black spots on front screen - fitting dashcam

[alexcalaxy]

Hi,

this is my first post. I have Toyota Corolla Hybrid Estate 1.8

I’m trying to fit a Dashcam to my front screen. To make the camera position discreet, I am trying to place the suction cup onto the black spotted area close to the rear-view mirror area, but the spots are raised like little bumps; this stops the sucker adhering and it falls off shortly afterwards. Has anyone else had experienced of this and is there a way to make the sucker cup stay stuck?

Thanks in advance.

[Ian.S]

You unlikely to get the sucker to stick. Best to use the sticky pads, if they are provided. I stick it to the black dotted area and have never had any problems removing the pad and glue. 

[Cyker]

Agreed - If you can feel them there's no way a suction cup will stick as suctions cups need a smooth flat surface.

It's interesting that they're raised on yours - On all my previous cars they were raised, so I had to use stickpads if I wanted to stick a Dashcam that high (And even then had to add some silicone glue because the bumps protruded so much even the sticky pad couldn't stick!), but on the Yaris Mk4 they seem to be painted on the laminate or something as they appear to be *in* the glass - The surface is totally smooth! - so for the first time ever I could stick something under them with no problems!  

[alexcalaxy]

1 hour ago, Ian.S said:

You unlikely to get the sucker to stick. Best to use the sticky pads, if they are provided. I stick it to the black dotted area and have never had any problems removing the pad and glue. 

 

3 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Agreed - If you can feel them there's no way a suction cup will stick as suctions cups need a smooth flat surface.

It's interesting that they're raised on yours - On all my previous cars they were raised, so I had to use stickpads if I wanted to stick a dashcam that high (And even then had to add some silicone glue because the bumps protruded so much even the sticky pad couldn't stick!), but on the Yaris Mk4 they seem to be painted on the laminate or something as they appear to be *in* the glass - The surface is totally smooth! - so for the first time ever I could stick something under them with no problems!  

Thanks guys. This was the lateral thinking i was hoping for here. the Dashcam is one that was in my previous car and the spots were in the glass also; no pads were included, can you give me a bit of an idea what i should look for and where i can get them? 

[Cyker]

What Dashcam is it?

If it's one from a named manufacturer, they usually sell sucker and sticky mounts for it.

If it's some generic chinese Dashcam, you can probably find a compatible universal mount on ebay/amazon.

[Ian.S]

You need to have a mount designed to use the sticky pads. Apart from the satnav pen ones the only reliable pads I have found are genuine 3M products. 

[alexcalaxy]

Thanks to all for useful advice. I searched shortly after asking for pad info, they were quite easy to find. Have 3M product on order.

[Dylanfan]

Silly question, what is the dotted area for?

[alexcalaxy]

I asked this question also; I believe it allows better adhesion to glue things to the screen.

[Rav4ster]

make sure camera lens is below the wipers' sweeping line, makes recordings useless otherwise.

[RabButler]

9 hours ago, Dylanfan said:

Silly question, what is the dotted area for?

Sunscreen.

[Cyker]

I always wondered too - Why not just put a top tint like they used to do if it's for sun shading? The dots thing is just weird...

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

I can't remember which car, but I remember one in the old top gear days on test, that had a flip down shaded piece of plastic between the sunshades.

Just covering that annoying gap which a low winter sun peeps through and dazzles the driver.

As the great arbiter of all things motoring Mr Clarkson said, it would be worth buying the car just because of this couple of quid piece of plastic on a hinge.

Mind you,if you think that bit of dazzle is bad, you want to try riding a large motorcycle with rain on the outside and inside of the helmet visor, and on your glasses while riding south into the sun in winter about 4 pm.

While your gf on the back is shouting that she cannot see, which is maybe a tad overreacting when she is not steering.

[Dylanfan]

The Citroen XM had a small "sun visor" above the interior mirror that filled the gap, worked a treat.

I can't see how these dotted areas are supposed to stop any light😎 

 

[Big_D]

This was copied and pasted from https://www.autoglaze.co.uk/ever-wondered-what-the-little-dots-around-a-windscreen-are-for/#:~:text=They use the black enamel,optical distortion or “lensing” and might help answer the earleir question

These dots are actually called frits. A frit is a painted black enamel that’s baked around the borders of a windscreen during the manufacturing process. They often start out as solid black bands near the edge, and gradually dissolve into small dots at the outer edge.  They are seen on windscreens and other parts of your car’s glass windows. And believe it or not, they actually serve four main purposes:

1. They serve as a contact point between the glass and car frame. They create “etches” on the surface, making them rougher so the adhesive can stick better to the glass.
2. They help preserve the urethane sealant used to bond the glass to the frame. They use the black enamel outside the windshield to block the sun’s ultraviolet rays from melting the adhesive underneath the band. This keeps the windows firmly glued in their place.
3. The black dots, or “dot matrix” actually help distribute temperature evenly to lessen optical distortion or “lensing”. This happens when the frit band (the solid black one) heats up much faster than the windscreen’s glass, creating an optical distortion that makes either straight lines look curved or bowed inwards toward the centre. Those “gradually sinking” black dots help lessen this phenomenon by dissipating the heat and spreading it out evenly.
4. Frits are also there for aesthetic purposes. If you look closely, the contrast between the dark band and the transparent glass can look too obvious even when viewed from afar. Creating a halftone pattern or “dot-matrix” allows a gradual decrease in size, making the transition much more subtle and easier on the eyes.

Frits are slowly evolving over the years and modern cars now add “third visor frits” right behind the rear-view mirror to block the sun between two sun visors.

So there you have it, those black little dots have a purpose after all!

[Dylanfan]

Thanks Big D, still a pain in the butt when using a suction cup. 

[twintopp]

to answer CYKER i think they stopped tinting the top of the screen because of the same reason you can`t tint the screen and front doors it`s something to do with the percentage of light allowed by law to pass through the glass.

[Big_D]

On 9/14/2022 at 7:43 AM, Dylanfan said:

Thanks Big D, still a pain in the butt when using a suction cup. 

I totally agree. I've had to mount mine to the side of them. I might try a sticky mount, but had a problem with this falling off due to the build up of heat (in my old car). I've only ever used the suction mount in the C-HR.