It’s a Stick-Up

Just about everyone has an electronic device in their vehicle these days. Internal Bluetooth connectivity has reduced the need to find a place for a phone, but there are other devices — think tablets, GPS displays, tire-pressure monitors and performance-equipment information screens — that need to find a home somewhere in the cockpit. Using brackets with suction cups is a logical solution, but most cheap versions will not stick very well — and even many of the professed higher-quality versions drop off the window over time, especially when the sun beats down.

My nemesis is the suction cup bracket that holds a Bully Dog monitor, which provides engine and transmission temperatures, turbo boost and other performance-related information for my RAM pickup. Even though I ponied up additional money for the better, proprietary bracket, it only lasted for a few days before falling off the windshield, allowing the monitor to crash onto the dash. Applying water to the suction-cup surface before mounting helped — but not enough to keep it in place for extended periods of time. Then I coated the surface with vegetable oil after reading about this practice on the Internet — yes, some things you read online actually work, though they still demand a “test and verify” approach — and the bracket has not come off the windshield in more than 16 months.

RV Enthusiast magazine Technical Director Bill Gehr did the same thing for his suction-cup brackets, and found they, too, “stick like crazy.” He even applied the oil to a bracket for this phone that was “stuck” to the dash, and it hasn’t budged, either. While tow-vehicle cockpits may not afford much open dash space to add multiple suction-cup brackets, motorhome owners should have a plethora of available space to mount electrical devices.

It’s a given that all mounting brackets are not equal. I found the products offered by Ram Mounts (rammount.com) to be among the best in the business. The company has an extensive list of brackets designed to hold just about anything with a screen — and hold the device securely with little wiggle. For those who want what I’d consider to be the ultimate in suction-cup performance, look at Seasucker (seasucker.com), a company that produces professional-grade brackets designed to stick to smooth surfaces with alacrity. These brackets are not cheap, but they are stout; the Flex-X Phone Mount sells for $80.

Kudos, by the way, to the unknown person(s) who first discovered that vegetable oil will make suction-cup brackets do what they are supposed to do. I can’t imagine how that might’ve come about (“Honey, let’s try what you have in the kitchen. Mayonnaise? Nope. Ketchup? Nope. Vegetable oil? Nope…no, wait! That’s it!”) but it sure took the frustration out of mounting devices in my tow vehicle.