Moonroof Mod: Fixed the bad BO smell issue

[theawesomegamer]

I wanted to tint my sunroof but there were too many horror stories of the tint causing the glass to shatter because of heat.

Our sunroofs are not nearly dark enough, they are more of a moon roof cause you really can't use them in the SUN.

shattered moonroof

Tinter here, tint doesn’t cause sunroofs to break assuming you are using high quality automotive grade film.
I tinted the Lightning’s sunroof with GeoShield Apex Ultra (for heat rejection and to darken it)

and it is SOOO much better. Highly recommend. I did 20% over the glass which lowers it to 5% VLT.

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[Storx]

I wanted to tint my sunroof but there were too many horror stories of the tint causing the glass to shatter because of heat.

Our sunroofs are not nearly dark enough, they are more of a moon roof cause you really can't use them in the SUN.

shattered moonroof

Ya, I've always heard this also, but living in South Florida I've always tinted my sunroofs and roofs (tesla's) on all our vehicles to reduce internal cabin heat. I have always gone with top of the line ceramics, because one time i had a tinter tell me the reason some shatter is they use cheap film that doesn't have high reflect properties and you are just letting the heat build up on the film surface instead of the energy passing through the glass.

This is great! I have been wanting to seal the sunroof on my platinum as it has a minor leak and I never open it. My first thought was to use clear duct, tape, but your solution is cleaner and more normal.

I was also going to 3-D print little covers for the sunroof button so I don’t accidentally hit them or try to find a fuse specifically for the sunroof and remove it.

Are you able to share a link for the film product that you purchased?

Nice work and I’m glad the smell is gone!

Hey if you come up with a 3d printer solution for the button, please let me know. I would love to add it to mine to make it more safeguard to people other than myself.

The PPF i put on is 7mil thick, so pretty thick stuff, it is on the outside of the glass instead of on the inside surface, so its blocking some of the heat energy before it travels through the glass. Its been a noticeable drop in temps inside the truck. Previously on a very sunny day the moonroof would give me a sunburn on my head on a long time like i do for work, but since then I've no longer had this issue and just leave the sun shade rolled back to get the extra light in the cabin.

Sure: https://a.co/d/4tmVxWP

Sorry you guys with moonroofs are dealing with the leak and smell issues. This is exactly why I went with a 2024 Flash over a Lariat, read too many of these threads. I wanted ventilated seats but decided the trade off of not having a moonroof and sliding back glass to deal with was worth not having the ventilated seats. Most of the other differences in trim were negligible.

Ya, i truly didn't want the moonroof either when i was doing my research on models to buy, but i wanted the phone as a key really bad since I've gotten so use to it on the Tesla's we own and the vented seats for the Florida heat and it wasn't an option on the lower trims. I think I've found a huge solution for my issue and its not noticeable at all and pretty cheap to install. I don't truly know how long it will last, but from the few tint shops i have talked to for quotes informed me they have never seen the PPF films crack like the regular vinyl wrap stuff due to its thicker inherent self healing properties to scratches. It may yellow a little over time, but ill just rip it off and replace it if it bugs me enough.

Have you already had the service campaign 25B08 done? It's listed as a trough assembly replacement and repair on the sunroof.

I have no clue, but it was at 3 different major Ford dealerships and that was never brought up to me. They did remove the glass and replace the seals on the glass for me under a courtesy from Ford, but it made no difference in the issue.

Has anyone figured out exactly what causes the moonroof to smell? Mine doesn't appear to leak. Water pooling in the trough? The fabric wind deflector? Water getting into the headliner undetected?

From reading MANY forum post about it on the ICE/Gas version of our body. The most logical idea someone mentioned which makes a lot of sense, because the PPF kind of proved the point.

The leading theory is the mesh/fabric part on the front of the moonroof that acts as a deflector. This issue seems to be more of a popular issue among people who park with their trucks leaning downhill at all or they are leveled and park outside, because the draining system does not prevent water from pooling where the fabric sits with the moonroof closed. The theory is that this is kind of the reason their is such a massive rake in the truck stance from the factory, because stock trucks seem to not have this issue, being rare unless they mark downhill enough to let the water settle on the fabric.

You would think cleaning this fabric would be an easy solution, but it just stops it temporarily. Its like once you start having it, the issue returns within a few weeks to a month, because the mildew/mold spores have embedded themselves in other surfaces and areas in the truck, especially in the head liner, causing the growth to return. Prior to putting the PPF on, i would go out weekly and spray down this fabric with different solutions I've tried between house mold/mildew cleaner, white vinegar, to generic kitchen surface cleaners, and dawn dish soap. I even went as far as popping it out and washing it in the washing machine twice. The sucky part is you can't just take it out, it keeps tension to the popup system, so when you remove it you can't close your sunscreen without sketchy pushing it down as its closing. Each time i cleaned my truck, i would get light black powdery residue from the entire length of the water track the water runs on the moonroof. I've even gotten light black residue from just wiping the backside of the head liner around the moonroof, carefully pulling it down some to reach into.

When i first started smelling the smell in my truck, i took our dyson air purifier out from the house had been using it in my truck to filter the air in the truck in the back seat. Since i sealed the sunroof, it no longer says its detecting mold/mildew in the truck.

Just FYI, even the HVAC seems to get tracked with the spores, because for a while i didn't understand how it was still detecting a low level of it when i was driving around. I cleaned the moonroof inner surfaces multiple times thinking i may have missed something, but i figured it out one day when i was running the air purifier in the truck with the a/c off and it no longer detected anything, but as soon as i turned the air on it detected a low level, so i bought a small ozone maker and ran it inside the truck for an hour with it on recirculation air running and the detectable level has not returned.

 

[Lightning Rod]

Tinter here, tint doesn’t cause sunroofs to break assuming you are using high quality automotive grade film.
I tinted the Lightning’s sunroof with GeoShield Apex Ultra (for heat rejection and to darken it)

and it is SOOO much better. Highly recommend. I did 20% over the glass which lowers it to 5% VLT.

I concur. I have 80 percent ceramic on the moonroof and the windshield. I also have 35 percent ceramic on my front side windows. It is such a huge difference in cabin heat. I love it.

 

[theawesomegamer]

I concur. I have 80 percent ceramic on the moonroof and the windshield. I also have 35 percent ceramic on my front side windows. It is such a huge difference in cabin heat. I love it.

You don’t realize what you’re missing till you get it done. I do it on every car. It’s a must.

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