Making your own dashmat

The other components of my dash board have been much more problematic and are the things the tend reflect in the windscreen blocking the view in front of traffic.

That's never going to let when the sun is out. The dash-mat appears to be performing as intended.
 
So, @harsh, here are a couple of older pre-dash mat screen shots that show just how bad things could get under certain lighting. So, indeed the defroster vents are within the bonnet area but that was the least of my worries. With the dash mat, reflections like you see here have been completely vanquished.

reflection1.jpg

reflection2.jpg
 
Edit: You are right about those defroster vents though, but most vehicles should be somewhat similar. The other components of my dash board have been much more problematic and are the things that tend to reflect in the windscreen blocking the view in front of traffic.
Couldn't agree more.

Some people complain that DYI dashmats cover the speaker and vent grills but in most cases (I'd even risk saying 'in all cases') it's ok to leave them uncovered (the defroster vents MUST be unobstructed, anyway) because these are usually placed on the dashboard in places where their reflection don't interfere with what's important in the footage, even if the vehicle's bonnet/hood isn't as wide and long as yours.
 
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Here is a good demonstration of how effective a dash mat can be. I left a "pay & display" parking lot ticket on my dash board, on top of the dash mat and this is what you get. There is no CPL in use here.

This is my commercial brushed suede mat that I spray painted with ultra-flat black camo paint.

View attachment 29465

Beautiful picture, (Mobius 1 ?). It's very clear (no pun intended) to me that the right mat is an extremely important item. Interesting that "State Police is so clear to see and the license plate isn't.
 
Beautiful picture, (Mobius 1 ?). It's very clear (no pun intended) to me that the right mat is an extremely important item. Interesting that "State Police is so clear to see and the license plate isn't.

That screen shot is from an SG9665GC.

Probably the reason you can't read the Trooper's license plate number is because there is a film of dirt on it. This time of year around these parts we are just entering what is called "mud season" and just about everyone's car is a mess to one degree or the other. Living on a dirt road as I do my truck is coated with a layer of mud and grime at the moment and the rear of the vehicle gets especially bad. My license plate is probably almost unreadable from any distance. Until "mud season" ends it's not even worth washing the truck because it will be a mess again by the time I get home. :)
 
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That screen shot is from an SG9665GC.

Probably the reason you can't read the Trooper's license plate number is because there is a film of dirt on it. This time of year around these parts we are just entering what is called "mud season" and just about everyone's car is a mess to one degree or the other. Living on a dirt road as I do my truck is coated with a layer of mud and grime at the moment and the rear of the vehicle gets especially bad. My license plate is probably almost unreadable from any distance. Until "mud season" ends it's not even worth wash the truck because it will be a mess again by the time I get home. :)

I know what you mean! I live on a back road also and my neighbor drives tractor and trailer loads of hay, so I get it all over my truck 24/7, however they are really nice people so I just live with it :D:rolleyes:.
 
Its always nice to deal with "people of the land", or at least for the most.
Its far worse dealing with "people of the town"
It is like the more congested a area become the stupid factor go up more than the shear number of people can account for.
Also a factor why i dislike the largest town here in Denmark ( our capitol ) okay smaller big towns here too, my birth town the #2 in size here i also do my best to stay away from, at least downtown during rush hour.
Even walking i dont like rubbing shoulders with Danes, but you can put me in the middle of 10X that in Japanese or something and it dont bother me the least.
 
I used the store locater and found it in stock near by.

http://www.rustoleum.com/pages/help-and-support/store-locator

I know this is from quite a way back in the thread - just been reading the whole thing through, I think I'd have H&S concerns though about using this paint on a dash mat:

http://www.rustoleum.com/MSDS/ENGLISH/1916830.pdf


The parts that particularly would be of concern to me are:

Stability and Reactivity (would seem to apply to cured product)

CONDITIONS TO AVOID:
Avoid temperatures above 120 ° F.

HAZARDOUS DECOMPOSITION:
By open flame, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. When heated to decomposition, it emits
acrid smoke and irritating fumes. Contains solvents which may form carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and formaldehyde.


Although with the latter, open flame is unlikely, if you got temps above 120 I'd personally be worried of slow decomposition and out gassing of formaldehyde vapours which are now possibly implicated in cancers according to some sources:

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer...ances/formaldehyde/formaldehyde-fact-sheet#q4

Also, the solvent sentence implies that the solvents may emit formaldehyde in any event ie without high temps as I read it, which suggests that mere usage could result in formaldehyde exposure, not something I'd think was healthy in a very small enclosed environment like a car.

Just putting aside possible break down products under heat, most surfaces break down and form dust over time and there's a whole host of nasty sounding things in there. I'd suggest paint onto fibre is much more likely to separate from the fibre as dust / flecks than it would be if sprayed onto surfaces that it's designed to be applied to. There is a specific warning for Carbon Black about sanding which suggests specifically that the dust can be hazardous especially over a long period of exposure. Whether the levels would be hazardous is another thing, but I personally think sometimes it's better to err on the side of caution or at the very least contact the manufacturer about your unusual intended use.

It probably is safe, but the 120 ° F limit especially could be reached in a car, and given the likelihood of dust formation from paint / fibre separation / the natural breakdown of fibres to dust, I'd personally err on the side of caution of using this on fabrics which is not it's intended use.

It maybe safer to simply search for a fabric that's certified as non flammable and accepted as safe rather than trying to concoct your own frankenstein fabric and leave the paint instead to it's intended safe usage on metals, plastics etc.
 
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As someone with 30+ years experience with paints (including some nasty ones not generally available to the public) I can assure you that the MSDS data given here applies almost entirely to the product before and during use, not afterward ;) The 120 degree restriction 1s for the stored product, not for the installed and cured product as overheating can burst the pressurized can. You get more carbon black from driving the car than you'll ever get from the dashmat (tire dust) and almost all of the off-gassing of the paint vehicle (solvents) occurs during the application and initial curing where the smell is enough to keep sane people at a safe distance from it.

As I said earlier here, I recommend letting paint cure in open air and sun for a dew days or more as the fresh-paint odor (off-gassing) will be strong in a closed car initially. In a cured (dry) condition this paint is relatively safe even in the context of it adding to other chemicals and compounds in your environment now. Just don't eat your dashmat and you'll be fine :p

Good for c4rc4m doing some safety investigating for us here :D but applying the data you find properly is as important as what that data is. If you looked into all the stuff used and created in the making of just one (unpainted or painted) dashmat as a whole from start to finish of every item, you'd wonder how we survive yet another day in this modern world, but if it is all dealt with correctly the risks and dangers are relatively small, especially in the finished product :cool:

Phil
 
As another person with extensive educations and work experience in surface treatment and among that painting, i have to agree with sawmaster above.

In general when a paint have set you are in the safe unless you start to gnaw on it and eat it, fumes and so on should be gone by then.

The really nasty paints are hard to get now, and even harder to get a permission to use, and in general you got to have the paint made to order.
Left over is what i call finger-paint, and thats all water-based paints.

Thru time there have been some really nasty paints, and the lead based ones are in the low end of that scale of nasty stuff.
The lead paints was pretty much only nasty ( after applying it and it have set ) if you chewed on it, as many of us have when we was young, and then off course if it was used in a place where it would filter down and into the environment such as antifouling paints for ship hulls.

Not that its all joy and happiness now, there is still a lot of nasty stuff out there, like flame inhibitors in plastics and Printed Circuit Boards, and there are some nasty stuff used to make plastic softer and so on.
So the fight against nasty stuff is a ongoing battle, and as we have seen in products in and out of China, some evil persons will sell just about anything to people.

Just have a look at what some fake perfumes have inside them, ranging from waste chemicals to human pee and what not.

Always look out for your personal safety
 
I know a Chemical Engineer whose company produces specialized coatings, mostly for aircraft use, including for the military. While he revealed no secrets we did discuss a few things and one was a coating he alone makes. It took years of research to perfect and was so toxic that the advanced mixing and application stages have to be done in totally sealed areas by machines only. I recognized parts of the chemical names he rattled off like machine-gun bullets as if everybody comprehended those words as well as he does, and it was enough for me to understand some of the problems he encountered as well as the dangers involved. Rocket fuel is a million times safer and easier ;)

That's one of the things I thoroughly enjoy about my work; I've met some very diverse and highly intelligent people who have fascinating stories to tell about how they made their mark on the world. That allows me to more easily forget about the people I've met from the other end of life :p

Phil
 
Im not certified for working with MIL SPEC paints, but my friend was/is.
And i was hoping to get a job at Terma that make a lot of MIL spec and Space spec gear, but sadly they did not take me, so there whent my chance to finally work with some real PROs unlike the ISO 9001 wanna be pros i have worked with.

It is indeed a pleasure to work with and learn form a pro, but sadly many PROs are just assumed PROs that will jump where the fence is lowest if they get the chance.
Thats why i wanted to get in on MIL and SPACE spec jobs, cuz there is no jumping fences there, it either is okay, or you do it over,,, no BS it will do.
I have applied for jobs at Terma several times, but a written application have never been my strong side, and thats all they do for security reasons.
https://www.terma.com/
 
Posts like we see above are unnecessarily misleading and alarmist, ignore the actual facts presented in the cited SDS and reach unsupportable conclusions and assumptions.

Firstly, virtually all of the ingredients mentioned in the SDS are VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and as such (as pointed out by @SawMaster and @kamkar1) these will quickly evaporate rather quickly in the first few hours and days after application. That is why they are called "volatile." And all of these chemicals are applied in spray aerosol form, hence their danger to the person doing the application and the primary reason for the warnings and precautions. Once dry, the paint is completely stable. The only concern regarding the dried product mentioned in the SDS is if you were to sand a hard surface on which the paint was previously applied, thereby creating a breathable dust.

The notion that the hazards cited in the SDS "would seem to apply to the cured product" as c4rc4m claims are not in any way mentioned or even implied in the SDS and this is indeed an example of one of the unsupportable assumptions that I mentioned above. The product is described as " stable under normal storage conditions" and only likely to become more so after drying and curing.

The "HAZARDOUS DECOMPOSITION - When heated to decomposition, it emits acrid smoke and irritating fumes" is simply a reference to what will happen if the product is burning and on fire. They are NOT talking about the applied product decomposing on a hot dash board nor do they even bother to mention sunlight or UV rays which typically are causes of paint deterioration. If your car is on fire, the burning dash mat will probably be low on the list of toxic fume sources.

I've had my Rust-Oleum spray painted dash mat in my vehicle now for a year and a half. There is no sign of any deterioration, out-gassing, odors, flaking or dust. It looks unchanged and intact (and attractive) as it did on the day I installed it. The paint was for the most part absorbed into the dash mat fabric which helps make the application especially stable.

Of course, any concerns about any pollutants or VOCs being introduced into one's automobile cabin because of some dry spray paint ignores all the usual contaminants, VOCs and particulate matter that already exist at all times in every motor vehicle emanating from typical car interior parts and materials such as seat fabrics, carpeting, headliners, a wide variety of plastics, synthetics and rubbers, along with modern high strength adhesives. Introducing a spray painted dash mat to one's motor vehicle should be of no additional consequence or serious concern.
 
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Posts like we see above are unnecessarily misleading and alarmist, ignore the actual facts presented in the cited SDS and reach unsupportable conclusions and assumptions.

Firstly, virtually all of the ingredients mentioned in the SDS are VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and as such (as pointed out by @SawMaster and @kamkar1) these will quickly evaporate rather quickly in the first few hours and days after application. That is why they are called "volatile." And all of these chemicals are applied in spray aerosol form, hence their danger to the person doing the application and the primary reason for the warnings and precautions. Once dry, the paint is completely stable. The only concern regarding the dried product mentioned in the SDS is if you were to sand a hard surface on which the paint was previously applied, thereby creating a breathable dust.

The notion that the hazards cited in the SDS "would seem to apply to the cured product" as c4rc4m claims are not in any way mentioned or even implied in the SDS and this is indeed an example of one of the unsupportable assumptions that I mentioned above. The product is described as " stable under normal storage conditions" and only likely to become more so after drying and curing.

The "HAZARDOUS DECOMPOSITION - When heated to decomposition, it emits acrid smoke and irritating fumes" is simply a reference to what will happen if the product is burning and on fire. They are NOT talking about the applied product decomposing on a hot dash board nor do they even bother to mention sunlight or UV rays which typically are causes of paint deterioration. If your car is on fire, the burning dash mat will probably be low on the list of toxic fume sources.

I've had my Rust-Oleum spray painted dash mat in my vehicle now for a year and a half. There is no sign of any deterioration, out-gassing, odors, flaking or dust. It looks unchanged and intact (and attractive) as it did on the day I installed it. The paint was for the most part absorbed into the dash mat fabric which helps make the application especially stable.

Of course, any concerns about any pollutants or VOCs being introduced into one's automobile cabin because of some dry spray paint ignores all the usual contaminants, VOCs and particulate matter that already exist at all times in every motor vehicle emanating from typical car interior parts and materials such as seat fabrics, carpeting, headliners, a wide variety of plastics, synthetics and rubbers, along with modern high strength adhesives. Introducing a spray painted dash mat to one's motor vehicle should be of no consequence or serious concern .


When you painted your mat, before spraying, did you fluff up the Knapp, brush it down smooth or what? Since yours turned out so nice, I'll use your technique. :D
 
When you painted your mat, before spraying, did you fluff up the Knapp, brush it down smooth or what? Since yours turned out so nice, I'll use your technique. :D

I kind of just brushed it off to remove any stray lint, placed it flat on a sheet of plastic out in the back yard that I'd previously used for some other painting projects and sprayed it with two coats. That was about it. :)

I remember being surprised that the paint soaked in the way it did and was concerned that this might be an issue but the project came out much nicer looking and worked better than expected.
 
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If your car is on fire, the burning dash mat will probably be low on the list of toxic fume sources.
Agreed, and I should know having tested the theory recently
upload_2017-3-5_18-54-57.jpeg
Also note that G1Wc cams do not function in this kind of heat and I miss mine more than the car :p

Phil
 
Just parking when my nephew said my car was dripping fire on his driveway :eek: I pulled down the road a bit and didn't have enough extinguisher to call a cease-fire. I also didn't have enough sense to grab the cam when I bailed out but I did save the junk in the trunk. About 6 minutes later the fire department had it put out and I had it towed home where the pic was taken.

I miss that cam- it's images were unbelievably sharp and clear. I also miss the C8 flashlight I had in the console and the Efest cell which was in it. The car was nearly dead anyway, just me squeezing the last miles out of it. The fire was a power-steering fluid leak which got on the exhaust manifold and went 'foof'.


Phil
 
Just parking when my nephew said my car was dripping fire on his driveway :eek: I pulled down the road a bit and didn't have enough extinguisher to call a cease-fire. I also didn't have enough sense to grab the cam when I bailed out but I did save the junk in the trunk. About 6 minutes later the fire department had it put out and I had it towed home where the pic was taken.

I miss that cam- it's images were unbelievably sharp and clear. I also miss the C8 flashlight I had in the console and the Efest cell which was in it. The car was nearly dead anyway, just me squeezing the last miles out of it. The fire was a power-steering fluid leak which got on the exhaust manifold and went 'foof'.


Phil

I guess I'll say it again, YIKES! :eek:
 
'Twarn't nuthin. My first roasted ride was a huge Oldsmobile 98 where the fuel line blew off at highway speed at night. Flames were coming through every opening between hood and fenders as well as from underneath the car. The power brake hose melted instantly and you don't stop two tons of car quickly without power brakes. I had both feet on the brake pedal pressing with all I had and the car only slowed gently. I threw it in park and bailed out about 5 MPH as I'd had enough at that point. It too was totally toasted when all was over.

Did I ever tell you that I'm a very lucky person? My luck is very good or very bad with very little of any other kind of luck happening :rolleyes: At least I'm a survivor :cool:

Phil
 
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