Fact or Fiction---sunroofs should not be tinted??

[hughhernandez]

My personal experience: 

I was at a car wash on a hot day when a guy drove in with a beautiful Mercedes S Class. It had a panoramic roof that shattered when the water hit it. Since I was there and worked with the car wash company at the time, I was able to look at the incident in detail. 

I discovered the roof had been tinted, as the glass was held together by the material. 

Factors I noticed: 

Since it was a hot day in Arizona, I had to assume that the extreme temperatures put a lot of stress on the glass. The tint was dark, so there was added stress because of the absorption inherent with dark tint. the water was colder because it was constantly flowing.  

My personal assessment:

Given that Mercedes glass usually doesn't explode when a car is washed, the added absorption, which can be over 50% with darker tint, created enough additional stress on the glass and caused the breakage when the cold temperature water hit it.

Perhaps there was also an imperfection in the glass that played a role in the breakage too. 

 

Either way, it was a $6,000.00 damage claim and it was submitted to the car wash's insurance company for payment.

 

Moral of the story:

Since then we only tint sunroofs when a customer signs our damage waiver. It's on them if it breaks.

[RockyDaz]

You will also find that applying aftermarket film to a vehicle's sunroof will probably void the manufacturers warranty on the sunroof, so check your insurance guys.

Some car manufacturers specifically state that film is not to be applied to the sunroof.

I have personally tinted heaps  of them with a PS DR film with as low TSEA as possible. No problems so far, but I have only been doing this for 20 odd years

 

I can see hughhernandez's story as being a very likely scenario especially if tinted in a high absorbance film, but then again I have seen untinted laminated windscreens crack in situations like that as well.

[Tintguy1980]

 

I have personally tinted heaps  of them with a PS DR film with as low TSEA as possible. No problems so far, but I have only been doing this for 20 odd years

 

 

[Blackwolftinting]

I double tinted my sunroof because the amount of heat coming through it was insane. It was already factory colored glass to begin with. I was still getting a crap ton of heat through it so I decided to remove what was on there and put a piece of silver 20% on the exterior. It was normal silver designed to be applied on the inside...but shrank enough to get it to lay flat...and I let it dry all day in the sun. The heat is virtually gone and the film looks to be holding up very well. I'm going to get a sample of silver 20% ext film and see how that does in comparison.

[Bham]

So, it seems that there is only a little fear of breakage or damage.  Of course, if doing it for a customer, go with a liability waiver of some sort.  But still no definitive proof either way that tinting sunroofs will cause damage.  I think it is just part of dealing with glass and all the factors that come with it......was it damaged somewhere you didn't know about or couldn't see.......was it stressed by angle of install....the list goes on.    Jeez, I love my job 

[flat rock stan]

My personal experience: 

I was at a car wash on a hot day when a guy drove in with a beautiful Mercedes S Class. It had a panoramic roof that shattered when the water hit it. Since I was there and worked with the car wash company at the time, I was able to look at the incident in detail. 

I discovered the roof had been tinted, as the glass was held together by the material. 

Factors I noticed: 

Since it was a hot day in Arizona, I had to assume that the extreme temperatures put a lot of stress on the glass. The tint was dark, so there was added stress because of the absorption inherent with dark tint. the water was colder because it was constantly flowing.  

My personal assessment:

Given that Mercedes glass usually doesn't explode when a car is washed, the added absorption, which can be over 50% with darker tint, created enough additional stress on the glass and caused the breakage when the cold temperature water hit it.

Perhaps there was also an imperfection in the glass that played a role in the breakage too. 

 

Either way, it was a $6,000.00 damage claim and it was submitted to the car wash's insurance company for payment.

 

Moral of the story:

Since then we only tint sunroofs when a customer signs our damage waiver. It's on them if it breaks.

Sounds like the cold (probably colder than usual that day) water broke the window. Pour hot water on a cold piece of lam and see what happens.

35+ years tinting I have never told a customer no on any glass either tempered or laminated, located anywhere on the car and never had a problem.

[H.G.]

Nickle oxide inclusion , some imperfection in the glass   ,   Or: Tempered glass is under compression on the outer layers , when it is housed in metal  which a lot of sunroofs are there is a possibility that the frame being expanded from the extreme heat shrinkins faster than the glass when cold water is applied , thereby "pinching" it more than normal. 

Tempered does what it wants , I've pulled glass with a cup (glass cup   ) and had it explode just carrying it over to saw horses to tint it.