Sunnybrae

This may be an odd question but has anyone who lives in parts of Canada where it gets down to -30 in the winter had issues with sun/moon roofs on their vehicles? My Canadian partner thinks the cold could be an issue with seals, ice build up and leaks?

dbd33

I had a Mustang convertibles as a winter driver. Parked outside. Saw -33 on the thermometer. No issues.

I had another Mustang convertible as an only car, a VW Beetle convertible, a Suzuki Vitara convertible. The windows of the VW nested deep into the top and would sometimes freeze in place, otherwise they all went along fine.

I have a BMW hardtop convertible, the multiple parts of the roof have rubber seals that look like they might leak but they don't.

Oh, on edit, all those leased Ford Escapes and the Exploder had sun roofs, none of them leaked.

I'd say the risk is not zero but not major.

not2old

I would think in some of the coldest towns & provinces in Canada where it either rains a lot or gets down to minus -50c in the winter folks drive either sunroof or convertible vehicles with minimal issues.

https://www.worlddata.info/america/c...ova-scotia.php

likely vehicle manufacturers have figured it out especially on the exports to some god forsaken hell frozen over places....Alaska, Yukon, Greenland, Siberia to name a few.

even remote parts of Scotland eh!

.

Sunnybrae

It gets wet here in Scotland but not as cold as to where I'll probably end up living .

Thanks for the posts, I suppose at the end of day, like all things in life, you'll never know until you try so as I like sun roofs I may as well get a vehicle that has one and see what happens.

not2old

i've seen people driving convertibles in the middle of a Canadian winter when temperatures are below freezing.

more trivia related than worrying about icing/leaky sun roofs....

including wearing shorts when temperatures at minus 20c.

in Canada's snowy icy conditions, not only do you drive different one also learns to walk on pavements/sidewalks that have ice & slush without falling flat on your back.

one thing about Canada & winters is shovelling snow, its part of the routine especially after shovelling the driveway the snow plow comes along & puts back more snow than you just shovelled.

dbd33

The most recent Mustang convertible met its end while on summer tyres. I advertised the winter tyres and they were gone in a couple of hours. The phone rang constantly until I took the ad down. And this is a couple of hours out of town.

There are plenty of people who can only have one car and drive it year round (as I did and may again). Such poor people should be allowed dignity, they shouldn't have to suffer driving a hard top vehicle (nor an automatic as long as they have function in both their legs).

Piff Poff

I'd be more concerned with hail damage than snow and ice.

Just don't use them when it's snowy and icy.

abner

I had a car written off due to hail damage 6 years ago--golf-ball sized projectiles.

All of the metal panels looked like they suffered from teenage acne. All of the glass bits were fine, including the sunroof.

I'm not suggesting that it couldn't have been worse, under even more severe conditions. But the glass is surprisingly tough.

CanadaJimmy

If the sun/moon roof breaks within the first few years, then it'll be covered under the warranty if it's a new car. If it's a used car or outside warranty, then you should always budget for repairs anyway, all sorts of things can go wrong with cars, alternators, transmission, fuel pump, etc. the sun roof is really not high on the list of possible failures in my opinion.

Almost Canadian

We used to ski regularly. Sometimes we would stay at a hotel near the resort that had heated underground parking. One time, we left the parkade and our car's thermometer told us it was 15 degrees. As we left and ventured out into the winter, the car's thermometer increased until it stopped at -30 (early in the morning with no sun). I would think that, if our vehicle's windows (including a sunroof) could cope with such a drastic change of temperate with no issue, most others could too.

Despite the frigid temperatures and our faces putting up with that as we skied downhill, we survived, albeit needing to attend the lodge far more frequently than normal, but that's another story!

Piff Poff

we've had a couple of cars written and a couple repaired over the years - one was $14k on insurance. Glad this storm missed us by a couple of miles.
https://www.newsweek.com/weather-hai...lberta-1730355

I am I said

From recent experience, I can confirm that the above statement does not apply to the glass roof on a Tesla. Perhaps the engineers had not factored in the weight and protruding bits of a bicycle landing on it after getting torn off its roof rack by the entrance to the multi story car park.

Danny B

Yes, we have one of those panoramic sun roofs (two panels instead of one) on our Ford Explorer and it leaks. I bought some clear silicone from Home Depot and fixed the areas where there was gaps and this fixed it.

Not a fan of sun roofs myself, Kamloops is too hot so most cars need a/c on and can't be driving around with the sun roof open.

abner

In that case, I wouldn't have much concern about the roof panel, or the Tesla for that matter.

But was the bicycle alright?!?

I am I said

Sadly, no. And either was the one mounted beside it. I was amazed at how much damage there was to bikes, car and rack for the hit. Fortunately, scrap metal prices are looking strong.