Heat (solar) reflecting windscreens

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Sun 5 Apr 2009 12:33
Heat (solar) reflecting windscreens - joe mack
Do heat reflecting windscreens work ? They seem to be common on Renaults. Does anyone have any experience of a car with and without ? Can a heat reflecting film be applied to existing glass in the same was as tints ? I'm also curious as to why this treatment seems to be applied to windscreens only. What is the sun supposed to do when it strikes the other windows ?

Edited by Pugugly on 05/04/2009 at 12:42

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Sun 5 Apr 2009 12:52
Heat (solar) reflecting windscreens - Altea Ego
Do heat reflecting windscreens work ? They seem to be common on Renaults. Does anyone
have any experience of a car with and without ?


Yes I have and yes they do.

Can a heat reflecting film
be applied to existing glass in the same was as tints ?


It can but it looks rubbish

as to why this treatment seems to be applied to windscreens only. What is the
sun supposed to do when it strikes the other windows ?


more sun strikes windscreens (and rear windows) because they slope and are at 90% to the sun. The other windows dont
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Sun 5 Apr 2009 13:30
Heat (solar) reflecting windscreens - captain chaos
They may work but they look strange IMHO. Must be a bit like looking through a quality street wrapper
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Sun 5 Apr 2009 13:48
Heat (solar) reflecting windscreens - joe mack
>>They may work but they look strange IMHO. Must be a bit like looking through a quality street wrapper

I don't think that they look particularly strange. They do have a distinct pinkish tint when seen through polaroid sunglasses.
more sun strikes windscreens (and rear windows) because they slope and are at 90% to the sun. The other windows dont.


I'm not sure that I follow your logic there. Its not the glass that sun heats up, its whatever it strikes inside the car. Its the angle of the sun relative to what its striking thats important. Trigonometry and all that. When you say that they work.... could you explain a bit more. Ta.
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Sun 5 Apr 2009 19:49
Heat (solar) reflecting windscreens - Altea Ego
Put it like this, more sun gets through a window thats at 90 degrees to the sun and thats the slopey front and rear.

how much more do you want me to say about them working? Its cooler in one with them than without them.

Edited by Altea Ego on 05/04/2009 at 19:50

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Sun 5 Apr 2009 22:09
Heat (solar) reflecting windscreens - Dave_TD
I had one on a 406 estate, I believe they are fitted to cars with climate control to reduce hot and cold spots inside the car. The screen cost in the region of £450 when I had it replaced, but it did have a sensor for the auto lights/wipers too. The back window of the 406 had a ~40% conventional tint, I assume for the same reason.

Aftermarket satnavs don't work very well through the coating, there is an uncoated area near the rear view mirror which is why you sometimes see satnavs stuck at the top of the screen. The alternative is to add an external aerial or (in my case) use the built-in but rubbish one.

Dave TD.
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