Sticking to Ford plastics

agrinnall

I have recently bought a dash cam for my 2015 Fiesta and in order to tidy up the power cable where it's not tucked away behind the trim I'd like to be able to stick the cable to the dash and central console plastic along the way.

However, none of the things I've tried so far seem to work, they either won't stay attached to the plastic (eg Blu-tak) or the cable won't adhere (eg Bostic glue dots).

I think what I need is something that will stay stuck to the plastic and will enclose the cable on application, but that will be removable at a later date. The only thing I've found that looks like it might work is a hot glue gun, but the cost is prohibitive.

Any suggestions?

pappa_golf

£5 for a hot glue gun on ebay with free glue sticks

phoenix_w

PG is right. I bought a hot glue gun from hobbycraft the other day for a fiver... Also extremely useful for hanging up xmas decorations to brickwork... :-)

EdGasket

How is the cost of a hot melt glue gun prohibitive?

Asside from that, you won't get the melted glue off the plastic cleanly if you want to remove it later. The heat needed to remelt the glue will also damage the surrounding plastic to some extent and not all the glue will come away in any case.

martinthebandit

https://www.amazon.co.uk/6-Black-Cable-Tidy-Clips/dp/B00HXVFYFK

I have used similar to these in the past, worked well for me.

phoenix_w

EdGasket wrote: »

Asside from that, you won't get the melted glue off the plastic cleanly if you want to remove it later. The heat needed to remelt the glue will also damage the surrounding plastic to some extent and not all the glue will come away in any case.

No need to unglue glue gun glue from (some, most?) hard non-porous surfaces, it peels off with enough force on it, or you could scrape it off with a stanley knife blade. Of course, you may actually yank the trim off the car or badly scratch it using a knife blade...

epninety

http://sugru.com

Norman_Castle

Has the cars plastic been polished with a wax based polish?

neilmcl

agrinnall wrote: »

I have recently bought a dash cam for my 2015 Fiesta and in order to tidy up the power cable where it's not tucked away behind the trim I'd like to be able to stick the cable to the dash and central console plastic along the way.

However, none of the things I've tried so far seem to work, they either won't stay attached to the plastic (eg Blu-tak) or the cable won't adhere (eg Bostic glue dots).

I think what I need is something that will stay stuck to the plastic and will enclose the cable on application, but that will be removable at a later date. The only thing I've found that looks like it might work is a hot glue gun, but the cost is prohibitive.

Any suggestions?

Presumably the camera is located up near your rear view mirror? The usual way to route the cable is push under the roof lining over the passenger A-pillar and down to below the glove compartment behind the door frame rubber. You can then fit cable clips with 3M VHB adhesive tape under the glove compartment and bring the cable through.

Clips like this should do the trick.

Deneb

Always advisable to degrease plastic before trying to stick anything to it. If its a hard plastic I'd suggest a quick wipe with cloth dabbed into a small amount of acetone, but test on a hidden area first.
Halfords and the DIY sheds sell a permanent double sided tape which I've found works well - I have a plastic disc to mount my satnav stuck to the top of the dashboard with that tape.

agrinnall

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I think I must have first seen an expensive glue gun (around £65 as I recall) so thought that was the price, but I can now see that they are available for a lot less.

I've no idea if the plastic has been polished, it's as it came out of whatever factory it was made in, but perhaps degreasing would be worth a try anyway.

Sugru looks quite interesting, I hadn't come across that before.

I'll probably go with cable clips of the type recommended by martin and neil, but I think there are enough good suggestions here that I'll find something that will work.