Does anyone know what is the weight differance between Sunroof with the glass panels versus a solid roof?

Appreciate your assistance.

Per Olof in Huntersville, NC

 

I think it's 75 pounds...

 

I have seen posts that suggested it was almost 100 lb. That seems a bit of a stretch to me, but 50-75 lb is believable. It's tempting to skip the sunroof, but I'm spec'ing an MCS now and I'll probably go for the sunroof anyway. It's too nice to pass up.

 

My 04 has a sunroof. My 06 won't. Beside the obvious weight penalty (up high), you loose about an 1" to 1.5" in headroom. Wearing a helmet I've had to recline the seat back a bit in order to keep from hitting my head on the sunroof opening. It is nice when cruising on a hot summer night, but a bit noisey on the freeway. If you are concerned about weight, skip it and save yourself $800.

 

Someone put two identically speced cars on the scale, one with sunroof one without. The difference was 63 pounds. All in the worst place possible, way up high. But if you just have to have the sunroof the weight difference isn't enough to make the car uncompetitive, but it won't help you any.

 

Never liked em, but I have to say the headroomm is AMAZING with the seat jacked down! I have tracked my car a few times and never even hit with the helmet.

My wife's honda Civic SI has NO headroom..... But that's off topic.

Save the money, save the weight.... If you really, really want light and air, go cabrio!

Matt

 

To back up Motoring's statement, SCC had a MCS project car (for one article) where they took out the sunroof and put in a carbon fiber panel. You can read the article but they weighed the roof itself to be 53lbs.

To tell you how bad the high weight is, Mitsu replaced the steel roof of the Evo VIII with aluminium for the Evo VIII MR. The difference was something like 25lbs but it effectively lowered the center of gravity two inches. Try that with just the suspension and you'll be ridin' on the bumpstops.

 

I appreciate the many responses and I learn a little bit on every reply. Looks like the most reliable answer is 63 lbs savings. I have heard 80 lbs, but without confirmation. I figured somebody would know the exact answer.

I have an 03 MCS with Sunroof and I have an 05 MCS without Sunroof on order. I would probably have deleted some other options after having read some great dialogs in this forum to save further weight. However, I struggled to take out "looks" options in favor of less weight.

I have been doing some autocrossing and while I feel the Mini is extremely steady and blast to drive in Auto-X I feel the Mini is a little top heavy with those glass panels in some corners want to lean over a little too much...

Per Olof Huntersville, NC
2003 MCS Chili Red with white Bonnet stripes and Sunroof
2005 MCS Chili Red with LSD, white Bonnet stripes, checkered roof & mirrors, Aero kit and driving lamps on order.

 

And, is it everything you hoped for? I seriously considered skipping the sunroof. I got it and I like it a lot. It's a bit loud over 60 mph, but it's great for driving at lower speeds.

Anyway, I have a friend who needs to see a non-sunroof car to be convinced he needs a MINI. He works near where you live.

PM me if it sounds OK.