daughter in private college,” he says with a good-natured sigh.

Regarding his enthusiasm for automobiles, the regional manager of Ford Motor Co.’s Western public affairs office in Anaheim calls himself “definitely abnormal.”

So what does he want this season from someone whose budget won’t stretch to replacing that second Ferrari?

“One of those air compressors that you can plug into the cigarette lighter,” he says. “Or a trickle battery charger with an automatic on-off switch so it can keep the battery up without overcharging it. That would be great for someone with a collector car who doesn’t take it out and drive it all the time.”

Yes, Virginia, even car nuts have a practical side.

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Times staff writer John O’Dell can be reached via e-mail at john.odell@latimes.com.

* HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Auto makers are tapping into the gift market with catalogs, stores and licensing deals. W6 Also: gifts for motorcyclists; dos and don’ts when shopping for a true auto buff. W6-W7