sky view's retractable cover too thin? too transparent?

Has anybody come up with the sky view's retractable shade ?
Here in miami, fl.. the sun is extra hot if you know what i mean. The glass gets soo hot it takes forever to cool the cabin.
that mesh audi has instaaled has too many holes and is a little too thin to keep out heat.

On the bright side, unlike a conventional sliding sun-shade, you can leave the screen closed and open the glass for a bit of shade with your breeze.

I agree that a full block out shade would be nice.

Kind of cheap if you ask me! I like having the open sky system, but come on audi...Do I have to buy an A4 or above to get a full on shade???

i think that's part of the point of open sky. even when its closed, it's still 'open'. Yes it generates some heat, but it has its positive points too, like SaxCatz said, you can leave the shade closed and open the roof only. great feature if you ask me. I really like the open sky, even with not being able to truely close it.

Put some tint on the sunroof.... your only option.

If you hack with it and somehow manage to put a solid vinyl piece in there you'll void your warranty... and these covers actually break quite often

Hey a3night thanks for the suggestion, but two people already told me that the glass up there is not as thick as other glass on the car.
Therefor when the tint gets heated and shrinks just a little it will crack the glass.
my service guy, and the tint guy told me, and if the tint guy did not want to make an extra 20 to 30 bucks on me, i had to believe him

Yeah, I would love it if i had the option to block the sun completely. Seems totally logical...
Gets crazy hot in southern Cal. Any ideas on how to DIY?
-e

The way i keep the sun and the heat out is to cut out a piece of blackout window shade from home depot and place it in between the glass and the mesh, both frt and rear. Good luck

I had mine tinted front and back with 5% limo tint, I have only had it about 6 weeks now, however I live in Las Vegas so if it does not crack the glass here it should not crack anywhere. I will keep you all posted.
 
Rob

Tin cracking glass? That sounds silly. If the tint were to shrink, which of the two materials do you think would give first, plastic/vinyl tint or glass? I tinted mine a couple of days after I bought it. It has sat outside in quite a few 100 plus SoCal days already. No sign of shrinkage or cracked glass. Very glad I tinted it as the heat reduction is significant.

thanks for the input...
i might go with the 5% tint.

quote:

ORIGINAL: ChrisF1

Tin cracking glass? That sounds silly. If the tint were to shrink, which of the two materials do you think would give first, plastic/vinyl tint or glass? I tinted mine a couple of days after I bought it. It has sat outside in quite a few 100 plus SoCal days already. No sign of shrinkage or cracked glass. Very glad I tinted it as the heat reduction is significant.

What i heard was that the tint makes the glass retain too much heat or something like that causing it to crack. Who knows though.
I guess if it were to crack you could take the tint off before taking it to your dealer?

I think there are several members on these forums who've tinted their open sky cars with no issues ever mentioned. I'd think if it was going to happen, you would have read about it by now. If I start seeing any cracks, i'll let everyone know ;)

Anyone putting up a windshield cover while parked?  That helps a lot, kind PITA, but it keeps the seats cool.  Cool seats mean less heat to your backside, and you stay cooler.
 
Course I don't do that much running around, the car is pretty much back and forth from home to work.  At home it's in the garage, at work it's under a tree.
 
The holes in the sunshade are consistent with the "opensky" theme, I don't think it's a cheap out at all, except for the complaints about the front retainer clip breaking, which is unacceptable.
 
I'd be very interested in tinting the sunroof glass also, however.

Hey there Sin City 3. I am in Vegas too, where did you have it done? I had my windows done by Kai on Spring Mountain, but I'd rather go with someone who already did a roof job on the A3.

Thanks!

Stas

Stas,
 
I had my whole car done at tint world on Decateur. They have done all my vehicals and I have had no problems at all with them. Hope that helps

i just had mine done..i'll also let you guys know how it holds up over time. so much better now (got 5% limo tint). cooler interior and no sun in my face.

I agree never heard anyone say that after they tinted their roof of any cracking. I do have to admit that the shade is very crappy. I'm already on my second set of clips in 10K miles Wish they had a way of upgrading it so that its not so flimsy.

15% on both of my Open Sky panels and no problems.  And for the past week here in NC it's been 100 degrees and 70-90% humidity.  Between the all-around tint and my windshield sun shade, the car never really gets much hotter inside than on the outside.
 
Methinks any cracking would have occurred by now, and I sought advice from a dealership, a tinting place and AoA...none of them had any concern.  I just hope I haven't jinxed myself here.

Thanks, I'll check them out!

Stas

Yea, the clips on the sun-shades are by far the cheapest feeling thing in the car.  Everything else is superbly firm and sturdy except for those flimsy clips!

I bought my A3 used, and the sunroof is tinted almost black... I figured it came from the factory like that.  It sat outside a few 100+ degrees days in the sun with no problems.

I'm thinking about tinting the open sky panels too, and the rest of the windows :)

How much did you folks pay for the sunroof tint?

i think it was about 120 total...
i might go back and do both driver/passenger windows soon. but not a whole lot...maybe 35%

Drumdork - who did you use here in town for the tint, and did you like the job they did 8 months later?