Thread: Triple sunroofs - how to block the sun

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...

Originally Posted by Homestar

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

I also found discussion of it on other forums.

Originally Posted by Homestar

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.

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

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

Originally Posted by 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

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

Originally Posted by Tombie

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.

Originally Posted by simmo1

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.

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