How to - make your smart safer at night

[Speedie 4]

One thing I do to all vehicles is put some sort of reflector on the door - really surprised smart didn't especially with our wide doors.The clearance on the door is pretty tight so that limits options. What I came up with was some reflective dots cut from reflective tape..I made up a hole punch and it is a great way to work off frustration - the dots are about 15mm and if anyone wants some - let me know - what would work best is if someone in an area grabbed a bunch and distributed at meets etc.To install - give the spot a wipe with something like isopropanol to get the greasy bits off - then place so that you get a reflective surface at all stages of the door opening.Here are some pictures. Dots in the raw - you can get a heck of a lot of them out of one strip - made them small as to not be too difficult to place Before - imagine it is night time - hard to see huh!? Placement - three spots - fully open, partially, and points in between This is with just a flashlight under bright conditions - with head lights it would be pretty hard to not to seeCheers,Cameron

[Francesco 71]

Simple and effective. Me likey!

[Razorback 0]

I like your idea.

[Francesco 71]

I love the irony that one of the members with the best fabrication skill-sets comes up with this one!

[Nextourer 1]

Great idea! Given that it's a European vehicle, I'm surprised it's not even included!

[Snow_Dogs 0]

Cool, I like it!

[Speedie 4]

LOL - well I did have to make the punch - chunk of conduit with a Ford wheel stud welded in. Took a lot longer than the punching but I can make a whack of them now.If anyone wants some to distribute - PM me an address and approximate count and I will throw them in the mail.Cheers,Cameron

[2seatragtop 3]

That is absolutely brilliant in it's simplicity. Oh I just thought it's also brilliant at night!

[kheran 0]

If you can find the yellow reflective tape that a school bus uses it seems to reflect light much better than the red/white tape.

[Speedie 4]

This stuff is the same with a different colour on it - the picture was in daylight with only a small flash light for illumination - I am going to go hit up a sign maker I know for some scraps of Scotlite stuff - like they use on traffic signs - it is about as reflective as it gets!Other aspect is from the rear - reflectors are supposed to be red - yellow - at least in Canada is reserved for the front - hence our ugly love handles on the back and truck markers on the front (surprised they didn't use duct tape!).Cheers,Cameron

[NJV 1]

The brightest stuff used on signs is 3M DG3, the stuff that meets ASTM 9 reflectivity standards. AVery Denisson makes an ASTM 9 grade material as well.I have some narrow, ~1.5 cm wide, red reflective tape. It would probably work well to put a couple stripes down the door. Thanks for the idea.

[Speedie 4]

The stuff I am using has Avery on the back - thanks for the spec on the 3m stuff - have to see if I can locate some here!It is the really small stuff that can make the difference - amazing how well semi's show up with the strips compared to what they used to be like - especially if the tail lights were out or covered in road slime. I am often amazed as some cyclists here - no reflectors - no lights - rainy nights - and dark clothing - the Telephone company here when it used to be BC Tel used to distribute reflective stickers at schools - sure they wound up stuck places they didn't belong - but a lot wound up on bikes - great low cost feel good community thing - may be we need CsC stickers? Cheers,Cameron

[NJV 1]

Speedie

couple of links for ya

3M vehicle markings

3M sign materials

I got the spec a bit wrong. There's the ASTM D4956-01a spec, and it has different Types, with diamond grade being Type 9.

[Speedie 4]

I'll just be happy if they have some scraps of something - low buck approach - but hopefully it will be the good stuff - thanks for the info.Cheers,Cameron