Sticking a camera to plastic instead of the windscreen

I have often contemplated the dual lock " velcro " version, but i just keep forgetting pulling the trigger.

Though in all fairness, having to react to the different form factors of dashcams, no place but dead center is a for sure placement, but then adding more offsetting from that depend a lot of the design on the #2 / #3 systems.
So one would probably have to put one long strip on the windscreen and then hope height wise it will work CUZ i do of course have to peek out below the shade area.

Actually i have also at one time contemplated gluing a strip of sheet metal in, but then i realized that might hamper GPS reception at least to a degree.
And then sticking a strong magnet or two on the camera mount. ( with something that give friction in between, CUZ magnet no matter how strong, on a slick surface like my rear hatch of course, they can and will move a little without.
 
comadose said:
Ended up using 3M SJ3550 Dual Lock. It's a bit like Velcro, but even stronger.
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Thanks for putting a name to it.

Viofo use it to Mount their ODB2 (OP100) device to the dash in my case and it works well.
Jump to 6.20
 
I have used this 3M tape for my dashcams, I have even put it on the "Frit" (black dots) of the windscreen. I only cut it long enough to cover the mount/s front or rear.
Yes it sticks like the proverbial to a blanket, but isn't that what we are all wanting in the first place. I have never had a dashcam come adrift, even when parked in 40°C (104°F) heat, it's my go to double sided tape.
I find it is easy to remove by parking the car in the sun and heating the windscreen, then I just lift one of the bottom corners and then roll it off. It can be slow but it all comes off, clean the windscreen with 99.8% Pure Isopropyl Alcohol, you won't even notice it was there.
 
So just a quick followup.. I've been running that tape for a little while and it worked initially, but it lost its grip after maybe 2 weeks or so and I've been constantly trying to restick it. Time to remove and try 3M dual lock instead. 🤷‍♂️

For a bit of silver lining, at one point while fussing around with interior cams, I knocked the S1 4K's interior cam off the mount, accidentally discovering that has a built in quick release mount, lol.
 
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I had some issues with the 3M tape initially, but was able to fix them. Don't stick tape to tape. I didn't remove the tape that came with the interior camera, I stuck additional tape to it and it kept falling off. Removing the original tape and cleaning the surface with an alcohol wipe fixed it.
 
The 3m dual lock fell off too. Not sure what else to do short of super glue, lol. I’ve used 3 different types of tape so far besides that and added extra tape around to reinforce.
 
My fall off events have always been cameras i moved and the bond to the mount giving up, but there i have no qualms adding a stronger glue to keep things in place.
I have only once stuck a camera to the plastic trim ) back side of B pillar, but the Innovv C3 camera stayed in place just fine even in spite of it getting accidental bumped now and then, and that was with the factory sticky pad.

I remind of the magnet solution which for me have worked excellent with smaller rear cameras but even newer more beefy rear cameras.
In your case Vortex, as i assume it is a place you still use going forward, i would put a couple of Neodymium magnets on the back side of plastic trim ( held in place with glue or 2 side tape ) and then a small 3 X 4 " or so 1 mm plate to which you can mount a system.
And then changing you can easy pull plate of magnets to clean tape residue before mounting new system. ( might want to add a thin rubber to the front of the plate so it increase the friction that otherwise between clean metal / painted metal and plastic trim might be lower that ideal )
 
Vortex Radar said:
The 3m dual lock fell off too. Not sure what else to do short of super glue, lol. I’ve used 3 different types of tape so far besides that and added extra tape around to reinforce.
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That's what I used, and it's been fine. Did you properly clean the surfaces before applying it? Alcohol wipes are good.
 
Vortex Radar said:
Yep, with alcohol prep pads. I wonder if it's just the rough texture that's preventing a good bond.
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A slight texture can help, in fact if it is too smooth it can help to roughen it with sandpaper. Mine is slightly textured plastic.

One other thing I would say is make sure you secure the cable so that it's not putting weight on the camera and sticky pad.
 
Vortex Radar said:
... I wonder if it's just the rough texture that's preventing a good bond.
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Very likely. I've run into that a couple of times. My solution(s) have been to either use foam tape versus rubber (as it conforms to the plastic better) or sand the area where you're going to attach to remove some of the texture. Other issues can also affect adhesion such as outgassing from the plastic for which the only solution for that is time to let the plastic 'age'. I linked to another thread on the subject in post #6 of this thread.
 
So I still haven't been able to get a good solution here, even after trying multiple different types of tape and adding a bunch of extra reinforcement tape around the mount. I've gotten tired of pushing the interior cam up at the start of every drive so that it's back in position for a few minutes before it falls again, so I've removed the interior cam altogether for the time being. I've still got the Vueroid S1 4K's interior cam running and it's been holding fine, mounted in the same area. It has a wider mounting base and more surface area, plus the mount is directly behind the cam, not off to the side like the A329S' so there's no weird leverage trying to pull the cam off the mount from one side.
 
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