Phone mount recommendations for an FD
 

I'm looking for a good quality smartphone mount for my FD, and was wondering if anyone can recommend anything specific. My phone measures about 6.25"x3.25"x0.25", so pretty typical size. Pictures of your setup would be greatly appreciated.

Features I'm looking for:
- Sturdy & solid design, quality build. Keeps the phone steady with zero to minimal jiggle when driving the snot out of the FD.
- Not keen on windshield mounts; looking for something that mounts low and out of the way, like next to the HVAC/radio console panel
- Doesn't require me hack any of the interior plastics, or use adhesive pads that can't be removed without damaging the underlying surfaces.

I've got a double DIN Kenwood touchscreen head unit, and I use the Android Auto feature all the time. Right now my phone just sits on the passenger seat, plugged into the Kenwood's USB cable to use Android auto. Looking for something more passenger friendly that clears the clutter & keeps the USB cable in its place.

Hey Pete!

You'll probably get a lot of feedback on this. I've used one similar to this in my RX-8 and also had one in the FD for a while -


When you put your phone in it immediately grabs the phone which I like. Just squeeze the buttons on the side to remove.

Something like this does well, I had one in my FD before on the Dragon and it didn't budge even a little bit.

There are also the small magnet-type mounts as well, they do pretty good and you can stick the mount on nearly any surface.

That mount I linked does have a plastic disk with 3m adhesive you can stick to the dash then stick the suction cup to it. Or maybe hack it up and hard mount it to the dash somehow.

Dale

Dash mounts are not an option, IMO, as they leave a mark on your dash.

I went through several mounts before I found one I liked. Windshield mounts are no good because your phone sits in the sun and gets hot, the suction cup is prone to failure, and it blocks your vision.

I would recommend something from iOttie, either a vent clip mount (some types require gluing a magnet to the back of your phone) or the CD player mount type.

Vent clip to snap 25 year old brittle and no longer available plastic interior pieces? No thanks.

Windshield mounts work just fine and pose no risk to the interior.

Good discussion gents. I found this thing just now at JP3 Motorsports: https://jp3motorsports.com/products/...sory-mount-lhd

It's a bit pricey for what it is, and is designed to be used/paired with "RAM Mount System" products, but something like this should check all my boxes. I like that it doesn't require any hacking of interior plastics, or involve adhesives that will leave marks when removed. Also I'm not keen on suction cup windshield mounts - they block vision, tend to vibrate & fall off while driving, and then there's that USB cord I'll need to snake up to the phone. Ditto for the A/C vent mounts - don't want to risk breaking those unobtainium plastic bits.

Might use the JP3 design to inspire a similar home fabricated solution

I use a mount that sticks into the cigarette lighter and has goose neck to bend to the right of the steering wheel. Works well after I tightened the dash plug not to move.
SCOSCHE MAG12VB MagicMount Magnetic Power Outlet Mount Holder

+1 for the Scosche magic mount. Here is a video of it in my Rx-7 with a PFC commander. I use it for my cellphone too.

I did this several months ago and love it. I know you said you don't want to hack up interior bits, but this slit is cut to where it's not even visible when removed. I cut this years ago for a mount for the PFC Commander and I loved it then too because it looked like it was just floating there. It took me a while to realize I should use it for a phone mount. I used thicker metal this time because my phone is quite a bit heavier than the Commander was. The cool part about this holder is that it's a wireless charger too and I have it hooked directly to the battery so the phone will charge even if the battery circuit breaker is open. The cable is routed through the plastics so it's hidden as much as possible.
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/159205146@N07/, on Flickr

I added padding so that if it contacts the dash it won't leave a mark if I remove it, although I don't think I will.
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/159205146@N07/, on Flickr
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/159205146@N07/, on Flickr
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/159205146@N07/, on Flickr

^That looks like an interesting solution, though with the cig lighter on the driver's side, and my USB cable connection to the Kenwood coming out on the passenger side, the USB connection would be awkward looking. Easy enough to change my USB cable routing to the driver's side though.

Thanks for the video, pretty much confirms for me that it would feel & look less crowded if I installed it on the passenger side.

^That is a pretty slick solution! Location wise, it's exactly what I'm looking for - off to the passenger side, down low, but not too intrusive or clumsy if a passenger is riding along. So you basically have a fabricated metal bracket that you mounted a commercial phone mount to? What brand phone mount did you use? So it looks like a roughly L shaped section of bent aluminum stock for the mount, I'm guessing a 1/16" thick or a bit less would do the trick. Paint it up with SEM Trim Black and it would match nicely with the OEM dash.

Is there a place under the HVAC/radio trim where the fabbed bracket bolts up to some structure underneath? Hard to tell from the picture, but I'm guessing there is. My phone is pretty light, and doesn't have wireless charging, so I can possibly get away with a thinner AL bracket, and maybe even avoid cutting anything if it can be made to fit thru the existing gap between panels. My USB cable from the Kenwood would just jut up from under the console where it is now and connect to the phone - that would keep my phone charged & support Android Auto features.

I bought this iOttie when they were closing them out at Newegg for $5. Hyper-sticky silicone cup that stuck to the windshield of my Outback for 4 years until it fell off in an extremely hot summer day.
www.newegg.com/iottie-hlcrio102-car-mount/p/N82E16875986115

But in the RX7 I just use a windshield mounted BT speaker. Bought years ago, much cheaper then.
https://www.newegg.com/iogear-gbhfk2...82E16875983005

Free advice and worth every penny!

Yeah it's exactly the placement I like too. Yep, just bent a piece of steel (I used thin aluminum last time for the Commander), and this piece is probably about 1/16" but I'll have to measure it. It's almost a 90 degree angle, yeah. I thought about painting this one so it blended in but I felt it didn't look too bad the way it is and the phone covers it for the most part. But I might paint it anyway someday. I could have cut off a portion of the back side so it wasn't so bulky, but I wanted to be able to remove it and use it with the original mount if it ever came to that.

This is the holder/charger that I got, although it's unavailable now. There should be something similar to it online. I have one in my daily too and the only difference between the two is the one in my daily will charge with the case on, but the one in the FD won't. With the case on it the phone doesn't sit down in there far enough to line up with the internal stuff, that's my guess anyway. As soon as I remove the case it's fine.

And then I used this to wire it to the fuse block that's hooked directly to the battery.

You might be able to bolt it in somehow, but mine isn't. I can remove it just by sliding it out, but the metal is thick enough and the hole thin enough that it holds tight enough to not move side to side at all, and barely moves up and down if there is enough force applied. I wouldn't try to slide something between the panel and dash, it'll push the panel over to the driver's side if you can even get it in there in the first place. I doubt that's possible though because where the HVAC panel fits in there the dash has a little lip behind it. Even with the thickness of this one, it pushes the panel over some, but if you're not looking for it you probably wouldn't notice it. The first mount was thin enough that it didn't push it over at all. I would have used thinner material though if I was screwing it in behind the panel.

Sounds like a non-charging holder would work well for you since you want to hook up the cable from the stereo anyway, and the placement from this setup sounds like it would work well too.

Thanks! Your design got me thinking, and I played around with some scrap AL sheet I had laying around and came up with this prototype pictured below. It's far from finished, and just a rough proof-of-concept, but you get the idea. The sheet metal press fits into the space between the 2DIN radio cage I'm using and the dash cut out at the top & bottom ends (the radio interferes in the middle part). It's a tight fit, and given the relatively light weight of my phone, it should be sturdy enough to hold it securely. I won't have to trim any of the OEM plastics, but I may need to tweak the plastic trim ring piece that came with the radio to make it fit right. I figure I can use one of these flush mount magnetic phone mounts on my bracket:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...acc3f6b872.jpg
Proof-of-concept test piece, needs more tweaking but I think I can get this concept to work without having to cut any of the OEM plastic
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...0c2eff87c7.jpg
This is a detail of where the sheet metal press fits in the space between my 2DIN frame cage and the dash radio opening, (shown with the radio's trim ring removed).

I run the jp3 mount you mentioned earlier. It was a couple more dollars, but it makes it nice if you need to throw your laptop mount in there for tuning. I can switch between that and the phone mount in about ninety seconds. Zero complaints with the setup. I’m not totally sure, there may be a a cup holder attachments for that as well.




~ GW

Nice! I hadn't thought of using that gap instead. That's definitely nicer for not having to cut into the stock pieces at all.

I LOVE the idea of having a cup holder. That would be awesome to have if they make it. I ended up adding one to the front of my Kirkey lol.
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/159205146@N07/, on Flickr

I LOVE the idea of having a cup holder. That would be awesome to have if they make it. I ended up adding one to the front of my Kirkey lol.




You and I both! I believe this is the one for the ram mount. I like the idea, the only negative is you can’t have the phone mount and cup holder at the same time. Which sort of defeats the purpose I guess.

https://www.rammount.com/part/RAM-B-132BU


~ GW

I choose mine because it would not need to attach to the dash and in California there are confusion on where on the windshield you can legally mount.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...c667f0055a.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...0213387415.jpg

@Lupin3rd got a link? thanks.

Why not get a newer head unit with wireless android auto? Then you can just stick the phone wherever. Keep it in your pocket even, unless you really need to charge. Sure that's not a cheap solution but it's the cleanest.

If I didn't buy the head unit shortly after buying my radio-less FD late in 2019, I would have considered that. At the time, the cost difference for the same Kenwood unit with wireless AA/Carplay support and the wired version of the same was over $200. And for long road trips, I figured I'd need to it plug the phone in to keep it charged anyway, and the USB port on the Kenwood I got supports high current/fast charging.

But you bring up a good point - maybe now 2 years later the wireless AA/Carplay units are probably the standard and much cheaper, plus I could always sell my wired Kenwood unit or stick it in my FC, which currently lacks an AA/Carplay headunit.

I'm gonna try some of these idea for my daily, as I'm upgrading the sound system on that car, and I need a better solution than 2 charging cable coming out of the cigarette lighter.

For the FD tho, I don't use my phone when I'm enjoying the drive, just put it on do not disturb :lol:

So after a little bit of testing, I found that the best phone mount solution for my FD at least is to just stick the phone in the glove box and skip the phone mount entirely!

Initially I just assumed that the phone's navigation functions (google maps, waze, etc.) would not work at all, or would be spotty at best with the phone in the glove box because the dash structure would attenuate the GPS signal too much. As a test, I re-routed the USB cable from my Kenwood head unit into the glove box, plugged my phone in there and have been driving around with it that way for the last couple of weeks, keeping a navigation app (Google Maps) running & displayed on Android Auto. Recall my head unit only supports AA/Carplay via the USB cable. As it turns out, the app worked fine, with no navigational hiccups or drop outs, at least within about a 50 mile radius of my home so far. Also had no problems receiving incoming phone calls, txt's or email notifications thru Android Auto with the phone in the glove box.

The phone I'm using is a Motorola G-power something, about a year or two old, and my FD is a '93. So if you have a different phone or a 94+ FD with the passenger airbag, your results may vary. Doing a simple functional test like I did might save you the hassle of procuring and installing a phone mount - if it does everything you want it to do from inside the glove box, why bother with a mount?

I have the exact same setup as OP, and read this thread excitedly looking to see what solution he came up with.

Big sad when the final answer was "stick it in the glove box".

Get a vent mount and be done with it. No damage to your dash, no drilling unobtainium interior pieces, no overheating your phone, and great hands-free access:


Or if you don't want to glue a magnet to your phone:

Sorry that was my ultimate solution, but it's been working fine for me. The only downside I've experienced is sometimes I leave my phone in the car! :rofl:

If the glove box solution didn't work for me, those vent mounts looked promising - my only concern with them is the risk of breaking the vent plastic.