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It is amusing to see how an urban legend can cause people to actually experience what the urban legend says is true. Yes, if you believe white cars stay cooler than black cars, you will feel less heat in the white car. It is your mind. Psychology not physics. Still if you feel cooler in the white car, then it is cooler, no? At least to you.
SHORT ANSWER: To the OP, you can probably add window 'tint' to your windshield.
Check your local laws, and find a ceramic film with a visible-tint that's acceptable, while still providing IR-tint to block the heat.
LONG ANSWER:
I bought a dark-blue car with black-leather interior, arriving in July, while living in North Carolina (not fully my choices, don't judge me!)
BACKGROUND: While the roof steel may get hot, it doesn't add that much heat to the cabin because most roofs have some sound-insulating pressboard above the liner that will also block some heat. The amount will be far smaller than the heat from sunlight coming through glass, absorbed by the interior, and then re-radiated into the cabin.
The great majority of the glass heating comes in through the front glass (windshield) because it's sloped, and thus has MUCH more effective surface area exposed to the sun's rays than the sides and back glass.
I'm a professional mechanical engineer, who does analysis for walls and glass to get HVAC requirements for buildings, so I know the thermodynamics and heat transfer theories better than most.
MY EXPERIENCES:
The first few weeks were miserable. The exterior steel got too hot to safely touch for more than about 2 seconds.
The interior got so hot that when opening up the door, it felt like opening up the oven. The air inside was VERY hot. The black seats, dashboard, and steering wheel were far too hot to touch directly. I kept a wash-cloth draped over the wheel.
I quickly added the Nano-Ceramic window tinting film to the side and rear windows. I chose the film not for it's visible tint levels, but rather it's blocking of over 80% of the IR light.
To the OP: I also added a slightly different Nano-ceramic tint to the windshield. It was less visible-dark than the others, enough to be categorized as a "window treatment", and not a "Window Tint".
All films were chosen to meet the limits in my state and have been verified during several subsequent mandatory annual car inspections.
Note that the windshield's visible spectrum tint was very small, (almost unnoticeable), BUT it had the same 82% blockage of IR of the other glass films. This was the key, as the IR (infra-red) portion of the light spectrum is what "carries the heat".
End result was astonishingly good:
I now can leave the car in scorching hot summer day, (95+ dF), in full sunlight all day long.
Yes, the outside steel gets really really hot. Don't lean on the roof!
BUT, when I open the door, the air coming out is has almost no differential than ambient air temperature. The steering wheel and seats are the same slightly-warm temperature.
I can immediately grab the wheel and hold on tight as long as I wish, with no discomfort at all.
Extra benefit: My A/C now runs full-blast for at-most 1/2 mile, and then auto-slows due to the cabin temp change.
FYI - films used:
Front: 3M Crystalline 70
Rear: Johnson InsulatIR 40 ceramic
Possibly moving to the southeast U.S. in the future, SC to be exact. I own a black car with a light, "ivory" colored cloth interior. Ceramic window tint all around except the windshield, and I use a windshield sunshade.
Anyone regret a black car that lives in a hot climate?
Or is it not that bad?
Starting to wish I went with white, but I bought it before I knew about moving.
YES x INFINITY!!
My car is black out and inside. We had a non-stop heat wave in the Northeast over last summer (I only bought the car last April), and if the sun was shining in onto the front seat you may as well turn OFF the A/C and roll down the windows because the A/C doesn't feel like it's doing anything. I had it on MAX, too, no less. We're talking temps close to 100 and triple-digit heat indexes.
You may not have it so bad if the interior of your car is light-colored.
I'll probably end up moving with this car(2017 Civic) since it only has 6k miles, and overall I like it. My next car will be a lighter color, I enjoy detailing cars but it's a little exhausting trying to keep a black car looking nice.
I live in Phoenix so we experience plenty of sun and 120 degree days on occasion. I have owned both white and black cars. Exterior color made no difference as far as the temperature inside the car. What does make a difference is level of window tint, sun shades (especially if you have a lot of windshield glass) and whether you have cloth or leather interior (the latter doesn't effect the interior ambient temperature but certainly does effect how hot you feel when you sit down in it!). Also, crack a window. It will still be hot if it's been sitting in direct sun, which is why shady spots come at a premium here in the summer, but a good dark tint, cloth seats and a shade will make a noticeable difference until your AC starts to work. The best suggestion someone had was a remote start so you can get that AC cranked up before you even get in it!
I live in Phoenix so we experience plenty of sun and 120 degree days on occasion. I have owned both white and black cars. Exterior color made no difference as far as the temperature inside the car. What does make a difference is level of window tint, sun shades (especially if you have a lot of windshield glass) and whether you have cloth or leather interior (the latter doesn't effect the interior ambient temperature but certainly does effect how hot you feel when you sit down in it!). Also, crack a window. It will still be hot if it's been sitting in direct sun, which is why shady spots come at a premium here in the summer, but a good dark tint, cloth seats and a shade will make a noticeable difference until your AC starts to work. The best suggestion someone had was a remote start so you can get that AC cranked up before you even get in it!
120 is just insane. When my daughter lived in Yuma she had to run out start her car and go back inside for fifteen minutes to wait for it to cool enough to be drive-able. Even when driving around, if in the direct sun, she had to pull over in the shade for a while to cool off the interior. The AC simply could not cool enough to keep the car from burning you or at least making you terribly uncomfortable and feeling like you are going to die.
Luckily many places she went had solar panels over the parking lots. they both generate electricity and provided shade for the cars. If it weren't for that, she would have had to get a bigger car with a more powerful AC system. the other solution was to get out of town as much as possible during the summers.
The color of the car won't matter too much. The best thing you can do is to find parking with shade and put your window shades up. You'll hate the heat and sun much less than, what I'm assuming, the MI cold and snow.
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