# Pano roof shade - mesh or solid?



## vagthedog (Apr 17, 2009)

Anybody knows?
Mesh is non-starter for me in CA


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## mike3141 (Feb 16, 1999)

The picture in the original thread(below) shows that there's no clip for the shade. The pull for the shade is further back from the edge than the Open Sky's. I'd say it's a solid panel with no spring loading.


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## Need4Speed2012 (Oct 2, 2012)

Pano roof in the A3 appears to be smaller than the one in the CLA. Is this true or are my eyes deceiving me?


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## Dan Halen (May 16, 2002)

I don't believe that to be your imagination.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## LWNY (Jul 30, 2008)

vagthedog said:


> Anybody knows?
> Mesh is non-starter for me in CA


no point putting the mesh screen from the 8p. They likely did that because there was a moonroof right behind the sunroof, so there was no space for a fixed shade.


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## FractureCritical (Nov 24, 2009)

LWNY said:


> no point putting the mesh screen from the 8p. They likely did that because there was a moonroof right behind the sunroof, so there was no space for a fixed shade.


jetta sportwagen does the same thing expect the mesh screen is powered. 
looks very slick when you push the button and the whole pano roof shade closes.

agree that the mesh is a non-starter. We have an A3 with the sunroof and the mesh screen, which my wife doesn't mind. I had the jetta and I couldn't stand the open mesh in the summer. It's like you have nowhere to hide from the sun. Sit in traffic in July for an hour and you start to feel like Tom Hanks in Castaway right before the tanker finds him. 

I was never so happy with a car feature as I was when the solid black shade on my A4 sunroof closes with a solid dark 'thunk'


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## Travis Grundke (May 26, 1999)

FractureCritical said:


> I was never so happy with a car feature as I was when the solid black shade on my A4 sunroof closes with a solid dark 'thunk'


The other big advantage to the solid panel is that it helps reduce wind noise coming from the roof.


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## FractureCritical (Nov 24, 2009)

Travis Grundke said:


> The other big advantage to the solid panel is that it helps reduce wind noise coming from the roof.


agreed.
the big roofs creak around in the winter and it's nice to have it a little quieter.
glass and steel don't expand and contract the same way, which VW learned after three years of resetting glass panels in Jetta wagons, and Audi learned after 1 year of exploding pano roof panels in Q5's.


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## v6er (Dec 18, 2000)

FractureCritical said:


> agreed.
> the big roofs creak around in the winter and it's nice to have it a little quieter.
> glass and steel don't expand and contract the same way, which VW learned after three years of resetting glass panels in Jetta wagons, and Audi learned after 1 year of exploding pano roof panels in Q5's.


Sorry but I disagree. Our 2010 Q5's panoramic sunroof kick's ass, and anyone who hops in for a ride agrees. Zero creeks and zero glass breakage. The exploding pano's was just a bad batch of glass.


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## vagthedog (Apr 17, 2009)

*so gazillion pictures from LA and nobody thought of investiagting this?*

Come on!!! :banghead:


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## Dan Halen (May 16, 2002)

vagthedog said:


> Come on!!! :banghead:


 I'll have photos in my thread within a couple days. It's mesh. The new Golf and GTI are mesh as well.


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## vagthedog (Apr 17, 2009)

Dan Halen said:


> I'll have photos in my thread within a couple days. It's mesh. The new Golf and GTI are mesh as well.


Thank you Dan. What a huge disappointment, was looking forward to this car.

I really don't get why Audi is pushing stupid pano roofs. At least give us an option of no roof. Why is this a standard equipment??
Already there are people on A3 UK forum complaining about pano roof rattles.


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## VWNCC (Jan 12, 2010)

What is the difference between mesh and solid?

What is so bad about mesh?


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## tagsvags (Nov 25, 2005)

vagthedog said:


> Thank you Dan. What a huge disappointment, was looking forward to this car.
> 
> I really don't get why Audi is pushing stupid pano roofs. At least give us an option of no roof. Why is this a standard equipment??
> Already there are people on A3 UK forum complaining about pano roof rattles.


OH man I was hoping for the at the least a solid panel so I could have closed it and forgot about the stupid sun/moon roof. Audi PLEASE let North American buyers decide if they want a sun roof or not!


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## EZ (Jun 22, 1999)

VWNCC said:


> What is the difference between mesh and solid?
> 
> What is so bad about mesh?


Mesh let's light (and heat) through, even when it's closed.


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## Dan Halen (May 16, 2002)

vagthedog said:


> Thank you Dan. What a huge disappointment, was looking forward to this car.
> 
> I really don't get why Audi is pushing stupid pano roofs. At least give us an option of no roof. Why is this a standard equipment??
> Already there are people on A3 UK forum complaining about pano roof rattles.


 No bueno. It didn't look particularly complex to me, but it doesn't take much for rattles to develop, I guess.

The mesh shade is somewhat of a blessing in disguise, IMO. There isn't an abundance of headroom in the rear (I have a photo of that, as well), and I imagine the mesh shade rolls up, whereas the solid panel would require a bit more room in the headliner.

I'll be taking mine in for a sheet of 5% tint as soon as I get it. Memphis summers and mesh sunroof covers aren't compatible.


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## VWNCC (Jan 12, 2010)

EZ said:


> Mesh let's light (and heat) through, even when it's closed.


Thanks for the explanation........I didn't read properly. I didn't realize he was asking about the shade.


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## VWNCC (Jan 12, 2010)

EZ said:


> Mesh let's light (and heat) through, even when it's closed.


O crap.......I hope it can block more than 50% of the light.....


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## ChrisFu (Jun 9, 2012)

I live in TX and its regularly 110+ in the summer here in bright sunlight.

With the factory roof tint and the mesh cover, its perfectly acceptable. I dont know what everyone is complaining about! Are you guys all bald? :laugh:


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## Dan Halen (May 16, 2002)

ChrisFu said:


> I live in TX and its regularly 110+ in the summer here in bright sunlight.
> 
> With the factory roof tint and the mesh cover, its perfectly acceptable. I dont know what everyone is complaining about! Are you guys all bald? :laugh:


Yeah, it may not be nearly as bad as we all fear.


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## FractureCritical (Nov 24, 2009)

I think it will vary from person to person.
I had the powered mesh top in my old 2010 Jetta, and I thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread when I wrote the check. But then you sit in city traffic with the sun blaring down on you from the mirrored windows in the buildings and it's easy to feel like an ant under a microscope with nowhere to hide. It gets old, fast.

MY wife, OTOH, has no issues with her mesh covers in the 2006 A3 pano roof, but she doesn't sit in traffic or commute, so take that with a grain of salt.

word of advice: don't leave the glass open with the mesh closed - anything that falls on the mesh from above and works itself behind the movable glass panel is there forever.


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## JOES1.8T (Sep 8, 2003)

Based off the picture Dan posted from the auto show, it looks like the same type of material my wife's car which has open sky sunroof. The interior in her car is that tan color with of course the mesh roof shade matching as well. During bright sunny days, there is light sunlight that breaks through, but not bad to the point that it's unbearable, blinding or creating tremandous heat. I dont think the A3 pano will be that bad given it is a smaller size compared to a bigger open sky and on top of that the glass itself is tinted and you could always get it darker by taking it to a shop to get darker tint added. Food for thought.


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## Dan Halen (May 16, 2002)

FractureCritical said:


> word of advice: don't leave the glass open with the mesh closed - anything that falls on the mesh from above and works itself behind the movable glass panel is there forever.


Solid point. And on a similar topic...

I didn't post a photo of it in my LA thread, but the roof deflector seems to be the pantyhose-over-a-plastic-frame crap that VW seems to be rather fond of recently. Maybe it's an attempt to cut down on buffeting at certain speeds, but damn does it look cheap. I've had to clean bug splatter off of my solid plastic deflector in the past; I imagine that's not going to be much fun with the S3 deflector.


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## ProjectA3 (Aug 12, 2005)

I've never seen a Q5 with an exploded roof panel and i;ve been selling them since they were new and seen a few hundred pass through our dealerships sales and service areas.
I'm in Phoenix, AZ and we see hot temps for a long time, and the mesh isn't all that bad, but good ceramic or nano style window tint is a great thing to do. I've had it on my two A3's and now my allroad and liked the mesh vs. solid.

My allroad pano is pretty quiet when open or closed but the A3's will be a single pane glass and not two like the allroad and Q5.


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