As I get ready to go back to the dealership to have them address yet another loud rattle in my Mini (let's just say that I'm quite disappointed in BMW quality control at this point - my girlfriend has an '01 Honda Civic that has not a single rattle in it, and my brand new $32,000 Mini came with two) I'm realizing that I need to do something about the mesh roll-up under the sunroofs. I'm a pale lad and the mesh things pretty much do nothing to block out the sun; unfortunately Mini doesn't have any other options so I'm trying to figure out the best solution.

So far I thought of perhaps sewing or gluing an opaque piece of material that matches the interior to the edges of the mesh thing itself -- that way it would roll in and out the same as it does now.

Anyone else in a similar situation? More tinting will not work -- I need to be able to block out the sun completely at times, being the whitey that I am.

 

I have had the rolls apart for the sunroof and there is not enough room from what i can see to add any material to the mesh.

There are however a number of shades available for the sun roof.

Here are two i know of right away:

Zippee Shades http://www.zippeegear.com/

Stratmosphere http://www.stratmosphere.com/mini.htm

 

I went with 2 layers of 5% window tint ...
= darn near blacked out

they also sell a perforated graphic that goes on the roof (asthetic creations)
it blocks out a good bit of light

 

There is an opaque insert available. I have one. It fits into the sunroof openings, but has to be manually removed if you want to open up the sunroof. I think I got mine from MINI2.

 

Great suggestions...thanks, all.

 

You can also get a non-perforated decal for the roof. I contemplated painting the glass silver to match the roof. I ended up tinting them with a metallic silver window tint so they would reflect, rather than absorb the sunlight. Between that and the stock shade, the sun is pretty diminished, light-wise and the UV rays are almost completely blocked. For the dead of summer (here in Orlando, FL), I use silver sunshades that I slide in between the glass and the stock shades. I just left them there for a couple of months. I wasn't opening the roof anyway.

Be careful about tinting them dark. My window tint guy has had some of them crack. The glass isn't designed to absorb that much heat.