A Cell Phone Mount that Actually Lasts- Thanks to Sugru!
I don’t know about y’all, but I have never found a store-brought car cell phone holder that actually lasts for any significant amount of time. Whether they clip on to an air vent, stick on to the dash, or suction on to the windshield, they always fall within a few days to a few weeks. I often resort to sticking my phone in the drink holder so I can reference directions when I’m going somewhere new. But with my arthritis neck joints, this can be really painful. I also have to take my eyes off the road much more if I do this.
My grandparents recently gave me their old 1997 van; I have a car for the first time since February (my previous car was totaled after a tire blew out while I was driving on a highway. Fortunately, no one was hurt, just my car)! I optimistically bought a clip-on phone holder at the auto parts store when i was picking up some new windshield wiper blades and it fell down within 5 minutes. It was frankly just ridiculous.
Fortunately, I’ve found a solution! Sugru is this really cool clay like substance that is sticky and moldable at first, starts solidifying after thirty minutes, and is cured hard and strong in 24 hours! I used this to make a cell phone mount in my previous car too and it stayed put for over half a year. It lasted through my car accident and was still there when I sold the car to my insurance company.
It’s pretty easy to create this phone mount. I took the case off my phone and molded the Sugru around it. This gave me the exact dimensions I needed but was light enough that it didn’t mess up the Sugru while I was working with it.
I positioned the mount as close to my sight line as I could. Here, my phone is held firmly in place and is visible right over the right side of my steering wheel. It’s a non traditional area for it, but it works great.
I ended up using two packages of Sugru for this. I molded two holders under the phone, for it to sit on, and a holder on each side, to hold it in the right spot, sticking each holder solidly to the dash as I worked. You have 30 minutes to work with the Sugru before it starts setting, but I actually put this all together in just 5-10 minutes. I then let it cure for the next 24 hours and voila- a stable, solid, working cell phone mount!
It’s not the /prettiest/ mount out there, but it works perfectly for my needs.
Have you used Sugru? What problems did you fix with it?