Mounting Vacuum Base Holder on Rough Surfaces

Intro: Mounting Vacuum Base Holder on Rough Surfaces

Everyone knows in order to mount a vacuum base holder one need a perfectly smooth surface. And since there are not so many such surfaces in your car most people usually mount GPS/cellphone holders on the wind shield even though it is not always the best place for it.

Actually, we can attach a vacuum holder to quite a rough surface with the help of reusable adhesive material called Patafix.

In case you are not familiar with it it's very useful stuff with a texture of an (already chewed) gum. It easily sticks and un-sticks just like Post-It notes and it also can be bought in Office Depot.

STEP 1:

Apply 1-2mm (0.1") thick tube of the Patafix on the perimeter of the vacuum cup.

After you press down the holder the material will fill the small bumps on the surface and hermetically seal the cup.

Note that the Patafix was applied not on the extreme outer edge of the cup but rather a little bit closer to the center. This is because there is a plastic cup above the silicone vacuum cup and we need to have the Patafix under (on this upside-down picture it's above) the rim of the plastic cup.

Thus when you press the plastic cup it will apply greater force to the layer of the Patafix.

STEP 2:

Attach the holder the press on the plastic cup as hard as you can to let the Patafix fill all the bumps and pores of the surface.

Hold it for a couple of seconds then without letting it go apply the lock.

STEP 3:

The holder is now mounted as firmly as if it was attached to glass. Notice that even the notch running below the holder was perfectly sealed.

Patafix is an excellent material which can be easily removed without leaving any traces even after being exposed to extreme heat of the car parked under direct sun light in summer.

This hack allowed me to mount my cellphone holder so close to the driving wheel so now I can dial without even taking my hands off the wheel and my eyes off the road. But, please, don't text and drive!

Comments

[OrenM1]

working great, with Blutac too.

thanks for the tip!

[philh77]

Great tip. Thank you very much. Just what I need.

[rmcqcc]

Please just be careful where you apply something to your dashboard. With cars these days being fitted out with multiple airbags (one of my cars has 12 airbags to surround the passengers), you don't want to apply something like this over an airbag "port". In the event of an accident, you may find yourself getting slammed in the face by your GPS or radar detector or something when the airbag deploys.

[jackhab]

In most of the cases the driver's airbag is located in the steering wheel and that of the passenger is above the glove compartment. Your advise should certainly be taken into consideration during installation.

[bond815]

Don't have an Office Depot near me and a search for Patafix on their web site shows no results. In face, searching for Patafix on Google shows no retailers in the U.S. Any ideas?

[Wezard]

Is patafix the same as (or similar enough to) Blutac?

[jackhab]

Seems like it's the same.

[zazenergy]

i love parafix! great use of it.

[mr.incredible]

Great idea!