Triple sunroofs - how to block the sun

[Arapiles]

I bought my D4 a couple of months ago. It's an excellent vehicle, but it came with the triple sunroofs and whilst in mild weather they help make the car very light and open the mesh only sunscreen is odd and impractical - it's the only car I've owned that doesn't have a solid screen for when the sun's too hot. It's also the only car where we've felt that our kids should wear sunblock in the car. Unfortunately, from my research on AULRO and the internet it appears that dire things will happen if I tint the glass darker and there don't seem to be any after-market fixes. But, particularly as my car lives on the street, it needs something to filter the sun. Enter Renshade:

Renshade - Perforated aluminium window foil (http://www.concertinafoilbatts.com/renshade.html)

http://www.concertinafoilbatts.com/pdf/RENSHADE%20Data%20Sheet,%20Pricing%20&%20Ordering%20-%20Jan%202017.pdf

Renshade is a sheet of paper covered on both sides with silver foil. It operates as a radiant heat barrier (quite effectively, we used to use it in our house on unshaded West-facing windows). The manufacturer claims an 85% reduction in inward radiant heat. At the same time, it is perforated and therefore does allow filtered light through - the perforations are 10% of the surface.

So, it claims to block 85% of heat and 90% of light.

I fitted single sheets of Renshade that I had in my shed to the three sun-roofs: the front opening sunroof was a bit fiddly but with the OEM sunscreen drawn it looks OK. I could still open the sunroof, but I'm struggling to think of any reason I would. The two rear sunroofs were simple, and I realised belatedly they they didn't really need to be a precise fit because the overlaps simple went into the gap in the roof lining. The Renshade was simply fixed with double-sided tape.

This is what the middle sun-roof looks like (on a very hot day) with the Renshade fitted and the OEM blind drawn:

135563


This is what it looks like from above:

135564

Cost? Nothing, because I already had the Renshade.

Time? About 20 minutes, and I don't doubt that it could've been done more neatly.

Effectiveness? Very good - the light from the sunroofs is now very filtered and there is definitely less heat coming through. The foil does feel hot if you touch the inward face but I have no sense that it's radiating heat, which some fabric sunshades very obviously do.

Obviously, it would take seconds to remove, so it's completely reversible.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.

[DiscoMick]

Sounds good. I've never understood why anyone would want a sunroof, or a convertible vehicle, in such a hot UV extreme climate as Australia, particularly when skin cancer is our number one killer.
But I must ask, why can't the sunroofs be tinted?

[Arapiles]

But I must ask, why can't the sunroofs be tinted?

Well, apparently, if you believe the internet, it makes them prone to exploding and therefore tinters refuse to do them.

[Tombie]

No cancer risk with the sunroof in the closed position... no UV passes through..

[Homestar]

Well, apparently, if you believe the internet, it makes them prone to exploding and therefore tinters refuse to do them.

Nope, I don't believe that for a minute - they are made from toughened glass, same as the side windows they are happy to tint. The sunroof on SWMBO Veloster (double sunroof) is tinted - we had it done when we bought it, along with the side windows. Not that it really needed doing as there is an interior shade that covers the whole lot if needed, but it was done mainly for the looks.

And think about it - do you think the manufacturers would make something for a car that was that prone to exploding just from a bit of plastic being stuck to it and heated up in the sun. There would be a report a day in the media if sunroofs spontaneously exploded for any reason.

[simmo1]

I have an RRS TDV6 2014. It came with the dreaded sunroof. Pretty well all the vehicles ordered by southern coast dealers come with sunroofs, as in Melbourne etc. We couldn't get one without unless it was a special order. Inland dealers such as Albury etc ask "why on earth would you want a sunroof".

To try and manage the heat intrusion I have been thinking of having the glass vinyl wrapped in a colour close to that of the care, white. I wonder if anyone else may have done this and whether this would work. Anyone got any thoughts with this type of solution.

Cheers, Simmo

[~Rich~]

I’d be worried to do the rear one due to the glass size and it’s a permanently fixed item with little allowance for expansion and contraction. Heat would create more expansion and a greater chance of a failure.

[loanrangie]

I have a sunroof and the 2 moon roofs, fist car with a sunroof and i'm liking it. Can drive with the roof just tilted up or fully open, good to leave open while i'm at work to allow a bit heat to escape. The mesh blinds do a reasonable job at keeping the sun out.

[PhilipA]

To try and manage the heat intrusion I have been thinking of having the glass vinyl wrapped in a colour close to that of the care, white. I wonder if anyone else may have done this and whether this would work. Anyone got any thoughts with this type of solution.

While not a sunroof I have clad my D2 Skylights with Chrome vinyl cladding. It has been there a couple of years with no problems.
Along with painting my roof silver it has lowered the temperature greatly on my originally Oslo blue car.
Regards Philip A

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I cant imagine life without a sunroof, I use my two every day of the year.

[DiscoMick]

The sunroof in our D1 was tinted and didn't explode.
What it did do was clog up with sand until the runners jammed and broke. The cost of repairing it was ridiculous, so we just sealed it shut.
I never want another one.

[Tombie]

It’s to do with the optikool type treatments the glass comes with.

Some tints (not all) reflect more heat back into the glass and cause it to fragment.

Some will, some won’t. Over here you’d be more likely...

[Arapiles]

Nope, I don't believe that for a minute - they are made from toughened glass, same as the side windows they are happy to tint. The sunroof on SWMBO Veloster (double sunroof) is tinted - we had it done when we bought it, along with the side windows. Not that it really needed doing as there is an interior shade that covers the whole lot if needed, but it was done mainly for the looks.

There have been other threads on this - here's one: panoramic sunroof on a D4 - heat reduction (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-and-4-a/248270-panoramic-sunroof-d4-heat-reduction.html)

I also found discussion of it on other forums.


And think about it - do you think the manufacturers would make something for a car that was that prone to exploding just from a bit of plastic being stuck to it and heated up in the sun. There would be a report a day in the media if sunroofs spontaneously exploded for any reason.

Well, my D4 gives a fault code when a door's left open (whereas my CR-V just says "door open") so nothing would surprise me. And I used to live in England, so I can well accept that they may not have turned their mind to 40 degree days in Melbourne when they were planning the sunroofs.

[Tombie]

It depends on the plastic used. Metallic, Ink, heat rejecting, heat diffusing etc

[Tombie]

And it’s not common because most places won’t tint it [emoji48]

[Arapiles]

I have an RRS TDV6 2014. It came with the dreaded sunroof. Pretty well all the vehicles ordered by southern coast dealers come with sunroofs, as in Melbourne etc. We couldn't get one without unless it was a special order. Inland dealers such as Albury etc ask "why on earth would you want a sunroof".

To try and manage the heat intrusion I have been thinking of having the glass vinyl wrapped in a colour close to that of the care, white. I wonder if anyone else may have done this and whether this would work. Anyone got any thoughts with this type of solution.

Cheers, Simmo

Well, if it's external maybe it would avoid the reported problems with tints that are, of course, on the inside of the glass.

[BrianElloy]

No cancer risk with the sunroof in the closed position... no UV passes through..

Not true Tombie - from what I understand Sunroofs are made from toughened glass not laminated. Only laminated eliminates UVA (30-50 times more prevalent than UVB and DNA damaging, melanoma producing) and UVB (sunburn producing).

Tempered glass only eliminates only 20% of UVA. (UVC doesn’t make it through our atmosphere). Therefore 80% of the harmful UVA rays make it through to our skin..

As sunroofs aren’t laminated I can’t see the issue in tinting them. Rumor has it they explode. Yet to see any scientific /engineering g evidence as to why... If they were laminated then they MAY explode but they’re essentially the same as side and rear windows. Tinting with a quality film will eliminate upwards of 98% of UVA and UVB (so says the Cancer Council)

Or you can just apply a shade on top (if parked) or underneath the glass (if moving) to block out bloody everything.

[drivesafe]

To try and manage the heat intrusion I have been thinking of having the glass vinyl wrapped in a colour close to that of the care, white. I wonder if anyone else may have done this and whether this would work. Anyone got any thoughts with this type of solution.

Cheers, Simmo
Hi Simmo, my RR is the first vehicle I have had that had a sunroof fitted. I have opened it probably 5 times in 10 years and had no reason to get another vehicle with one.

Then 15 months ago, I bought a new Tiguan and it came as a package deal which included a sunroof.

My wife and I just thought we didn’t care about the sunroof as we will probably never use it, just like the one in our RR.

WRONG.

The RR’s sunroof has a solid metal inner slide panel, It gives a total block of the sun.

The Tiguan has the same USELESS setup as the new LRs have.

Within days of buying the Tiguan, we began to look at ways to tint or otherwise, block the sunlight.

I rang a number of tinting business and they either did not touch sunroofs or they used a special film, that would cost about $400 per glass panel, 2 in the Tiguan, still did not give a total block.

Then someone told me about special total block out vinyl film.

Like you I wanted to match the film to the Tiguan, but not to the metallic red paint but to the black of the sunroof.

I thought gloss film would stick out so I got semi gloss and this was a mistake, as it has a duller look to the actual glass.

I have only done the front sliding glass as it has been a battle to find out how to remove the rear fixed glass.

I intend to do both again but I am going to get black total block gloss but with a carbon fibre finish this time.

While I have only managed to get one window done, the first thing we noticed was the heat reduction in the front seats and the huge difference in how much light it blocks compared to the rear glass.

Also, even with only half the sunroof done, the air conditioner cools the car so much quicker when we first get in on a hot day.

Simmo do some snooping as the vinyl has been an easy but excellent fix for us.

[PhilipA]

I went for Chrome on my D2 skylights as it reflects the surrounds and looks not too dissimilar to glass. I think the glass will astay cooler with the film on the outside as the chrome will reflect most of the heat.

Also I reckon that the chrome reflects more heat than just about anything else. Black anything will absorb more heat.

Not many people will see the roof anyway so why stress so much about the colour?

Regards Philip A

[Arapiles]

Not true Tombie - from what I understand Sunroofs are made from toughened glass not laminated. Only laminated eliminates UVA (30-50 times more prevalent than UVB and DNA damaging, melanoma producing) and UVB (sunburn producing).

Tempered glass only eliminates only 20% of UVA. (UVC doesn’t make it through our atmosphere). Therefore 80% of the harmful UVA rays make it through to our skin..

Well, since my right arm is burnt and I don't drive with the windows down, I'd tend to agree. It's not the IR doing the burning.

[Tombie]

Have a look at the Sunroof glass and check the tab on it..
Tempered Monolithic Glass was used in the LR, RR and RRS which has high levels of UVA and UVB filtering.

Even pre-tinting I’ve never had sunburn in anything post D2 - the D2 was never tinted.

Of course you’ll get heat in the cabin with a glass roof... it lacks the extra thermal barrier (air gap between roof and trim)...

If you want it darker inside - perforated and laminated vinyl on the outer glass will do it.

[Lockee]

I fitted a Rhino Pioneer platform over the rear

[Tombie]

I fitted a Rhino Pioneer platform over the rear

That will certainly sort it!

[DiscoMick]

Yep. I reckon roof platforms are a great idea for cooling a roof, particularly if you lay a sheet of rubber over the mesh - instant shade.

[Globetrotter]

do not all come standard with the mesh roller blinds - my 2007 does and work a treat and still lets light in, yes does not keep heat out

[Lockee]

And a solar panel on the platform will also help

[outasight]

Hi all,

If you are in Melbourne and looking for a tint film solution or advice on the possibility - I strongly recommend my good friend Rob Tait at Car Tint (http://www.cartint.net.au/) based at Ringwood.

He is arguably Melbourne's best individual tinter & just aripping good honest bloke with decades of experience.

He has tinted many Subaru Liberty sunroofs as an example of what others won't touch. They are HUGE & bad tint DID use to crack/shatter them.

Please give Rob a call & discuss.

Regards,

Les.