Radar detector placement

[jad9943]

Is there a best spot on the windshield to mount a radar detector?
Top of windshield? Dash? Left? Right?

 

[jmccloud]

Detector Placement

Save your money, I have a son who's a cop. If he has one of the new systems and wants you, you're his.

 

[Skant]

I have mine mounted just off center at the bottom of the windshield so that it hangs just above the dashboard. This keeps it and its cord from blocking any of my view of the road.

To my understanding, it just needs to be high enough that it has an unobstructed view of the road from its position. Since the corvette has a downward sloped hood, it can be mounted very low and still have a full view.

Mine is off center because I didn't want to set it right over the sun sensor and defroster vent. It's just to the right of that. This causes it to slightly overhang the very upper left corner of the air bag section of the dash. I understand that the air bag system rolls upward and deploys... so unless it rolls all the way up to contact the glass on normal deployment, I don't think this would actually contact the radar detector. But maybe I'm wrong?

Even if it did contact, I'd just expect it to push up slightly or crush the detector in the worst case. I don't think it could cause the airbag to fail to deploy?


Btw, I don't have the detector because I speed a lot. I actually drive at normal traffic speeds... often slower than some of the traffic even. But normal traffic speeds are typically 5-15 mph over the posted limit. I bought a detector when I bought the vette just because it's a high profile 'cop magnet' car, and I wanted a chance to be an extra good boy when an overzealous cop is watching me.

The one time I got a speeding ticket (which wasn't in my vette... it was a long time ago in a friend's broken down mustang... and I didn't know I was speeding because the speedo was broken... I was helping him drive it to a mechanic because he didn't have his license just yet... the ticket was for 7mph over... and I was being passed by other cars! But I was in the mustang, so I got the ticket), I went to traffic school... and there were seven guys there who had gotten tickets from the Los Gatos police for... get this... going 37 in a 35.

And yet there was another guy there from elsewhere who was doing 120mph in a mustang on a residential street... he said he was in an uncontrolled spin at 90mph from hitting the brake when he went past the cop. The cop let him off with only a 44mph ticket so he didn't go to jail.

It's madness. Some cops will beat you up for minor technical infractions or even trumped up infractions for whatever personal reasons they may have. And some cops will let wreckless murderers-to-be just go.

For this reason, I have my radar detector to try to give me a better chance when I drive by the overzealous variety.

So I can slow from 37 to 35.

- Skant

 

[Jeffvette]

Got mine hard wired comming out by the rear view mirror. Keeps it line of sight, and kind of hidden as well. BTW, using a V1

 

[slashnick]

i have mine real low in the middle of the dash.

to add to what Skant was saying, before i got my corvette i was driving a '97 S-10 pickup 4-cylinder. nothing special, pretty sorry really. i got pulled over 3 times in about 2 1/2 years and never got off. this year, on the night of the superbowl, i was heading home from a friends house on the freeway in my corvette. there was a state trooper in the far left lane and i didnt see him, so i made a pass in the far right lane at about 78, the speed limit was 65. he pulled me over, but let me off with a warning. you never know what thoes cops are going to do. i guess you just get lucky sometimes.

-matt

 

[c4ever]

I've got mine dead center on the dash and this location seems to work well and eliminates that cord running across the windshield. It is also a little bit harder for Smokey to spot.

Carlo

 

[vettl83]

Got mine hard wired comming out by the rear view mirror. Keeps it line of sight, and kind of hidden as well. BTW, using a V1

Jeff, does your V-1 work well through the solar glass up that high? I have my V-1 mounted in the cut out provided. However I did attach some rubber strips on the bottom to raise it up to get more clearance over the hood. Seems to work great there, even picks up the HP's instant on lazer. 84 CF 91 ZR-1

 

[DkBG]

My passport is mounted like Jeff's and works just fine through the solar tinting . I like it there because it is hard for thieves to see and it's in my line of sight so I can see the alerts when the tunes are up too high to hear them . Cliff

 

[silver 80]

You won't believe what came with my 87 when i bought it.......a K40 unit

 

[vettl83]

My passport is mounted like Jeff's and works just fine through the solar tinting . I like it there because it is hard for thieves to see and it's in my line of sight so I can see the alerts when the tunes are up too high to hear them . Cliff

I was refering to the polarized windshields indigenous to the ZR-1's. They have a clear cut out left of center at the base of the windshield. GM claims it's for the use of remote garage door openers because the signal won't go through the polarized windshields. Valentine strongly suggested this area for best signal strength reception. I was just curious how Jeff's worked up higher because it would be a good place to mount the V-1, provided it didn't cut down on the units effectiveness. 84 CF 91 ZR-1

 

[Jeffvette]

Jeff, does your V-1 work well through the solar glass up that high? I have my V-1 mounted in the cut out provided. However I did attach some rubber strips on the bottom to raise it up to get more clearance over the hood. Seems to work great there, even picks up the HP's instant on lazer. 84 CF 91 ZR-1

I did not like mounting it in the cutout. In my theory it's to low and it does not give you good sight to the rear, or a good view of the horizon.

I have not noticed any degredation in signal, as I cruise between Portland and Seattle, and the cops love to use laser. No tickets since I got my V1 in July of 01 (knock on wood)

 

[vettl83]

Thanks Jeff I'll give that mirror location a try. I assume you still have the stock ZR-1 windshield. Again thanks, let us know how the 368 turns out. 84 CF 91 ZR-1

 

[ZAL81]

Got mine hard wired comming out by the rear view mirror. Keeps it line of sight, and kind of hidden as well.

I run mine the same way. Zane

 

[Jeffvette]

Thanks Jeff I'll give that mirror location a try. I assume you still have the stock ZR-1 windshield. Again thanks, let us know how the 368 turns out. 84 CF 91 ZR-1

Yep, it still has the stock windshield and no dleam...... knock on wood.

368 should be done in mid march

 

[Don&Kelly]

High on windshield - close to the mirror - they do work & have saved me many times .. unless the policeman is "triggering" ...

 

[Robertwav1]

I mounted mine on the visor and hard wired into the switch for vanity mirror. It works beauitiful...I don't speed but, sometimes keeping up with traffic forces your speed above the limit. I do quite a few trips to and from the sunshine state from Jersey and you learn all the tricks. The most recent...cop is shooting traffic from the opposite direction...but...he is actually detecting traffic from your side...possibly shooting backwards. I have seen this with my own eyes and the detector picked it up a half mile away. Also watch the angle of the shooter...the more perpendicular to your vehicle the less likely your detector will pick it up in time no matter how good it is or where it is mounted.

 

[boblx2a]

I guess the best placement for a radar detector is where ever you want to put it, as long as it has full view of the road ahead.
My personal preference is up behind the rear view mirror. I run a wire to the right visor light for power. That way I don't have wires running all over the car.
I did not especially put it there so "Smoky" could not see it because he still can if he looks hard enough. Although it is sort of hidden by the solar tinting. But I like it out of my sight more then anything. Once it starts doing it's dance I can then look to see what is after me.
All it does is let you know they are using radar. If you are the first car you have had it anyway. But I have had it slow me down lots of times where I would have gotten a ticket. I think if you hear laser you are had! It does not bounce around like Radar and does not have the wide beam that radar has.
I think the cut out on ZR-1's referred to here is for the garage door opener, I doubt it would stop radar signals. Most garage doors work by Infra-red signals which would be attenuated by the ZR-1 windshield.

Good luck with it..........

 

[Jeffvette]

I think the cut out on ZR-1's referred to here is for the garage door opener, I doubt it would stop radar signals. Most garage doors work by Infra-red signals which would be attenuated by the ZR-1 windshield.

Good luck with it..........

It supposidly decreases range. I do know that a GPS signal will not pass through the tinting, as I had to place the sensor in the cut out for it to work on my trip from Austin to Portland.