Panoramic Fixed Glass Roof: Heat Load???

[CameraCarl]

My wife and I are considering buying a Mach-E Premium and have been asking a lot of questions on these forums. (By the way, a big thanks to all the kind users who give us great advice.) I took a Mach-E for a long-ish test drive yesterday and noticed that there is no shade for the roof. In the past we have owned several cars with moon roofs. Even though we live in the Midwest, we always wound up closing the shade on the moon roof because we found that the interior seemed to heat up in the summer when the shade was open. I did a cursory search of this forum and I found lots of comments from users who like the roof, but could not find any comments (positive or negative) about the roof causing the interior to heat up. Maybe this roof has better shading than the old moon roofs. Are our worries unfounded?

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[Dustus]

I have the all glass roof and I don't even notice it is there in the summer. If you hold your hand up by it you will feel some heat about an inch from the glass but it doesn't heat the car much or glare at all even in direct sun. The glass is polarized and very well protected from heat and glare.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I live in Arizona mountains, so it's cooler than the stereotypical Arizona, but I'm often in Phoenix and Tucson, and I drive all around the southwest. There is minimal difference in heat between having the aftermarket shade and not having the aftermarket shade. If you touch the glass, you can feel heat, but the vehicle's interior does not significantly change. There's much more from the front windshield.

 

[AngryMan]

I live in Arizona mountains, so it's cooler than the stereotypical Arizona, but I'm often in Phoenix and Tucson, and I drive all around the southwest. There is minimal difference in heat between having the aftermarket shade and not having the aftermarket shade. If you touch the glass, you can feel heat, but the vehicle's interior does not significantly change. There's much more from the front windshield.

If it's Phoenix proof it'll be ok here in Ohio . I didn't actually want the glass roof but it was attached to a red GT so I went with it

 

[AngryMan]

"Phoenix is hot but its a dry heat ..." yeah like a blast furnace ?

 

[dr__bob]

Are our worries unfounded?

Short answer: yes, they are unfounded. I live in SoCal, and I was also a bit worried, not only about the heat but also the glare. Neither affected me at all. I was quite surprised. Now I barely notice that the roof is glass.

 

[RXDOC]

When I was looking, the glass roof seemed more of a gimmick, than a useful option. From the driver's seat, you have to really try hard to actually see it. From a structural point of view, it adds weight, and takes away some rigidity. My wife, during a test drive, said no glass roof. Her concern was safety during accidents (totally unfounded)! I agreed (to be able to buy), and looked wide and hard for a MME GT-PE, glass roof delete. They are out there. You have to give up Blue Cruise (another semi-gimmick), as I don't plan to travel anywhere with an EV. I have every other option on my GT.
Very happy with it. The blacked out roof looks great.

 

[Deleted member 19354]

My wife and I are considering buying a Mach-E Premium and have been asking a lot of questions on these forums. (By the way, a big thanks to all the kind users who give us great advice.) I took a Mach-E for a long-ish test drive yesterday and noticed that there is no shade for the roof. In the past we have owned several cars with moon roofs. Even though we live in the Midwest, we always wound up closing the shade on the moon roof because we found that the interior seemed to heat up in the summer when the shade was open. I did a cursory search of this forum and I found lots of comments from users who like the roof, but could not find any comments (positive or negative) about the roof causing the interior to heat up. Maybe this roof has better shading than the old moon roofs. Are our worries unfounded?

I found a YouTube video about it once. There are after market shades that you can buy and use clips. Some say they pop off sometimes. I’ve not had mine long enough for summer heat so I can’t really say one way or another. But I understand Ford has a pretty good protective shield on the glass. Sorry for not being more helpful!

 

[Mach-Lee]

My wife and I are considering buying a Mach-E Premium and have been asking a lot of questions on these forums. (By the way, a big thanks to all the kind users who give us great advice.) I took a Mach-E for a long-ish test drive yesterday and noticed that there is no shade for the roof. In the past we have owned several cars with moon roofs. Even though we live in the Midwest, we always wound up closing the shade on the moon roof because we found that the interior seemed to heat up in the summer when the shade was open. I did a cursory search of this forum and I found lots of comments from users who like the roof, but could not find any comments (positive or negative) about the roof causing the interior to heat up. Maybe this roof has better shading than the old moon roofs. Are our worries unfounded?

You're up in the Twin Cities. The head load in the summer is negligible, totally fine. What you should be concerned about is the heat loss in the winter, that is a problem when it's -20ºF. I cover mine for the winter.

 

[azerik]

"Phoenix is hot but its a dry heat ..." yeah like a blast furnace ?

THAT. From March 15th through Nov 15th usually.

I've been watching my roof temp closer these last few days as I ordered a different kind of sunshade. I live in Phoenix and do garage my car usually. But at times in the drive it'll feel hot when it's 115+ out. Not a whole lot to do about that besides insulate yourself from the heat..

Now last year I bought an amzon sunshade thing for $50. It's 2 pieces. 1 is just like a sun screen and one is reflective. The reflective is silver on 1 side back on the other. The reflective piece gets hot'ish. Not to the point where you want to run and hide from it but if your head is near it it's warm,'ish hot. It helps to point one of the middle vents (I use the drivers side because the ~55 degree cold air on my arm gets annoying after a few min so I usually dial down that vent to about 3/4 opens and point it slightly upwards) at the roof to at least move that air around. This is far from annoying or a deal breaker. It's about the same as having a solid roof with a headliner, unless you touch it.

This year I bought an evinsulate poly window, which I'm still on the fence to install based on my findings. I'm not sure it'd do much other than allow me to have the roof 'open' instead of blacked out.

The other day it was 80 here. I left my car outside for 6 hours then started taking temp readings.

The center of the roof on the outside read 118
The center of the roof inside the car read 109
The Black surrounding edges of the roof on the outside read 148
There isn't a place to get the black surround reading on the inside as it's covered by the headliner surround. (and only a handful of us would drive with our fingers jammed in the roof anyway)

I thought (which was why I bought the evinsulate thing) when driving the air going past the roof would cool it. It does but it doesnt. Still 80 degrees (in the shade) I went for a drive and the center of the inside of the roof remained 109 +/_ 1 degree. The black surround on the outside however did cool to 118 and then would start climbing while sitting. The whole of the interior glass remained just about 109. 1 inch from the glass you can't feel it. On the glass you realize it's 109. This is UV heat, all sunlight based. Once Mother Nature turns the blast furnace back on we can add about 40 degrees to this as ambient times will be 40 degrees higher and it'll be hard to remove any temp below ambient without the AC.

 

[VaporTrails]

If it's Phoenix proof it'll be ok here in Ohio . I didn't actually want the glass roof but it was attached to a red GT so I went with it

The reality is that the roof is useless to the driver. Your passengers will love it. It does not make the car feel hotter. It does not warm you the same way an open sunroof would. I thought I might buy the aftermarket shade, but after a summer at 33’ latitude, I’m good as is.

 

[CameraCarl]

Thanks everyone. No more worries about sun load. Thanks to the folks on these forums, my wife and I are ticking off all our concerns about getting a Mach-E and are just about to take the plunge.

 

[Pony's Clare]

My wife and I are considering buying a Mach-E Premium and have been asking a lot of questions on these forums. (By the way, a big thanks to all the kind users who give us great advice.) I took a Mach-E for a long-ish test drive yesterday and noticed that there is no shade for the roof. In the past we have owned several cars with moon roofs. Even though we live in the Midwest, we always wound up closing the shade on the moon roof because we found that the interior seemed to heat up in the summer when the shade was open. I did a cursory search of this forum and I found lots of comments from users who like the roof, but could not find any comments (positive or negative) about the roof causing the interior to heat up. Maybe this roof has better shading than the old moon roofs. Are our worries unfounded?

Much more heat coming in through the windshield and side windows. The roof doesn't increase discernible heat. Initially I was worried too but now I'm not.

 

[socalh2oskier]

My wife and I are considering buying a Mach-E Premium and have been asking a lot of questions on these forums. (By the way, a big thanks to all the kind users who give us great advice.) I took a Mach-E for a long-ish test drive yesterday and noticed that there is no shade for the roof. In the past we have owned several cars with moon roofs. Even though we live in the Midwest, we always wound up closing the shade on the moon roof because we found that the interior seemed to heat up in the summer when the shade was open. I did a cursory search of this forum and I found lots of comments from users who like the roof, but could not find any comments (positive or negative) about the roof causing the interior to heat up. Maybe this roof has better shading than the old moon roofs. Are our worries unfounded?

We have a '22 GTPE. We live in Phoenix. I was worried when we got the car that the large glass roof would make it hot in the car during the crazy hot summer months here--but we don't even notice it.

 

[AngryMan]

I found a YouTube video about it once. There are after market shades that you can buy and use clips. Some say they pop off sometimes. I’ve not had mine long enough for summer heat so I can’t really say one way or another. But I understand Ford has a pretty good protective shield on the glass. Sorry for not being more helpful!

Im toying with the idea of using a 5% Limo tint on it . It would keep the "open air" feel while blocking some sun and adding another barrier for/from heat and cold.
Just not sure how easy that would be cuz you'd almost need to be like Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling laying on yer back during install

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