Since the day I brought my r53 home, I couldn't believe the translucent sunroof shade. I've seen products around (Zippee Shade), but I don't want to mess with velcro everytime I want to use the roof.

Has anyone taken the OEM shade out and 're-upholstered' it with a more opaque material? It seems like it'd be relatively easy and cheap, and that way you'd have the ease of just rolling it back whenever you want. How hard is it to get that unit out? Just a thought.

-Tyler

 

The zippie shade thingy uses a few suction cups... It works well, but does have drawbacks.
If the fabric you use is VERY thin, it may work...but the roll is pretty full when retaracted...you might need to use numerous connections to the existing shade to keep it from bunching up too!! Good luck, I had the same thought, but gave up when the zippie shade thinggy came out...saved the effort, and it is reflective so it reflex heat too!!

 

The Zippie Shade seems to be a good commercial solution. I'll probably end up buying that. Before I even knew about that though, I considered a cheap DIY fix for the sunroof front section involving a piece of cardboard, as detailed below. [Caution: I haven't actually tried this, so it may not work as well as I envisioned.]

I figured the cardboard would need to be able to be bent some for easy side-to-side installation, but not be so flexible that it sags downward after being set in place (construction "paper" will sag). Cut the cardboard's front-to-rear size about the same size as the front-to-rear roof opening, but cut the side-to-side cardboard size a little wider than the side-to-side opening so it will stay in place after being bent some to fit into the sides underneath the existing screen. Subsequent removals and installations should be quick and easy. Spray paint the cardboard insert any color you want.

 

If you use the bubble wrap with refexicive foil attatched (sold at homedepot/lowes...it is the same stuff used for precut windshield reflectors (except the foam/cheap cardboard ones).. You could cut it to fit, maybe sew an edge on it, or use tape..look nice with a bit of fabric attatched, but again, same drawback as the zippie shade, it is not selfstoreing.

 

Yeah, the main issue is getting the OEM shade out to sew new fabric onto the roll. I looked the other day and can't see an easy way to get at it. I assume the headliner is going to have to come out, and I don't think it's worth the effort if that's the case. If anyone knows otherwise, I'd love to hear how the shade unit can be accessed...

The more I look at the Zippee shade, the more I think I'll just get that. Does it really have that hideous white logo on it?

 

There seems to be 2 versions....the standard one, retflective silver (helps keep heat out) with a black bottom...it does have a pretty white..somewhere faded on mine, logo...I bet a black sharpie would "fix" it...and a "limited edition" one...appears all black I think...the inventor/seller is a member here...he might chime in. It works well...I got one very early on...not perfect, but it helps keep the bright sun/heat out!

 

I put limo tint on mine, now the sun still comes through but even without the shade its not enough to make you squint

 

That's exactly what I did as well. I put 5% tint on the sunroof and I can't remember the last time I even had to use the sun screen.

 

Good to know. I was thinking that when I first got the car, but got all caught up in this custom shade business. Sounds like tinting will be the fix.

 

Yu guys should watch out on the tinting there. A dealer told me that can crack the glass! The air btwn the tint and the window super heats, breaking the glass!

It's recommended that you vinyl the top of the glass, from the outside.

In the interest of DIY, I used black foam board pieces myself. Very cheap, a little work, bigot works great. You have to remove the liner ring around the edge. Be careful, it comes down with a crash!

 

I use one of those spring loaded windshield sunshades. Fold it in half and snap it in place.

 

Black = xtra heat buildup.

Many vinyl shops can make perforated sheets for the roof ( pretty cheap too)

 

Before I bought my Mini S I looked at a few that had sunroofs with the vinyl on the outside. 100% sun blockage so it appeared as a non sunroof model; if thats what you want ...............................