Making your own dashmat

kamkar1 said:
Dident even think about UV reacting with dashmat material, thats off course a important thing as its right there in the sun all the time.
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That didn't cross my mind too, and come to think of it, we have 9+ UV levels five months a year, but after 2 extremely harsh Summers the fabric is still black and it's still doing its job.
 
I picked up my DIY dashcam today. I went to custom Automotive Upholstery place a few miles away and they did it all for $70. (So more like DIY + Help)

I'm going to consider this first one the beta prototype, and will have them create another one out of the upcoming new "Viper Black" material the T-Shirt company will be sending me (next month hopefully, and I'll have them be extra careful with seams/hole edges next time)

This one will get the job done for now.


aT7uBQN.png
 
Street Guardian USA said:
I picked up my DIY dashcam today. I went to custom Automotive Upholstery place a few miles away and they did it all for $70. (So more like DIY + Help)

I'm going to consider this first one the beta prototype, and will have them create another one out of the upcoming new "Viper Black" material the T-Shirt company will be sending me (next month hopefully, and I'll have them be extra careful with seams/hole edges next time)

This one will get the job done for now.

aT7uBQN.png
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How about showing us what the custom dash mat looks like?
 
I'll take it out, and take a better FULL photo of the whole completed thing when I get a chance, but you can see the area that shows up on on dashcam here:
wDhxHjE.png
 
Yeah the bottom of the picture do look pretty black :cool:
I wish i was able to get a dashmat that is factory made to fit, and then just mod it with something even blacker.

New plan.

1. must win lotto money
2. buy new car based on weather i can get a factory dashmat to it or not.
3. install said dashmat in new car when i get home from my world trip some time next year.
 
kamkar1 said:
Yeah the bottom of the picture do look pretty black :cool:
I wish i was able to get a dashmat that is factory made to fit, and then just mod it with something even blacker.

New plan.

1. must win lotto money
2. buy new car based on weather i can get a factory dashmat to it or not.
3. install said dashmat in new car when i get home from my world trip some time next year.
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maybe go the cheap route and just remove your dashboard :p
 
Street Guardian USA said:
I'll take it out, and take a better FULL photo of the whole completed thing when I get a chance, but you can see the area that shows up on on dashcam here:
wDhxHjE.png
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Better work fast to patent it and work with that company to manufacture that product to fit every different vehicle (need to get specs of dash on every vehicle) And sell it under the Street Guardian Brand name. There is a company I see on late night tv selling floor mats made in USA to fit any make of car. It will fly off the shelves
 
Sutton said:
Better work fast to patent it and work with that company to manufacture that product to fit every different vehicle (need to get specs of dash on every vehicle) And sell it under the Street Guardian Brand name. There is a company I see on late night tv selling floor mats made in USA to fit any make of car. It will fly off the shelves
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plenty of dashmat manufacturers out there already, surprised really that none of them have ever thought to look into doing them in a finish that reduces glare, nothing to do with our purposes with cameras but reflection is annoying to drive with and they could tame it with the right material, some of them have material that makes reflections more pronounced, particular the acrylic type materials
 
jokiin said:
plenty of dashmat manufacturers out there already, surprised really that none of them have ever thought to look into doing them in a finish that reduces glare, nothing to do with our purposes with cameras but reflection is annoying to drive with and they could tame it with the right material, some of them have material that makes reflections more pronounced, particular the acrylic type materials
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Most dash cam manufacturers do indeed tout their dash mat's abilities to reduce glare, it's just that for us dash camera users our requirements are more demanding so not all dash mats will do the job adequately.

Here is a typical dash cam manufacturer's blurb.

dashmats.png
 
I think I still might order another cheaper dashmat off Amazon, and then attach the new Viper Black material coming out soon to that so it's a perfect fit.
 
jokiin said:
plenty of dashmat manufacturers out there already, surprised really that none of them have ever thought to look into doing them in a finish that reduces glare, nothing to do with our purposes with cameras but reflection is annoying to drive with and they could tame it with the right material, some of them have material that makes reflections more pronounced, particular the acrylic type materials
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Many people buy dash mats for cosmetic reasons or to cover a damaged or cracked dash board. That's why they come in so many textures and colors. Buying a suede or velour finish one in black generally works very well to eliminate glare from my experience. (and can be enhanced if desired)
 
Dashmellow said:
Most dash cam manufacturers do indeed tout their dash mat's abilities to reduce glare, it's just that for us dash camera users our requirements are more demanding so not all dash mats will do the job adequately.
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I think there's room for improvement in a lot of them (you wouldn't have needed to spray paint yours otherwise) and some are certainly better than others, I don't know that the anti glare has been a real focus of the development with most of these though and there is room for improvement even in the best of them, we're not too spoiled for choice with these types of mats here as there aren't too many versions available, some are quite reflective, in our market the selling point has always been about stopping your dash cracking from the sun, or hiding one that has already cracked
 
Dashmellow said:
Many people buy dash mats for cosmetic reasons or to cover a damaged or cracked dash board. That's why they come in so many textures and colors. Buying a suede or velour finish one in black generally works very well to eliminate glare from my experience. (and can be enhanced if desired)
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yeah as I just mentioned we don't have those types of choices, the local stuff is more about hiding cracks than anything else
 
Just to be clear I didn't need to spray paint my dash mat with black camo paint to get it to work well. It was basically a DIY experiment but the existing black suede finish worked quite well by itself.
 
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Street Guardian USA said:
I still want to steam/iron out more of the wrinkles

7ce196a7c87282afa19f532e1bd7eb23.jpg
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That looks great!

It does look slightly reflective compared to the black suede one but also looks like it should work well. Maybe the Viper Black one will be the ultimate reflection buster assuming it holds up to UV?
 
Dashmellow said:
Just to be clear I didn't need to spray paint my dash mat with black camo paint to get it to work well. It was basically a DIY experiment but the existing black suede finish worked quiet well by itself.
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I know it didn't need to be done, but was an improvement nonetheless
 
jokiin said:
I know it didn't need to be done, but was an improvement nonetheless
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It was. Basically, the suede finish has a bit of a nap that could reflect slightly, so the paint essentially eliminated that problem. I could have ignored it and still been happy with the performance. The real issue that still arises are occasional reflections from metallic looking parts of the dash panel not covered by the dash mat or from the radio dial at night. Then again, these problems are very minor and are confined to areas of the windshield that are irrelevant to capturing the vital things a dash cam needs to capture. I think there is a certain point of diminishing returns to this whole thing as far as how fanatical one needs to get but installing the dash mat has been one of the better ancillary investments I've made since buying my first dash cam six years ago.
 
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O yeah, that do look nice and black :cool:

I can see i will have to experiment more in some months when the weather have turned around, but as it is now i am stuck with the black felt i have, but i might be able to put some backing on it during the winter.
 
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