My sunroof lets in a lot of heat in the Summer.

Is there a simple tint that is easy to apply only to the sunroof that will cut down the sun's rays?

Who has it?

Price?

What tools/appliers do I need to do it myself?

Thanks!
Vic

 

You are so right. I had mine done last summer at a tint shop and it only cost me $20 so save yourself the the tools etc.

 

all u need is a water bottle filled with water mixed with a bit of soap, a squeegee and patience......buy ur tint, cut it to fit the sunroof...

spray inside of roof liberally with soap solution, peel paper off tint, apply tint to glass and squeegee from middle outwards until all bubbles are gone....let dry!

 

$20 is the price I got too - IMO definitely not worth trying yourself for that price.

 

Again, or you can pay $20 and have it professionally done in 10 minutes.

 

I've actually seen people use water with baby powder too, same affect. Me personally I would pay the money and have a professional do it.

 

I had mine done also, same price. If I had had it to do over I'd get the strongest Mirror tint possible for that. No one hardly ever see's the top of your car and that would really help keep some of the heat down.

 

I'm sure the tint is working out great for those of you that got it, and you may never have any probs with it, but FYI, when I bought my Max I had Nissan do a "we owe" to tint the sunroof. After talking with the tint guy, he said they could do it, but the sunroof might crack or shatter over time because of the kind of glass they use for it. I called around to three other tint places thinking he was full of it, but they all agreed saying that pretinted sunroofs should be the only way you should go unless you want to risk the glass.

 

Well, then, I guess you do as you like. The rest of us will 'take our chances'...

By the way, have lived in FL and TX for the last 15 years...owned several cars/trucks during that time (some with tinted sunroofs)...had many co-workers with cars with tinted roofs...

AND GUESS WHAT....

never heard of a single instance of this actually happening.

 

I have Limo tint on it. (5%) I paid about 25 bucks to have it put on.... Dont try it yourself, unless you know what you're doing ..

 

I prefer 20% on the roof. That way it matches my windows. And since the windows are illegal I always make sure I at least open the sun shade if not open the whole roof if I drive by a cop. They tend not to notice the window tint that way if I don't just roll the windows down. 5% would be too dark for me and I wouldn't want reflective on the roof if I didn't have it on the doors--mismatch. I've never heard of a roof breaking either but I'll ask my tint guy--mine's being retinted today.

 

I've had mine done in all my cars. I also used to tint myself. I have never in my life talked with another person or window tint professional that has heard of or seen a sunroof break due to window tint being installed.

I will say that you should pay the $20 or so to have it done professionally. If you do it yourself, many things can go wrong. Bubbles could appear, lines could appear, fingerprints could be stuck between the tint and the glass, etc. For the $20, get a local tint shop to do it. Anything around 20% or lower will be fine, as most factory-tinted sunroofs are about 15-20%. Some are lower, but most are in that area.

And it doesn't matter whether you get reflective or dark. I personally don't like the reflective look, but both will get the job done. There is very little performance gains between the two (when compared at the same rating), so it's more of a looks-based thing.

 

I agree with the mirror look think. But on the SR I don't think it matters. But if you say the preformance is the same hey my not gonna argue with some one that has done it for a living.

I've got mirrored on my house and where it reflects onto my grass it tends to burn it up. Do you think smoked will do just as good a job?
THKS

 

Honestly, they are both about the same. And the smoked won't blind a helicopter or airplane pilot either. I've seen some rare cases where a guy installs highly reflective tint on his car and the grass that the sun reflects onto (during the day while he is at work) dies. But that's just a couple of rare cases.

In my opinion, either one will work. But note... the sunroof tint is basically there to protect you and the car while you are operating the vehicle. When you leave the car, you should always close the sunshade to reduce the fading and damage caused to your interior by the sun.

Tint works in a few ways:

The first is that it reduces harmful light into the vehicle. This means UV rays and all the other bad "medical" rays that the sun puts off. No one really cares about this (for the most part).

The second is that it reduces the amount of light into the vehicle. People like this because the car stays cooler. Alot of people who've never had tint before complain that the black in the tint attracts light. Technically, it does. However, the tint also acts as an insulator. The thin layer of insulation keeps the outside air seperate from the inside air. So unless your car has been parked for 2 hours in the sun, the black-effect isn't really valid.

The third is that it reduces glare at night. While driving at night, you'll notice that the glare in your rearview mirrors from other lights isn't nearly as bad. This depends on your level of tint, but under most cases is a good thing. Once you get below about 12-14% tint, visibility becomes an issue. You may have to roll down your windows to see certain things.

The fourth is that it provides privacy. The darker the glass, the less people can see. Tint provides the best protection from thieves because it's preventative, not reactive. An alarm reacts once the car has been broken in to. But tint prevents thieves from seeing into the car. This is not true in 100% of cases, but your standard parking lot thief won't mess with a car with dark tint because (s)he is looking for visible items. However, tint should not be your only source of protection.

The fifth (and the one that applies to this thread) is that tint reduces fading and cracking to the car's interior. By reducing the amount of light and heat that is inside the car, the components inside the car tend to last longer.

Now... as for the sunroof... it doesn't really matter. I personally wouldn't put the reflective tint on a sunroof because of a few reasons:

1) What if you are in a parking lot for a building and your tint is reflecting sun (at an angle) into a conference room where a meeting is taking place. That's gonna make someone mad. Closing the blinds reduces all the natural light in the room; and could be prevented by using smoked tint.

2) When driving on the interstate over long distances, your sunroof would reflect the sun's rays into the eyes of truckers. Do you want a tired trucker getting upset at you because of the reflection? I don't. I like my car the way that it is.... in one piece with no damage.

There are more, but as you can see... the main reason that I don't recommend reflective tint on vehicles (and especially sunroofs) is because of consideration of others. It's very similar to following that truck with the chrome bumper that's reflecting the sun and you can't get around him. Now, how annoying is that?

Hopefully this will help you (and others) make wiser decisions. Any other questions are welcomed, but notice that I didn't not say anything about the way it looks. Personally, reflective tint or smoked tint is a personal choice as far as looks. Both do the same. Both cost about the same. So it's up to you as far as which one. I'm just giving you some information that may help/aid/guide/convince/etc your decision process.

-studman

 

Everyone

Thanks for some great feedback.

I will start calling around today to have it done by a professional (if I can get it close in price to $20).

thanks

Vic

 

I'll be looking into that as well after drilling a local tint shop with the cracking issue.

 

I am actually going one step further and tint my front windshield this week end.

 

Make sure that they use one piece. Also make sure that if you are tinting the entire windshield that they also tint the tinted part at the top. It will give the illusion of the windshield being that way from the factory, as well as avoiding a window tint ticket if the cop attempts to "feel" the front windshield.

If you choose to do the entire windshield, don't go any darker than about 40%, as nighttime driving would be dangerous. If you're only doing the top part, don't go below about 20%.