Does a Sunshade Actually Work?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 มิ.ย. 2024
- Video demonstration on test if window sun shades actually work. Considering this car is over 30 years old, it has been exposed to UV damage within the interior. Materials will dry out over time, such as leather, vinyl, plastics, fabric, carpet, etc. This will cause them to crack, fade, discolour, and give off volatile organic compounds. If your are wondering what volatile organic compounds are, as a brief explanation, it’s the evaporation of chemicals from a material when exposed to a certain temperature.
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I decided to purchase a windshield sunshade, they’re available in a few different sizes depending on the models. You will have to determine the size of your windshield to pick the correct size. This can be installed on your rear window as well, depending on which area is exposed to the sun more on your vehicle. This version in one of the cheaper ones, only about $20, there is also more expensive versions too.
Simply unfold sun shade and place it in the window. You will have to feed it around your rear view mirror, this model has suction cups which sticks to the glass. This can be easily installed or removed in under 5 minutes. For this test I want to determine if it can keep the interior temperature down.
Now with a little comparison test using a thermometer sitting on the dash for only an hour on a sunny summer day at the end of June. This day happened to be slightly cooler than compared to a regular summer’s day at about 26 degrees Celsius. The temperature without the window shade ended up being about 120 Fahrenheit or 49 Celsius and rising a couple degrees in less than a one minute period.
After the sunshade was installed, I left that for the next day, allowing the materials and atmosphere within the vehicle to cool down. The next day actually ended up being hotter at about 29 degrees Celsius. This time around it was at a steady 92 degrees Fahrenheit or 33 degrees Celsius.
Overall, we can see quite a drop in temperature, along with providing some form of a barrier against UV light. Beyond material breaking down, we also have to worry about them off gassing, especially more noticeable on newer vehicles. Basically this means that a material such as plastic hits a certain temperature and the chemicals which were used to create it, evaporate and emit into the atmosphere. Considering a vehicle’s interior is a small space, the chemical vapour can build up and may have negative effects on one’s health.
So keeping the temperature down within your interior will help protect materials from breaking down and reduce off gassing. With that being said, a cheap sunshade can certainly help keeping these two issues at bay. It can protect one’s health, keeps a vehicle looking good, and maintains it’s value.
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you can also fold down your visors to assist keeping the shade in place
Excellent idea! I actually didn't even think of that lol.
I didn't think of that also until a friend of mine did that and he is a first time car owner. I've been driving and owning car for years now but I never thought about doing it. It is really an excellent idea
Great videos keep it up!
Great info. If I forget to put mine up and work my car is sweltering hot, the shades do indeed work pretty well.
Thank you!
Never thought about VOCs. I just remember growing up and seeing these things in peoples cars and thinking "Hey thats just what old people do". lol
Lol, yeah I was never a fan of them. But I started to see my arm cracks getting quite bad and this had managed to stop it from getting worse.
Thanks for this.
No problem :)
Great video, I use my sun shades but i was looking to see if they really make a temp difference. Thanks!
No problem, happy to help!
I knew that the temperature would be lower with a shade, but it's nice to see some measurements in the comparison. Also I've never really thought about the VOCs given off by the various interior materials under high temps - it's a good point. There are many products that are marketed as dashboard protectants, but I've read about and seen how they can end up evaporating and leaving a bad film all over the windscreen which isn't ideal...
Yeah the VOCs were always a problem, I know some newer cars are switching to a more user friendly compounds. It's a pretty big thing in building construction and can cause "sick building syndrome". Took quite a bit of that in school and if I remember correctly, using low VOC materials is one classification for LEED building design. Huh, that's the first time hearing that. Only in Australia with extreme heat? I use the Mothers conditioner and has been my favorite product. Can make a hardening soft touch panel very pliable. I think someone did used Armor All on my E23, there was like a milky white residue on my door cards and it was a pain to clean.
4DIYers True; it seems like a constant cycle of: development in new materials (i.e. Plastics and man-made compounds), followed by learning about how these compounds fare over time (including giving off toxic by-products), followed by new development, and so on. Yeah, here the sun is particularly brutal. Lots of materials in our late 70s / early 80s BMWs clearly weren't designed / tested for the harsh Aussie sun; cracked dashboards are more the norm than the exception for Bimmers of our Sharknose era; and the expensive optional buffalo leather on the E23s, E32s and E34s used to melt! But yeah, it obviously depends on the product, but there was a theory that using AA or similar (especially to excess) could do more harm than good. I think for my E38 I used to use a light application of a quality interior / vinyl protectant (like Auto Glym or Mothers), make sure I rubbed off any excess, and usually only did the month-to-month once-over with a damp cloth.
Some of the older vehicles here had the same problem too. My 1989 Ranger did have a small crack, not even an inch long. After applying that Mothers product it made the dash more pliable and prevented the crack from getting worse. I try to apply the conditioner every 6 months, lay on a heavier coating, allow it to soak in for a minute, remove and then buff with a microfiber. Was the rear deck in your E38 faded? The carpet rear deck in my E23 is and so is my E39, but my E32 was good (maybe the colour held up better). I've been debating if I get my leather interior redone, I might get it done Napa or the factory Nutria. Depends which is more durable to the elements.
Yeah actually I was lucky there; with my E38 having the "grandpa grey" interior, any fading of the parcel shelf wasn't really noticeable. Plus, we were lucky in Australia in getting the electric rear sun blind as standard on 740iL, so I tended to use that quite a bit on hot days. Both my E38s had pretty dark tints too. You've got dark tints on the 540i/6, yeah? The carpeted parcel shelf on my E21 is quite faded, though, like you said about your E23 :( Yeah the darker colours get destroyed hey. I've seen some with the black interior trim, and the shelf is purple... Yeah, not sure about durability between the modern (post-buffalo) BMW leathers. The Nappa / Napa on the E38s / E39s I've seen tends to either go "shiny" when not cleaned properly, or, end up somewhat "papery" if it hasn't been moisturised properly. You would've looked after your Ranger too.
I had a manual sunshade in my E32, but unfortunately none in the E39 or E23. No tint in my E39 either, was hoping to get that done a while back but we shall see. Quite skeptical on people's workmanship lol. I actually bought dye for my rear deck about a year ago, the bottle has been sitting there collection dust haha. Hoping to get that done once the weather warms up, might even produce a video for it too. Hmm, will definitely need to do some research on options then. I might stick with stock leather then, it only took over 30yrs for it to look like what it currently does. My back seat is mint, don't believe my passenger seat is cracked, however both arm rests are cracked and the driver seat is cracked badly.
Great informative video. Do you leave it on in winter months as well?
I did, you'll still have UV light in the winter months which will cause interior deterioration. I now have a car cover to protect the car.
Don't understand how people drive around without their car windows tinted. It's like driving around in a magnified fishbowl.
Some vehicles will have a mild tint for the ac. I would like to get my windows tinted, just a little worried about having someone do bad work.
4DIYers I live in South Florida and it's just too brutal down here 🔥. I guess if you live in a colder climate it's not that urgent. In fact, now that I think about it, you don't see many cars down here not tinted, and yes, some of the tint jobs are terrible 😆.
Illegal in some parts of canada
Ni money to put tinted ;)
It’s illegal for the front windows and windshield to be tinted where I live
I was happy that my truck came with one
I should have purchased on of these years ago, probably would have helped save my armrest a little. The dash was already cracked unfortunately.
4DIYers The sun really does damage these cars so this is great to help against it!
My Lexus was tinted and the back areas of the car still look new. Did not use a sunshield, and the steerwheel, stick shift, leather seats, all of that suffered. The wood is faded where the sun hits and the leather is cracking. That was stupid and lazy of me. A sunshade should ALWAYS be used when parked outside.
Does the silver side go out to watch the sun or the black? no one seemed to can get that right please tell
Silver side out.
@@4DIYers Thanks
great video would be if you took out that broken dashboard and redo it urself....or take it to professional and show us how its done...this car really deserves it.
Thank you! I am hoping to redo the dash eventually. I have been looking at a few different products, hardest part is matching the existing color as it's most likely faded.
My AC in my car is broken so regardless of if I use the window sunshade or not my car still feels like an oven when I go inside! I understand the shade makes it less of an oven but doesn't feel much different and I'm still roasting like a marshmallow so it's useless to me.