Model S Refresh Roof Tint (Baking in the South Florida Sun lol)

[Thurro!]

I currently have a loaner that has a build date of 12/22 (refresh) and own a Model S w/ a build date of 6/23 that's in service at the moment. The roof on the 12/22 loaner is factory tinted like my old 2020 MSLR was so I feel like the heat rejection was noticeably different. I saw another post where someone said they ceramic tinted theirs's with 70% XPEL, but didn't specify the model they had. One of the folks at the dealer/service center said the roof cracks when you tint it so hence the question. People used to say the front windshields would crack as well and I've done my front windshield on every car since 1994 w/o any issues of cracking. I just want to see what other folks experience has been sooooo.....

Anyone have a refreshed Model S that got their roof done? How drastic was the temperature change in the cabin? How much did it run? And lastly, any shop recommendations in South Florida (West Palm, Broward, or Miami-Dade county)?

I feel like the sun is sitting on the top of my head on long trips in this south Florida sun!

Thanks in advance!

 

[URBAN LEGEND]

Consider the roof screen. Installation in 5 minutes.

 

[NeuroRad]

I’ve got the xpel 30% on the roof and I wouldn’t do it again in the future. The glass was already overly tinted from the factory in my opinion and did a fine job at heat rejection.

If Tesla offered a solid metal roof id get that instead.

 

[Thurro!]

I’ve got the xpel 30% on the roof and I wouldn’t do it again in the future. The glass was already overly tinted from the factory in my opinion and did a fine job at heat rejection.

If Tesla offered a solid metal roof id get that instead.

What year is your S? It's weird that the refresh loaner I had (built in 12/22) had a MUCH darker tinted roof than my 6/23 built S. As I said before, it was dark by the front visor and faded to a lighter smoked color towards the back and the SC said it was factory like that. Meanwhile, my previous 2020 had the exact same roof.
Anyway, I ordered the roof shade anyway. We'll see if it makes a difference. The Florida summer sun SUCKS and is only getting worse.

 

[Speedr117]

@Thurro!, one of the listed improvements for 2023, besides better brake pads, was a lighter tint, lighter weight glass roof. They state that it rejects the same amount of UV rays as the old one. It's definitely lets in more light than the old one (or the one on my old 2017). I'm giving a few weeks before I decide to tint it (tinted the windows though!). In Florida as well...

 

[Thurro!]

@Thurro!, one of the listed improvements for 2023, besides better brake pads, was a lighter tint, lighter weight glass roof. They state that it rejects the same amount of UV rays as the old one. It's definitely lets in more light than the old one (or the one on my old 2017). I'm giving a few weeks before I decide to tint it (tinted the windows though!). In Florida as well...

Yeah, I got the Llumar IRX 15 all around and 50 on the windshield. I'll probably go 50 on the roof at this point and call it a day. I have the same (IRX) on my F150 with 40 on the windshield and panoramic sunroof and the difference is night and day.

 

[ninefiveone]

Something to remember, UV rejection is not infrared rejection. Infrared is what carries heat, not UV. Almost all automotive glass now has UV blocking already.

That said, on my 2021 refresh, both my roof and windshield were tinted with 3M crystalline 80% and I never notice heat coming through the roof. I do notice heat from all the other windows which are all also tinted with crystalline. This strongly suggests the OEM roof had infrared rejection already.

Compared to my cars without crystalline, I’d guess it knocks down infrared by 50%, eg it’s noticeable and meaningfully less.

I agree that the early roofs were tinted too darkly. I’ve considered removing my roof tint to enjoy better light transmission but as the driver… I am rarely looking up through the roof.

 

[bigguh]

Something to remember, UV rejection is not infrared rejection. Infrared is what carries heat, not UV. Almost all automotive glass now has UV blocking already.

That said, on my 2021 refresh, both my roof and windshield were tinted with 3M crystalline 80% and I never notice heat coming through the roof. I do notice heat from all the other windows which are all also tinted with crystalline. This strongly suggests the OEM roof had infrared rejection already.

Compared to my cars without crystalline, I’d guess it knocks down infrared by 50%, eg it’s noticeable and meaningfully less.

I agree that the early roofs were tinted too darkly. I’ve considered removing my roof tint to enjoy better light transmission but as the driver… I am rarely looking up through the roof.

This is the sense I am getting, as I briefly considered tinting the roof. One high quality tint guy I know told me the roof tint is far superior without any tint. This was reinforced by 2 videos I've seen, both of which used a meter to measure BTU level on cloudless sunny days. One of the videos involved a M3 and MY, with the M3 having the roof tinted while the MY did not. The measurement in the M3 was 2 BTUs at the roof glass with the meter pointed directly at the sun (250+ measured outside), and the MY without tint on the roof glass measured 3 to 4 BTU at the glass. The other video was a MS that barely measured 1 BTU at the glass without tint (that was in 95 degree cloudless Southern CA). Both videos talked about how the heat collects at the roof on the inside, but most of that is actually coming in from the side windows and windshield, rather than the roof. So, the heat felt there is more a function of the heat that collects at the high point of the interior. Of course, the roof gets hot but it is rejecting tons of heat.

 

[f308gt4]

I recently posted about this. The guy I use for tint said that: 1) could potentially crack glass 2) tint would void the Tesla warranty, so if it cracks would be an expensive fix, and 3) noted that it would be a difficult install due to the size of the glass.

He didn’t want to do it, and I didn’t push him on it after posting in the interior/exterior forum and doing a google search and seeing some of the videos described above (I.e., tint didn’t appear to make much of a difference in heat). I did get windscreen (70%) , side windows (70% front and 25% rear) and rear glass (25%) done.

When summer rolls around again, I think I will just purchase a sunscreen. Not sure if I’ll go with the Tesla one (1 piece) or one of the aftermarket ones (2 piece supposedly prevents sagging in the middle).