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Tesla Model Y Glass Roof Sunshade
- Thread starter Fobia
- Start date
I agree this does look very similar to the ones with sag problems on Amazon but I've only had good experiences with OEM accessories so far.No, I have not see the Tesla branded one but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Here's a quick FYI on OEM goods. Tesla would go out and find the cheapest but reliable manufacturer to make their sunshade. And more than half of the time, they come from the same factories in China where all the drop shippers do business with on Amazon. Only now, because Tesla endorses it as their version, the price jumps a 100%!! I got mine from Tesmanian during a BF sale last year for $63 with shipping and it even has the tab that says "Tesla" on it. I am NOT paying $120 for the exact same one because it will come with a Tesla bag. Even worse, not for the one that doesn't even come with magnets so that it will sag.
I'll definitely mention it here when I get it. I'll give it a quick fit before putting it away until spring.
RichAZ/CapeCod
Member
Just back from the Tucson Tesla showroom. Took a neighbor for his Tesla ride. The model 3 we were in (2022 I believe) has a very dark tint on the glass roof, much darker than my MY. Interesting.
Rich
Rich
I was told ceramic tint -could- cause the roof to shatter.
DerbyCityY
Member
Found this. Basically said for the most part this is an urban legend with a small amount of truth.
Team Acme
Can Tinting Your Sunroof Cause the Glass to Crack? Tinting your side and back windows is virtually a necessity in sunny places where it can dramatically reduce the temperature in your car. Learn how Team Acme provides this service and others by visiting our website today.
www.teamacme.com
Some tint shops refuse to install tint film on the glass roof. It is a difficult job, especially if the customer requires one continuous piece of film be used for the entire glass roof. This tint installation requires at least 2, even 3 team resources.
BitJam
Active Member
I live in the high desert of New Mexico (6,000 feet). Every 1,000 feet of altitude increase the Sun's UV intensity by 8 to 10%. my roof can easily get too hot to touch. I used a single piece roof shade for about a year. It would flap when the windows were open and the magnets to keep it from flapping didn't really work. I'm now using a 2 piece shade from SUMK. The wire is much thicker than what I've seen in similar products. The two pieces are easier to install. But best of all, the support in the middle keeps it from flapping when the windows are open.
I was puzzled for a while about why a sun shade seemed so essential to me yet most people don't want one or see it as optional. Then I realized the altitude and the dry air (great for astronomy) mean the sun is much more intense here.
I was puzzled for a while about why a sun shade seemed so essential to me yet most people don't want one or see it as optional. Then I realized the altitude and the dry air (great for astronomy) mean the sun is much more intense here.
UV radiation (UV A, B and C) will damage many man made materials; damage skin and increase the risk of skin cancer. IR (Infrared) radiation is at the other end (lower end) of the visible and near visible light spectrum. IR radiation is how heat energy from the sun is radiated, transferred to the vehicle. The glass roof of the Tesla Model Y is specially treated to reject both UV and IR rays. Adding a tint or an interior sun shade adds additional protection/rejection from the sun.
BitJam
Active Member
My understanding is the glass roof absorbs the UV which is why it gets so darned hot.
BTW: another thing UV destroys is the lenses in your eyes. I used to work for the Seva Foundation. They mostly go around the world to places at high altitude and give indigenous people free cataract operations. If you live at high altitude and don't wear sunglasses then the odds are good you will develop cataracts.
Since the roof is so good at absorbing UV, I'm interested in seeing how well EVglass from EVinsulate works. They claim it reduces the inside temperature at the roof by 20F in the summertime. It's a sheet of polycarbonate (I think) that makes the roof double paned. It is particularly good at extending range in wintertime by reducing the amount of heat going out through the roof.
sleepydoc
Well-Known Member
It would get hot from absorbing IR, not UV. It actually appears to do both, though.
Absorbing energy in any wavelength induces a temperature change in the material doing the absorbing. A given material can possibly absorb energy in visible, UV, radio, X-ray, whatever. The incident photons induce temporary energy-level changes that affect the equilibrium or balance of bonding forces between atoms and molecules. Then further, this increased energy activity is traded around within the material causing higher randomized vibration of the atoms - essentially the definition of increased temperature. This increased energy will eventually dissipate through the classic mechanisms of heat loss: radiation (typically IR, ie invisible to us unless the heating state is very extreme red-hot blue-hot white-hot etc), convection and conduction. Unusual materials can also have mechanisms of phosphorescence and fluorescence that give up energy in the visible spectrum, but not presently available window tint that I know of
.However, having made that point regarding energy absorption in the visible and UV followed by dissipation heat loss, I do think that the "UV blocking" of typical window films is more a function of them reflecting almost all of the incident UV, rather than energy absorption->heating within the film material. But next, and this is pretty interesting to me, think about what happens if you start with a sheet of glass that is somewhat UV reflective ie "UV blocking", but not perfectly so, in other words a significant amount of UV comes through.
Let's say the roof glass reflects or absorbs 75% of the UV energy being considered. Then let's say you're not satisfied with this performance, so you put an even better UV reflector on the inside surface of said glass, perhaps a 99% UV reflector. This means that the unblocked (transmitted) 25% portion of external UV radiation gets through the glass layer, but is reflected back by the highly UV-reflective tint film, and then 75% of that back-reflected UV is absorbed or reflected ed inwards again... As this light energy bounces back and forth within the sandwich*, and meanwhile the strong supply of fresh solar UV is still pouring in, there is an equilibrium rate of energy absorption and dissipation that leads to a temperature rise of the glass itself - higher than it would have been without the interior film.
While I don't think it's very common, it's not impossible that this extra delta-T could be the straw that broke the camel's back, causing expansion stress failure or locally stressing a flaw or scratch in the glass that would otherwise have held up. As discussed many times, the convex-shaped and specially-formulated roof glass is remarkably strong against compressive stress and impact from the outside, but relatively weak against disturbances from the inside. This could translate to a failure if the interior applied film decides to shrink strongly against the interior roof surface, creating exactly the kind of stress that the roof is weakest against.
My glass roof has been okay after being 3M tinted and sitting outside through the Tucson summer, and I certainly think I would do it again. But if it cracks at some point, I won't storm Into the tint shop to demand compensation.
Bottom line is that I'm somewhere between the camps of "it's dangerous to tint the roof" and "it's a BS excuse by Tlthe tint shop". Just find a place that has done it, hasn't had customer problems and is willing to do it for you.
* it's actually even more complicated than this, because the amount of reflection vs transmission at an optical interface can be very different in the Inside-out vs outside-in direction, and also depends on the angle of incidence and the wavelength. But it's safe to say that the application of the UV/IR tint film changes the equilibrium conditions regarding heating of the glass roof.
Laminated glass (two layers of glass with a layer of plastic laminate between the glass layers) effectively blocks most UV radiation. Regular single pane glass is less effective at blocking UV radiation. In the current production Model Y vehicle the windshield, glass roof and front side windows are made with laminated glass. Not sure about the rear hatch glass. The rear passenger windows are currently not made of laminated glass.
For the ultimate in solar radiation rejection you could install white paint protection film on the outside of the glass roof.
For the ultimate in solar radiation rejection you could install white paint protection film on the outside of the glass roof.
That's why IMO the solar screen for the roof is a better solution than window film. Solar screen material is a mesh material and thus allows for venting and heat dissipation. I've noticed that the vehicle feels cooler when the solar screen in place.Absorbing energy in any wavelength induces a temperature change in the material doing the absorbing. A given material can possibly absorb energy in visible, UV, radio, X-ray, whatever. The incident photons induce temporary energy-level changes that affect the equilibrium or balance of bonding forces between atoms and molecules. Then further, this increased energy activity is traded around within the material causing higher randomized vibration of the atoms - essentially the definition of increased temperature. This increased energy will eventually dissipate through the classic mechanisms of heat loss: radiation (typically IR, ie invisible to us unless the heating state is very extreme red-hot blue-hot white-hot etc), convection and conduction. Unusual materials can also have mechanisms of phosphorescence and fluorescence that give up energy in the visible spectrum, but not presently available window tint that I know of
However, having made that point regarding energy absorption in the visible and UV followed by dissipation heat loss, I do think that the "UV blocking" of typical window films is more a function of them reflecting almost all of the incident UV, rather than energy absorption->heating within the film material. But next, and this is pretty interesting to me, think about what happens if you start with a sheet of glass that is somewhat UV reflective ie "UV blocking", but not perfectly so, in other words a significant amount of UV comes through.
Let's say the roof glass reflects or absorbs 75% of the UV energy being considered. Then let's say you're not satisfied with this performance, so you put an even better UV reflector on the inside surface of said glass, perhaps a 99% UV reflector. This means that the unblocked (transmitted) 25% portion of external UV radiation gets through the glass layer, but is reflected back by the highly UV-reflective tint film, and then 75% of that back-reflected UV is absorbed or reflected ed inwards again... As this light energy bounces back and forth within the sandwich*, and meanwhile the strong supply of fresh solar UV is still pouring in, there is an equilibrium rate of energy absorption and dissipation that leads to a temperature rise of the glass itself - higher than it would have been without the interior film.
While I don't think it's very common, it's not impossible that this extra delta-T could be the straw that broke the camel's back, causing expansion stress failure or locally stressing a flaw or scratch in the glass that would otherwise have held up. As discussed many times, the convex-shaped and specially-formulated roof glass is remarkably strong against compressive stress and impact from the outside, but relatively weak against disturbances from the inside. This could translate to a failure if the interior applied film decides to shrink strongly against the interior roof surface, creating exactly the kind of stress that the roof is weakest against.
My glass roof has been okay after being 3M tinted and sitting outside through the Tucson summer, and I certainly think I would do it again. But if it cracks at some point, I won't storm Into the tint shop to demand compensation.
Bottom line is that I'm somewhere between the camps of "it's dangerous to tint the roof" and "it's a BS excuse by Tlthe tint shop". Just find a place that has done it, hasn't had customer problems and is willing to do it for you.
* it's actually even more complicated than this, because the amount of reflection vs transmission at an optical interface can be very different in the Inside-out vs outside-in direction, and also depends on the angle of incidence and the wavelength. But it's safe to say that the application of the UV/IR tint film changes the equilibrium conditions regarding heating of the glass roof.
Just FYI, not an advertising...
Recently bought and installed this roof shade. I would say it's nearly perfect fit for Model Y. The front part fit really perfect, the rear one - alsmost perfect. Little gaps on the sides but not a big deal. Because it made of 2 pieces, there is no middle hump.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08X71H65G?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
Recently bought and installed this roof shade. I would say it's nearly perfect fit for Model Y. The front part fit really perfect, the rear one - alsmost perfect. Little gaps on the sides but not a big deal. Because it made of 2 pieces, there is no middle hump.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08X71H65G?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
Aluminum foil outside, shiny side up! Everything goes back into space 
Upon reflection - that's a super cool idea..Aluminum foil outside, shiny side up! Everything goes back into space
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