General Reducing the reflection from the top of the dash

Liteboy · Jun 21, 2020

I am planning to trim the top of the dash in alacantra to reduce the reflected sun light as there are points on my wife's journey to and from work where the reflection is dangerous even with sunglasses on. Before I go in like a bull in a china shop does anyone know how easy it is to remove the vent cover from the top surface of the dash.

The Pretender · Jun 21, 2020

There is a Airbag that pop out on top in case of a accident.
When you put Alcantara over it, you compromise the working of the airbag.

Liteboy · Jun 21, 2020

Ah, the last car I did was a trackday/race scooby so hadn't considered the airbag. Will have to think of something else to do to give it a matt finish.

R1NGA · Jun 22, 2020

I suspect that polarised sunglasses are the easiest solution. All Pandas suffer from the same issue in truth and dash-top covers always look a bit skanky in my mind.

jimboy · Jun 22, 2020

You can buy dash mats, but it would be easy to make your own. Securing with Velcro would be the easiest solution.

KPat · Jun 22, 2020

A simple solution. I just put a black towel on mine. It protects it from solar heat and UV damage as well.

babbo_umbro · Jun 22, 2020

This has come up before - the reflection is a pain - the only satisfactory answer seems to be polarising specs.

Herts Hillhopper · Jun 22, 2020

As a simple solution, (on my previous car - not got round to doing this one yet), a piece of 'flocked' black 'sticky backed plastic' just on the area in front of the driver does a reasonable job... OK, the passenger still can't see but its better for the driver. I have the heated front windscreen and that adds to the effect, as low sun 'twinkles' off the wires in some situations. Since I wear glasses all the time, polarising sunglasses not an easy option for me

AndyRKett · Jun 26, 2020

Get the dash Flocked, i believe it can even be done in situ .
Herts Hillhopper I wear glasses all the time also, I have prescription sunglasses and they have always been polarised.
Talking to some pilot friends, for flying you don't want polarised sunglasses as they can obscure warning lights and screens in glass cockpit planes, apparently it is very hard to get non polarised sunglasses.

Herts Hillhopper · Jun 26, 2020

Thanks Andy. I too have prescription sunglasses but they are not polarised - that option is not available at Specsavers or VisionExpress, at least, not with Varifocals. I do have a pair of clip on polarised sunglasses which I do use for long drives west into the sun, when I remember

AndyRKett · Jun 26, 2020

Maybe its a varifocal thing? mine are very basic glasses basically I have one bad eye so need the glasses to correct distance vision in that one eye. Nothing fancy required, my current glasses are spec savers best.

Liteboy · Jun 28, 2020

OK so far we have tried polarised sunglasses, not any real improvement. Tried Armorall Matt cleaner, again not improved. Next on the list is to try the alacantra just held in place with blutac to see if it works. I have found how the passenger airbag deploys so there is an option to fix the alacantra down in such a way as not to interfere with deployment. Will update after the test fitting.

babbo_umbro · Jun 28, 2020

Liteboy said:
OK so far we have tried polarised sunglasses, not any real improvement. Tried Armorall Matt cleaner, again not improved. Next on the list is to try the alacantra just held in place with blutac to see if it works. I have found how the passenger airbag deploys so there is an option to fix the alacantra down in such a way as not to interfere with deployment. Will update after the test fitting.

Surprised the polarising glasses don't sort it.

AndyRKett · Jun 28, 2020

babbo_umbro said:
Surprised the polarising glasses don't sort it.

Depends on the direction of the polarisation, also light reflecting off the dash is not going to be polarised so really the lenses would only theoretically cut maybe half of the reflecting light.

Herts Hillhopper · Jun 28, 2020

AndyRKett said:
Depends on the direction of the polarisation, also light reflecting off the dash is not going to be polarised so really the lenses would only theoretically cut maybe half of the reflecting light.

Light reflected from low-angle sun reflected from a reflecting, horizontal surface (typically water or snow, but can be any shiny surface) will be pretty-well polarised. Polarising glasses always have the same angle of polarisation - basically vertically, to block the horizontally polarised light of reflections from horizontal surfaces, since that's when they are most needed... sort of the point of polarised lenses

Its all to do with the Brewster Angle: http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/sc545_notes08/brewster.html and then a long explanation of this... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster's_angle

AndyRKett · Jun 28, 2020

Herts Hillhopper said:
Light reflected from low-angle sun reflected from a reflecting, horizontal surface (typically water or snow, but can be any shiny surface) will be pretty-well polarised. Polarising glasses always have the same angle of polarisation - basically vertically, to block the horizontally polarised light of reflections from horizontal surfaces, since that's when they are most needed... sort of the point of polarised lenses

Its all to do with the Brewster Angle: http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/sc545_notes08/brewster.html and then a long explanation of this... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster's_angle

Not really designed for a dashboard then

Herts Hillhopper · Jun 28, 2020

??? Can’t see why not. Works perfectly...
Panda in the shade so this my other car. Polarised glasses held in front of phone camera and turned 90 degrees between the photos. Second shot, with glasses the way they’d be on your face, less reflection from dash and the screen too. Trust m e - works even better with the Panda's hard plastic dash top... but can't be bothered to move the car to prove it

Liteboy · Jul 3, 2020

So we have cut the alacanta to size and temporarily fixed it down with blutac. It made an immediate difference, no glare from the dash just a small amount from the dash vent but we can live with that. Going to do the final fit over the weekend.

AB100 · Jul 3, 2020

Herts Hillhopper said:
??? Can’t see why not. Works perfectly...
Panda in the shade so this my other car. Polarised glasses held in front of phone camera and turned 90 degrees between the photos. Second shot, with glasses the way they’d be on your face, less reflection from dash and the screen too. Trust m e - works even better with the Panda's hard plastic dash top... but can't be bothered to move the car to prove it

Yep. Not unlike the circular polarising filter we use on our cameras. Turned one way we get max reflection (the trees reflected in a lake) and turned the other way to kill reflection (see the fish under the water). Nice.

General Reducing the reflection from the top of the dash

Currently reading: General Reducing the reflection from the top of the dash

Member

Member

Established member

Distinguished member

Distinguished member

Member

Established member

Distinguished member

Distinguished member

Attachments

Member

Established member

Similar threads

Currently reading:
General Reducing the reflection from the top of the dash