PLA vs PETG in Florida Heat: Which One Survives Your Car Dashboard?
A hot Florida car interior can hit 140°F. Here's what that does to PLA and PETG prints, and how to pick the right material for anything that lives in the heat.
Leave a PLA print on a car dashboard in South Florida in July and you'll come back to a modern art piece. PLA starts softening around 60°C (140°F) — a temperature a parked car in Miami can reach in under an hour with the windows up.
PETG is the workhorse answer. It holds its shape to roughly 80°C (176°F), shrugs off moisture, and handles UV exposure far better than PLA. For cup holders, phone mounts, garage tools, and anything that lives outdoors or in a vehicle, PETG is our default recommendation.
ABS goes even further on heat resistance, but it's trickier to print and has a noticeable odor during printing, so we reserve it for parts that genuinely need it — engine-bay-adjacent clips, hot cabin interiors, and high-wear mechanical parts.
PLA still has its place: indoor decor, prototypes, lithophanes, and display pieces. It's the easiest material to print cleanly and takes fine detail beautifully. Just don't ask it to survive August in a parked car.
Not sure which way to go? Our materials guide compares all four filaments side by side, and when you upload an STL you can tell us where the part will live — we'll recommend the right material in your quote.