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InterBlog · 05-17-2017, 05:23 PM

I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out. Plus I will pray for you every time you venture onto a Houston freeway. Thus far, our Interstate windshield has done pretty well, with one small chip in an inconspicuous area, but my minivan is a mess with four big dings. And I'm very careful. Losing a windshield is bad enough. Losing the 3M investment on top of that would suck.

Troutboy · 05-17-2017, 06:56 PM

Darn!!! I agree. That makes it one expensive windshield. I guess they can't save it?

TayaraTravel · 05-17-2017, 07:22 PM

We won't capture detailed before/after data in your admirable style, just rough impressions of very new owners. But you are welcome to inspect the finished product. Bettie was keen on getting something to control glare, and it seems if we are going to tint we may as well try to control heat also.

Regarding the risk of rock damage, I've lost only one windshield in many years of Houston driving. Since we don't use the AI for a lot of city driving, I'll risk it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by InterBlog

I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out. Plus I will pray for you every time you venture onto a Houston freeway. Thus far, our Interstate windshield has done pretty well, with one small chip in an inconspicuous area, but my minivan is a mess with four big dings. And I'm very careful. Losing a windshield is bad enough. Losing the 3M investment on top of that would suck.

FlyFishinRVr · 05-17-2017, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Troutboy

Darn!!! I agree. That makes it one expensive windshield. I guess they can't save it?

Is that Diamond Fusion windshield protectant stuff the real deal or is it snake oil? If it's legit, it might be some relatively cheap insurance to help protect a pretty hefty investment....

Mcrid · 07-15-2017, 11:37 AM

We will be out west in August so decided to try reducing the heat load coming through the front windshield. This will have to help tremendously as it should cut down on the Solar and radiant heat. I've cut Reflectix to fit over the exterior of the front windshield and then this is covered with the Sprinter Deluxe Marine grade 2-ply polyester Windshield Cover w/ screens sold by Eurocampers.

TayaraTravel · 07-15-2017, 07:51 PM

Intuitively this seems like a good idea, better than reflecting the radiant flux after is passes into the van. I wonder if there is a way to fix the Refletix on the outside of the cover, so that the energy doesn't have to pass through the cover twice and heat it up? Or do you think the Relectix will not conduct the heat to the glass?

InterBlog · 07-17-2017, 01:06 PM

It's now three and a half months since I added the Bus Kote to our roof, and it looks like I added it yesterday. It doesn't even seem to get dirty. Here's a pic below, and I haven't washed or even wiped it in those 3.5 months. Our rig has spent a fair amount of time outdoors (versus its storage locker), given the projects we continue to do. It's outdoors for several days every week, sometimes for 10 days at a stretch.

It shows really good adherence, even to Sikaflex 221 (leg of roof rack in foreground of photo below). The only place where I've seen a change is where the roof seam butts up against the paint and clear coat that Airstream added to the main body of the van. In order to properly cover the lap welds, I ran the Bus Kote a half inch or so into the clear coat on front and rear seams. Well, it's simply not going to adhere well to unprepared clear coat, and I'm not going to rough up the clear coat in those areas. So I've got tiny curls as the Bus Kote has lifted in those isolated spots. But it doesn't seem to be affecting its performance in any way and it's not lifting off the main roof areas, which were prepped and primed per manufacturer directions.

I'm in contact with the one other Sprinter owner about whom I'm aware, who also used it, and he reports no visible degradation after one year.

Mcrid · 08-04-2017, 06:34 PM

Van is at the house this weekend getting prepped for a New Mexico trip. The windshield Reflectix and Sprinter Deluxe Marine grade 2-ply polyester Windshield Cover w/ screens sold by Eurocampers is working phenomenally. The front of the van is substantially cooler, windshield is close to interior and the AC is really not working that hard with the sun blaring down on the windshield. I highly recommend this trick.

InterBlog · 08-05-2017, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mcrider

Van is at the house this weekend getting prepped for a New Mexico trip. The windshield Reflectix and Sprinter Deluxe Marine grade 2-ply polyester Windshield Cover w/ screens sold by Eurocampers is working phenomenally. The front of the van is substantially cooler, windshield is close to interior and the AC is really not working that hard with the sun blaring down on the windshield. I highly recommend this trick.

Sprinter Deluxe Marine grade 2-ply polyester Windshield Cover

says

"! Product not available" on the Eurocampers website right now, so you may have gotten lucky and procured one of the last ones in stock.

I have the T1N exterior analog, in the metallic reflective fabric. I had a devil of a time finding it 2+ years ago, because they were out of production, and I don't even find a pic of it on the internet now. With that on the outside and with the Heat Shield covers on the inside, it does make a big improvement, yes. A pain to put up and take down, but an improvement.

It looks like this, only silver metallic:

Mcrid · 08-05-2017, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InterBlog

"! Product not available" on the Eurocampers website right now, so you may have gotten lucky and procured one of the last ones in stock.

Well sorry for others. I guess here is the last one . . . in use. Man does it make a difference!! Tweaked my generator set up today and we can now have a normal conversation with it running!! Excited about hitting the road this coming week.

Boxster1971 · 08-05-2017, 08:16 PM

Looks like the windshield covers are available from other sources...

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Class...iantId=3480791

https://classicaccessories.com/rv-windshield-cover

https://www.sprinterpartsdepot.com/p...ndshield-cover

Definitely a better buy from a non-Sprinter specialty retailer.

InterBlog · 08-12-2017, 12:21 PM

I ain't got time for this kind of project right now on account of my upcoming trip, but I made time for it because the curiosity was killing me: I crafted a new slider privacy cover using an Insul-bright core. It looks much like the stop-gap I had created last week using the Airstream OEM privacy cover as the core, but structurally it's very different.

For those of you who are not familiar with Insul-bright, it's a high-tech heat-reflecting combination of textile components that might prove to be very useful in the context of bolstering van insulation. If you have newer pot holders or oven mittens in your kitchen, chances are good that there might be Insul-bright in the core of them. Only recently was I able to buy it in bulk, and at a reasonable price, so I'm just starting out my investigations in this regard. And I picked a great day to do it, because it's about 100 degrees out there right now.

Blog post:

INSUL-BRIGHT IN THE AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE, PART 1: SLIDER

Pic:

Troutboy · 08-12-2017, 01:26 PM

Interblog,

Your ingenuity, creativeness, and crafting/fabricating skills continue to amaze. Thanks for sharing the wealth with all of us.

InterBlog · 08-13-2017, 07:15 AM

Thank you! I'm looking forward to seeing what else this stuff is good for.

I wish there was a way to measure its effectiveness. The manufacturer does not publish an R value. Yesterday when I got done with my Cabela's parking lot trials with our electrical system, as I was packing up to leave, I pulled this thing off the Velcro mounts and WHOOSH, a pocket of hot air hit me in the face. So it was doing 'something' to trap the heat between itself and the window glass - I never experienced that kind of effect when I pulled off Airstream's OEM cotton / linen curtain. But it's pretty much impossible to actually quantify its performance.

wachuko · 10-18-2017, 06:41 AM

Another thread bookmarked...

Did you ever installed the 3M Crystalline film on all of the glass?

I have it in all my vehicles. The almost clear one for the windshield and then the darkest legal tint on the sides. I never measured before and after but it was a significant difference for us. We even installed it in the sunroof, for a Fiat Abarth that we had, with that see-through sunroof cover, it was simply amazing how much heat reduction it provided.

With such a big windshield, it is in my list of modifications when I get mine.

I like that outside covers when parked... must add those to my list as well. Thank you again for these informative threads.

Protagonist · 10-18-2017, 02:03 PM

Unfortunately, 3M Crystalline film (or any film, transparent or not) can only legally be applied to the top 5 inches of the windshield here in Louisiana. The windshield laws here were written in 1993, and never updated since. Looks like I get no relief from my greenhouse windshield…

wachuko · 10-18-2017, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Unfortunately, 3M Crystalline film (or any film, transparent or not) can only legally be applied to the top 5 inches of the windshield here in Louisiana. The windshield laws here were written in 1993, and never updated since. Looks like I get no relief from my greenhouse windshield…

I understand the legal side of it, it is the same for us here in FL... but once in place, you can't tell that it is there... so even if not legal, I am having the 90% (10% decrease in transparency... looks clear but there is still a % degradation) installed in mine. The improvement it made to my SUV and the Abarth was just amazing. And it has not impacted visibility in any way...

Florida law states that the visor strip can be installed "so long as such material is transparent and does not encroach upon the driver's direct forward viewing area as more particularly described and defined in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards Nos. 205 and 128 as the AS/1 portion of the windshield."

LB_3 · 10-18-2017, 02:42 PM

Texas is much more up to date:

Quote:

Sunscreening devices can be applied to the windshield if all of the conditions below are met.

Sunscreening devices must be applied above the AS-1 line. If there is no AS-1 line, sunscreening devices must end five inches below the top of the windshield.

Sunscreening devices may not be red, amber, or blue in color.

Sunscreening devices, when measured in combination with the original glass, must have a light transmittance value of 25% or more.

Sunscreening devices, when measured in combination with the original glass, must have a luminous reflectance value of 25% or less.

A clear (un-tinted) UV film is allowed anywhere on the front windshield without a medical exemption being required.

Mcrid · 10-18-2017, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Unfortunately, 3M Crystalline film (or any film, transparent or not) can only legally be applied to the top 5 inches of the windshield here in Louisiana.

Drive over to Texas, have it done and drive back. No LASP or NOPD will ever intervene or notice.

Air99 · 10-18-2017, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Unfortunately, 3M Crystalline film (or any film, transparent or not) can only legally be applied to the top 5 inches of the windshield here in Louisiana. The windshield laws here were written in 1993, and never updated since. Looks like I get no relief from my greenhouse windshield…

Just do it I won’t tell ;-)! I self applied the cheaply available Fila 35% tint from auto parts store to the side windows for our summer trip cross country and for a mere $28, the difference was massive between windows up/down comparison!