I just ordered an MCS 2007 and live in Austin, TX, so I debated whether to go for the sunroof, given the ambivalence of the Mini community about how much sun and heat is let in on hot days. I loved the open feeling, so went for it.

The dealer mentioned he had heard of a solution in which a second piece of fabric--black and non-transluscent--was attached by velcro to the mesh screen such that it just rolls back with the screen when open and fully blocks the light when closed. He said it apparently looked really clean.

Have you tried this or heard of it? Any tips or referrals to shops in TX who know how to do it?

 

I've lived with my '07 for a little over a month, in Fort Worth, and the sunroof does indeed make it hot. The only thing I've seen is an insert that slides between the glass and the factory shade, but it looks like something out of an Apollo space capsule (silver finish), so I haven't gone that route. I've also considered having the sunroof tinted, but many places won't do it, as it can result in the glass cracking. (I haven't heard from anyone that's experienced that, but that's what they say) I have found a local place that will do it, but even they stressed that cracking is a distinct possibility. So, I'm living with it now and will no doubt do something before next summer. I keep hoping that someone will come up with a good replacement for the factory shade!

 

If you have a black or white roof, it is pretty easy to cover the glass with the corresponding color of vinyl. I covered mine with a sheet of white vinyl I got from a sign shop for about $15.

Some people have their sunroofs tinted also.

I also used to stuff one of those collapsible sunshades up there. The smallest size from the big department store's auto parts section is a near perfect fit and a set of 2 costs about $10.

 

I had mine tinted with the darkest tint my installer had available. It works great, I'm still able to see out but the sun doesn't bother me. I don't understand how putting some plastic on the glass will make it crack, and I haven't heard of anyone that has had it crack. I have thought about the white vinyl, but went with the tint.

 

Which tint shop did you use, if you don't mind me asking? I am also in DC, and just picked ours up--I am anticipating that we will need to tint before next summer.

 

Austin MCS-

I understand your concern, I am in Houston and during the summer time; it was brutal.

Here is the first thing I did, I tinted the sunroof to the darkest tint possible, it helped but did not block out the sun completely. This is important because my car sits outside at work all day.

So the next thing I did was purchased the stratosphere sun shades. it's a pain because it blocks the sunroof completely but no more heat and or light.

They stayed pretty much on all the time during the day and came off on the weekends; pretty easy to remove.

Hope that helps.

 

The reason the glass cracks is it becomes too hot (hotter than it was designed to withstand). The tint reflects the heat which apparently magifies the heat buildup in the glass. At least that is what was explained to me when I had some tint applied to my home....many glass companies won't warranty your home windows if you have applied tint.

 

I think this is much more likely to cause a problem if the reflective sunshade is placed inside the car reflecting the sun back up and onto the sunroof. We had this issue in our airplane when putting sunshades in the interior reflecting heat back out through the Plexiglas, which eventually caused "Crazing".

While Plexiglas in an airplane is certainly different from the glass in a sunroof, the theory is the same. I would suggest that any coating placed on the outside of the sunroof (heavy tint or white/black vinyl) would certainly be much less likely to cause damage to the material than an interior reflective shade placed inside the car reflecting back out through the glass.

My .02

 

Agreed, but tint is applied to to inside of vehicle windows.....Decals on the outside.

 

Solar Solutions in MD. They are a vendor here.

 

Cracking is an urban legend. Any place that refuses to tint a sunroof has no idea what they are talking about. After extensive searches I have found not one first person case of tint causing a sunroof to crack. There is no logic to it. Since the sun is just as likely to beat down directly on side windows as the sunroof, there is no logic to the argument. Plus safety glass is a lamination of glass and plastic to begin with.

 

If tint reflected heat, the glass would be cooler, not hotter. So this argument makes even less sense. Virtually every office building I have ever seen has tinted glass windows. Again, the cracking argument makes no sense at all. Do realize how hot safety glass has to get to break??

 

I use folded newspapers

 

I have to agree with LynnEl - plus, wouldn't that same apply to the side windows? I don't see many MINI owners shying away from tinting their side windows.

I live in NM and, like most areas of the southwest, the sun can be brutal. My sunroof was tinted by the dealer and it helps A LOT. I think it's a 20% 3M film (you could always go darker).

 

I live with the Texas sun which is also brutal. I have a 5% Limo Tint on my sun roof and it made a huge difference!

 

I wasn't aware of the "cracking" phenomenon, but it makes sense that the application of a dark tint will greatly increase the temperature of the glass. Sun light will either pass through the glass (clear) and heat the interior car surfaces, be reflected back from the glass (metallic reflective tint) or be absorbed by the glass (dark tint) and turn to heat in the glass. That might be the mechanism. Just a guess...

 

Was doing some searching about this myth. There's some sites about the same issue. Do tempered glass sunroofs suffer cracking after they've been tinted?

The tint dude site differentiates between tempered and laminated glasses, but no one has seen cracked sunroofs from tinting.

There seems to be a lot of uninformed postulations about it cracking based on "this guy, who was a friend of my ex-girlfriend's best friends neighbor .. and he said ... " kind of stuff. Every site I checked reported the same thing "Huh, that's weird .. I have (n%) of tint on my sunroof and no problems so far".

Maybe we should nominate this to MythBusters

 

I didn't suspect that my question would kindle a "heated" discussion about tinting and cracking, and I take it from the responses that the solution I mention above (an extra layer of non-transluscent fabric applied with velcro to the original mesh shade) is not a common one in the community. If anyone has heard about this approach and has opinions or referrals I'd love to hear them.

Thanks!

 

Me too. This seems like an interesting solution. Ultimate would be a 100% light-blocking replacement for the existing screen.

 

Agreed, back to the original topic.. .

I only found this ... https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=106833

Got me where that product is or how it's development is going.

 

I have the following which I actually don't use very often but it works well. Check out:

http://www.stratmosphere.com/mini_interior.htm

Cheers,

 

I do not know of anyone doing this - I think it is an interesting idea though. I imagine that using something as "thick" as velcro to fasten the new fabric to your shade would prove problematic as it scrolls into the shade housing, which is designed to accomodate (only) the thin fabric of the OEM shade. It may be better to simply sew the new fabric to the corners of the OEM shade as thread would prove less obtrusive...

I don't know, maybe you should just try it. Good luck. Keep us posted.

 

I also purchased a set of the stratmosphere product. Works great when needed, which I don't find to be very often. Rolls up nicely and stores under the seat or in the boot with minimal space needed.

 

I also have the stratmosphere shades. They worked very well during the summer, especially for my daughter in the back. One time, after swimming in a lake, I used the shade as a mat to sit on while I drove keeping everything nice and dry.

 

I went with the dealer's subcontractor on the tiny chance that it might not be a myth, but I've also been unable to find a first person account. I have a medium tint, and it works for me here in the Houston area. My car sits outside all day.

BUT, I will disagree with one thing--this is tempered glass, not the kind of glass you get in the windshield. Trust me on that--I had one break around me as the result of an accident. About 30,000 pieces.