dreamcar911

I'm considering a used 992 in Aventurine Green. However, it has a steel sunroof, not glass. What's your opinion of a steel sunroof.vs glass or no sunroof?

drchip

I live in AZ and have a steel sunroof. Personally I like the monotone color it gives the roofline. Also it keeps the car cooler here on blazing hot days.

dixonk

I don’t like sun roofs but mine came equipped with the painted sun roof. It still gives it the look of not having one which in my eye is a plus. But it’s there if you want the wind noise…

detansinn

There’s no such thing as a “steel” sunroof on a 992. It’s aluminum.

The structure of a 992 coupe is designed with a hole in the roof. That hole can be covered with aluminum, an aluminum sunroof, a glass sunroof, carbon fiber, or magnesium.

CanAutM3

I was about to post the same, although from the Porsche documents it’s not clear the metal sunroof is all aluminum either.

dreamcar911

Thanks for the clarification. What’s your opinion of an aluminum sunroof?

detansinn

It’s additional weight for a very small opening when opened. The glass sunroof isn’t that much heavier and delivers benefits even when it is closed.

If you want the solid roof look, I would just go with the standard hardtop roof.

TK42ONE

I prefer a hardtop. However, with the sheet metal sunroof or no sunroof you have to consider your window tinting as it can be "dark" in the car. The glass does, at least to me, make it feel more "open"

blackland

Who gets the magnesium roof?

detansinn

It also should be noted that the glass sunroof really blocks UV well. Even when I was driving in the desert with my 992C4S, it was totally fine.

Here in the 2020s, the notion that a glass roof makes for a hotter car is something of a myth. In temps north of 100F and blaring summer sun, my Taycan, with its full panoramic glass roof, was a non-issue.

detansinn

GT3s and other limited models.

Fun fact: the Cabriolet and Targa also use magnesium in their roof structures to reduce weight up high.

CodyBigdog

Personal preference. I currently own both.

But prefer the steel/aluminum over the glass sunroofs found on my other cars. I primarily only tilt to get some air flow….and the tilt (versus full open) makes it look more aggressive. I also like that the steel/aluminum roof is color coordinated to the rest of the car’s body….I like that continuous color look a lot more on lighter colored cars like mine shown in my avatar.

If your interior is light to begin with, I doubt having glass will make it seem much lighter, anyway.

The steel/aluminum is lighter than the glass (articles I have read say about 50lbs lighter)…should you care about the extra weight up at the roof?

detansinn

The weight penalty for the glass sunroof is about 25lbs (including mechanism) over the fixed metal roof. It’s modest and doesn’t impact the sporting nature of the car.


For comparison…
The Cabrio is 150lbs more than the Coupe. Targa is 300lbs more than the coupe. Even with magnesium used in the roof mechanism, it’s real weight. To be clear, that’s not all weight up high as those cars share a different chassis than the coupe.

CanAutM3

Do you have evidence of this? Because I’ve also read it’s more in the 45~50lb range.

CodyBigdog

Way back when I was looking for this information (when I was building my car), I was not able to find any data sheet listing the weight of the sunroof (either glass/metal) on the Porsche, but had to rely on the weight published for other cars, with similar sized openings, which showed about a 50lbs difference. With that said, if you have a link that lists the weight of the Porsche, that would be useful…Thx.