[OT] Circular Sticky backed Sat-Nav mount problem.

[Donwill]

I purchased a heavy, sticky bottom, dished disk thingy (approx 6ins dia) which enables me to hold a sat-nav on top of the dashboard and it's worked superbly for the first 9 months or so, not moving at all during heavy breaking or accelerating. However the stickiness of the base seems to have degraded and I now have to catch it if I accelerate, particularly up a hill. The combination of a heavy canvas toroid filled with what maybe lead shot, a sticky base and a smooth plastic surface to fix the suction cup to was very successful for a time. However :-( .

I don't have the original instructions or name of the product.. I bought it in a "motor mania type shop" some distance away.

Does anyone know if it's possible to treat it in some way to recover the stickiness? perhaps wash it? or re-coat it with something? or do I just bin it and look for another one?

Don

[Alan]

In message , Donwill wrote

Google "Tomtom stick pad"

[Peter Parry]

I'm not sure from what you say if this relies upon stickiness or suction to stay in place. 6in diameter is very large for a suction cup.

A Sony satnav I had had a very soft sticky feeling suction cup which worked very well but the soft surface was prone to getting contaminated by dust and needed light rubbing with raw washing up liquid and rinsing clean every few months.

If it relies upon sticktion rather than suction try using a layer of non-Slip Gripper Roll/mat such as

roll I got was from the Pound Shop I think.

[Andy Burns]

Some of them use the same principle as geckos' feet (Van der Waals force?) which in some pseudo-scientific adverts I've seen described as "nano vacuum" material!

[Andy Burns]

Who on earth thought this was a good way to demonstrate the product? Shame the airbag *didn't* go off and save us all ...

[newshound]

Some of the "tacky rubber" anti slip stuff like Dycem can be rejuvanated by washing with water and detergent.

[Mike Barnes]

Donwill :

I've had one of those for many, many years and it's shown no signs of deterioration.

Have you tried giving it (and the dashboard, and the place that you normally store it when not in use) a good clean?

If that doesn't work I'd simply stick some more tacky material on it. There's the very light mesh that's widely sold for use on dashboards, or Dycem which is more heavy duty. Both available on eBay.

[Donwill]

It relies on a sticky translucent rubber membrane on the under surface of the dish, when it was new it had a very high static friction coefficient,. the membrane is cream in colour and has a couple of patent numbers and a name which is difficult to read but looks approximately like "SIANBAG". It's not at all like the rubber rolls you buy to line cutlery drawers, it has a much higher friction coefficient. I have since washed it in clean water without any detergent or soap and it seems to have recovered some of it's properties. Time will tell when I try it in the car again. Don

[Donwill]

I looked up the patent number and came up with this:

looks very much like mine , it says it has an "anti-skid silicone base" and also mentions " Pull of displacement 60N." which I assume is the side force required to unstick it. Don

[Adrian C]

Over time I've looked at my cars and the length of time I keep them, then then paultry amount I get when it comes to part with them.

So I'm of the persuasion, if it really needs a hole drilled to mount something, drill it...

Last car had more holes which were more down to rust than me :)

What could work well if you really don't want to do that, is to glue one of those super strong magnets removed from an old computer hard drive, to the reverse of the dashboard surface, and then replace the part of the cradle attachment with a metal plate, rubberised to protect against the dash against scratches.

Be careful not to get the magnet too close to parts that may be affected badly by it. GPS's don't contain magnetic compasses as far as I am aware.

[Owain]

But if Mr Tealeaf sees a mounting bracket for a satnav, Mr Tealeaf may be tempted to effect entry to the vehicle in the pursuit of such objects as can be negotiated for cash in the local hostelry.

Owain

[Adrian C]

Ah easy,

When the satnav is removed, plant a stuffed toy on top of the bracket or some other decoy material.

[Dave Liquorice]

So the satnav is loose not physically attached to mount also attached to the car?

Heavy braking/acceleration is nothing compared to being hit by, or hitting, something. Anything loose inside a car becomes a projectile in a "road traffic incident". Satnavs aren't that heavy but they are hard I wouldn't like to be have one whack me on the head...