Making your own dashmat

kamkar

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2013
Messages
34,222
Reaction score
18,873
Country
Denmark
Dash Cam
10 years, many dashcams
So since i drive a little cheap car most ppl would not be caught dead in, then it off course don't have any support among companies that make extras for cars.

So getting a dashmat i only have one route to go, and thats making my own.

So here is my venture into the world of DIY dashmat.

So first of all what do i need to make a dashmat, and thats pretty simple you need a material thats black as hell and do not reflect any light.
Off course, bar a few high tech materials like vantablack then most black things do reflect light to some degree, so getting a 100% perfect result is pretty impossible.

So i went and got me some black felt thats used for lining flight cases and for the outside of speaker enclosures.
I got that from a company that deal in sound and light for DJ - bars and diskojoints and so on.

For making a template of my dashbord i used some paper meant for wrapping gifts, transferring that outline to the black felt i used 10 mm wide painters tape as i did not have anything to draw on the black felt.

So after a little running back and forth between my car and my little sisters dinner table i got something that work a lot better than the highly reflective Grey dashbord in my car.



WP_20161004_002[1].jpg

WP_20161004_001[2]1.jpg

WP_20161004_004[1]1.jpg
 
Are you going to make holes for the vents?
 
I am brainstorming the matter here, i have also been thinking about lining the felt on the back with some 1 mm rubber, that should make it heavier and properly even make it "stick" to the dashbord to a degree where i don't have to tuck it in to make it stay in place.

Will have to see if i can find some store for DIY fetish gear and get me some thick latex :D
 
Yeah in video 2 i have made a cutout for the vents, still need to do the 2 small ones at either side of the dashbord.

This is all eyeballed, did not use a measuring tape or even a ruler, but it fit pretty good but still need some trimming and sewing or what ever i do for the cutout on top of the hump thats my ****pit / instruments.

And i also need to make 2 cuts so i can use the compartment on top of the dashbord as thats where my 7" tablet wedge in when i use it for navigation.
 
@kamkar1, that looks great! I'm glad to see someone actually do this.

I have a couple of suggestions.

The "brushed suede" black dash mat I bought worked really well but there was still a bit of reflection from the nap in the fabric and being the hardcore dash cam fanatic that I am I did something that I knew was a bit extreme but that worked out far better than I ever expected. I sprayed the dash mat with two coats of Rust -Oleum Camouflage paint!

I thought it would make the dash mat look hideous but instead it came out beautiful! The mat still looks like nice (faux) brushed suede but it now is MUCH better at eliminating reflections. I was kind of amazed that what I thought was a questionable thing to do would work out this well. Basically, the paint absorbed into the fabric instead of creating a crusty layer on top and this is why it came out looking so nice. It's been a year now and it still works and looks fine. It might be worth a try. You don't really need extra flat camouflage paint, any flat black spray paint will do.

My dash mat came with long strips of Velcro that I really didn't think I wanted to stick to my dash board but I happened to have a roll of gray 3M VHB tape that I found in the clearance isle of a local Walmart. This stuff holds extremely well on the plastic surfaces in my vehicle and it is what I use for the dash cams that I have mounted on plastic like with my side cams. I discovered though that this stuff (unlike the black 3M VHB tape) pops right off easily from interior car plastic without any sticky residue or difficult peeling. So this is what I used to secure my dash mat (just a few small pieces) and after a year I recently pulled up a piece just to test and it came right off so that you would never know it was there in the first place. Maybe you can find something similar. (I wish I knew the 3M product number but it is not printed on the tape core.)

Finally, I used a plastic kitchen spatula to push the edge of the dash mat down between the narrow gap between the dashboard and the windscreen glass and that worked really well to get the thing properly seated on the dash board and serves to hold it in place as well. There was an issue with the dash mat blocking the flow of air from the vent against the windshield but the spatula fixed it.

mat.jpg
 
Last edited:
Yeah i have the option of either coloring the felt blacker if thats even possible, or like you did spray paint it.

If i put rubber on the back and glue the 2 together then i loose the option of coloring it i think, but rubber on the back should mean i will not need to tuck it in along the edges to make it stay in place ( i think )

The guy i got the felt from also had some of that black cloth you mentioned photographers use for a background, so i could also add that on top of the felt at a later stage if need be.
 
Yeah i have the option of either coloring the felt blacker if thats even possible, or like you did spray paint it.

If i put rubber on the back and glue the 2 together then i loose the option of coloring it i think, but rubber on the back should mean i will not need to tuck it in along the edges to make it stay in place ( i think )

The guy i got the felt from also had some of that black cloth you mentioned photographers use for a background, so i could also add that on top of the felt at a later stage if need be.

I'm sure that there are ways to improve what you did and secure it in place but I really like what you did already.
 
Got plenty of felt left, i can scrap this and make a new one, and i can do that 3 times more.

So sooner or later i will end up in a good place i am sure, and since i have just been given early retirement i have nothing but time for the rest of my life.

I found out today that the fit along the dashbord / windscreen is so bad i can just keep on cramming the felt in there, so i might have to get creative in there, but already have what i think is viable solutions at hand.
 
I'm ready to make my own dashmat for my 2015 Ford Explorer Sport.

Here's where I'm at. (need help picking the right material, or maybe I'll plasti-dip/spray paint like the above suggestion)

I thought I could just buy a pre-made one ready to go. Here were the black suede choices. (I think #2 & #6 have potential) Judge the material only, photos aren't of a Ford Explorer.

http://www.autoanything.com/dash-ma...52989A0A0A6A10A1.aspx?N=4294950910+4294957102
1)
dash_designs_brushed_suede.jpg


2)
dash_topper_sedona_suede_dashboard_cover_black_.jpg


3)
dashmat_suede_dashboard_cover_aa_black.jpg


4)
dash-topper_brushed_suede_dashboard_8413.jpg


5)
coverking_suede_dash_cover_black.jpg


6)
http://www.carid.com/2015-ford-explorer-dash-covers/dashmat-suedemat-dashboard-cover-42445071.html
O0EPgEs.png


I ended up getting #2

Dashmat arrived and I had a bad feeling it wasn't going to work well.

5014ddb53f8f400b45a974ee77b57a42.jpg

e747a0944542aa1a85d1f6bfb3ec1bf9.jpg

ad1246fe8d99748595c8c47408ff435a.jpg

1d142a6aad26825e39d5f6734634fc88.jpg


Here's a quick test with and without, not a good dashcam dashmat at all. (no CPL during this test)

fPxR7F2.png


X6OShDJ.png



Before returning it, I decided I could at least draw draw a template of the dashmat I'm returning on large paper so I can tailor make my own form fitting DIY dashmat.

95bf97dabe13f3be61b0addb922eaf34.jpg


Decided I should probably trace it right side up.

f5eee618019ead07325e830762010361.jpg


I took side photos with depth measurements of the two hump areas as well. I'm gong to ask my local tailor to create it. It will probably cost the same or less when I'm done as the original I'm returning. $70 USD

Question is, which material do I buy/try?

I'd like to know where I can buy a roll of this Viper Black material they are making t-shirts with. It's supposed to be nearly half as effective as the VantaBlack material.

http://mashable.com/2015/11/18/blacker-than-black-clothes/#j8IVCkxc0aqA

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/phoebeheess/viperblack-the-blacker-than-black-t-shirt

VantaBlack is in spray form now as well

https://www.google.com/amp/www.tele...--and-its-now-available-as/amp/?client=safari

And is even blacker than the 2014 edition

https://www.google.com/amp/www.mirr...-material-watch-man-7538974.amp?client=safari
 
Hmm... I need to do this.
As long as it does look ugly and cheap, I don't mind.
Good ideas!
 
I will line my felt with rubber on the back side, just remembered my friend have several square meters of pond liner lying he never used, and thats nice "thick" rubber made for lining garden ponds.
So now praying for decent weather in the weekend,
Today is stay at home day, tomorrow is drive the little RC trucks in the forest day, and friday is hopefully win 570.000.000 DKKr in lotto day.
 
@kamkar 1 good luck for friday fingers are crossed for you Welcome to the world of the retired only thing is time goes past like an express train there never seems to be enough hours in the day .... thanks for your photos of the dashmat and the other contributors also its given me food for thought ....Ipol
 
Time have been going too fast for me for a long time, some times i think back to that time 3-4 years ago, and then my friend ruin everything by saying, "dude that was like 10 years ago we did that" :confused:
 
Time have been going too fast for me for a long time, some times i think back to that time 3-4 years ago, and then my friend ruin everything by saying, "dude that was like 10 years ago we did that" :confused:
And it's easy to confuse what day of the week it is.
I am staying home for months and many times i confuse Fridays with other days so don't go to the forest on Saturday instead. :D
 
Im confused why the hell i made this post in general dashcams and not the DIY section where it off course belong, must have been a small aneurysm.
 
I saw those dash mats with the holes when I was shopping and somehow intuitively knew they might be a problem for the anti-reflectivity purposes we dash camers buy them for, so I was able to dodge that bullet.

I think if you find the right fabric for your custom made one you probably won't need to spray it with anything. I would recommend paint rather than plasti-dip so that it soaks into the fabric rather than making a crusty layer on top but then again if you use do plasti-dip it doesn't matter what sort of fabric you use.

I think if you pay a visit to a good well stocked fabric store and tell them what you are looking for they will probably be able to recommend something or provide samples to test out on your dash. Look at velours.

Photographic and theatrical velours may be the best option for a DIY dash mat. Check out Wizard Velour or Black Merlin as two examples.

BTW, I found some of the same exact dash mats you linked to on Amazon for way less than these automotive specialty shops sell them for. I paid 40 dollars on Amazon with free shipping for the one I saw on Auto Anything for more than 60.




I'm ready to make my own dashmat for my 2015 Ford Explorer Sport.

Here's where I'm at. (need help picking the right material, or maybe I'll plasti-dip/spray paint like the above suggestion)

I thought I could just buy a pre-made one ready to go. Here were the black suede choices. (I think #2 & #6 have potential) Judge the material only, photos aren't of a Ford Explorer.

http://www.autoanything.com/dash-ma...52989A0A0A6A10A1.aspx?N=4294950910+4294957102
1)
dash_designs_brushed_suede.jpg


2)
dash_topper_sedona_suede_dashboard_cover_black_.jpg


3)
dashmat_suede_dashboard_cover_aa_black.jpg


4)
dash-topper_brushed_suede_dashboard_8413.jpg


5)
coverking_suede_dash_cover_black.jpg


6)
http://www.carid.com/2015-ford-explorer-dash-covers/dashmat-suedemat-dashboard-cover-42445071.html
O0EPgEs.png


I ended up getting #2

Dashmat arrived and I had a bad feeling it wasn't going to work well.

5014ddb53f8f400b45a974ee77b57a42.jpg

e747a0944542aa1a85d1f6bfb3ec1bf9.jpg

ad1246fe8d99748595c8c47408ff435a.jpg

1d142a6aad26825e39d5f6734634fc88.jpg


Here's a quick test with and without, not a good dashcam dashmat at all. (no CPL during this test)

fPxR7F2.png


X6OShDJ.png



Before returning it, I decided I could at least draw draw a template of the dashmat I'm returning on large paper so I can tailor make my own form fitting DIY dashmat.

95bf97dabe13f3be61b0addb922eaf34.jpg


Decided I should probably trace it right side up.

f5eee618019ead07325e830762010361.jpg


I took side photos with depth measurements of the two hump areas as well. I'm gong to ask my local tailor to create it. It will probably cost the same or less when I'm done as the original I'm returning. $70 USD

Question is, which material do I buy/try?

I'd like to know where I can buy a roll of this Viper Black material they are making t-shirts with. It's supposed to be nearly half as effective as the VantaBlack material.

http://mashable.com/2015/11/18/blacker-than-black-clothes/#j8IVCkxc0aqA

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/phoebeheess/viperblack-the-blacker-than-black-t-shirt

VantaBlack is in spray form now as well

https://www.google.com/amp/www.tele...--and-its-now-available-as/amp/?client=safari

And is even blacker than the 2014 edition

https://www.google.com/amp/www.mirr...-material-watch-man-7538974.amp?client=safari
 
Last edited:
20 buks at that prize range is a good save :cool:
 
I'd like to know where I can buy a roll of this Viper Black material they are making t-shirts with. It's supposed to be nearly half as effective as the VantaBlack material.

http://mashable.com/2015/11/18/blacker-than-black-clothes/#j8IVCkxc0aqA

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/phoebeheess/viperblack-the-blacker-than-black-t-shirt

VantaBlack is in spray form now as well

https://www.google.com/amp/www.tele...--and-its-now-available-as/amp/?client=safari

And is even blacker than the 2014 edition

https://www.google.com/amp/www.mirr...-material-watch-man-7538974.amp?client=safari

I sent an email to the ViperBlack kick starter company in Germany.

Response:

"Hi Jon,

we are just starting to produce the fabric and simply don't have it yet.

There is really no reason why we shouldn't send you a piece then. Can you please remind me in a month?

Best
Gabriel"
 
Back
Top