Moon Roof or CF Roof? SOLVED.

[track_warrior]

This has to be the first coupe i see with a sunroof....

[mikefromMA]

thanks guys.

Living in MA, the weather changes so dramatically throughout the day, having a moon roof really is useful. I hate having to manipulate the ventilation system every five minutes. I don't disagree the CF roof is breath taking and makes more sense from a performance/center of gravity stand point. But I never see myself on a track, and I live near the cape in MA...I mean...anything over 50hp is excessive around here

[njdrive]

Looks good. Is it difficult to remove and will it fade?

[TexasSpartan]

Originally Posted by track_warrior

This has to be the first coupe i see with a sunroof....

I love my sunroof. As a DD, I would not own a car without one.

[Dgarcia41982]

Looks great!

[mikefromMA]

Originally Posted by njdrive

Looks good. Is it difficult to remove and will it fade?

It's very easy to remove, as it's simply adhered with heat, and a mixture of water and limited soap during installation. In regards to fading, I don't know the answer but time will tell.

thanks for checking it out.

[mikefromMA]

Originally Posted by TexasSpartan

I love my sunroof. As a DD, I would not own a car without one.

[Mcar24]

That vinyl looks awesome with the moonroof!

[ApexM3]

That looks awesome! Would love to do the same. Anyone know a shop in NY or southern CT that does this type of work?

[dmw16]

I don't see how this solves the problem. I mean, I guess if you just want a carbon-look then it does, but the point of the carbon roof is to reduce weight and lower the CG of the car.

[mikefromMA]

Originally Posted by dmw16

I don't see how this solves the problem. I mean, I guess if you just want a carbon-look then it does, but the point of the carbon roof is to reduce weight and lower the CG of the car.

Precisely! This was discussed in the op. thanks for looking

[mikefromMA]

Originally Posted by Mcar24

That vinyl looks awesome with the moonroof!

Thanks man. I'm super happy with the results

[Majin Buu]

Originally Posted by dmw16

the point of the carbon roof is to reduce weight and lower the CG of the car.

And all this time I thought it was for posers that want to look cool and pretend they drive a "racing car"

[lorinzo]

Nice work!

[Goat Rodeo]

I guess I just don't get it.

The CFRP roof of the M3 coupe is one of the engineering highlights and significant cost items of the car. Since the CSL BMW has been adding more CRFP pieces in greater quantities to its cars in an effort to showcase their prowess with the technology. I can (if offered a significant discount) see ordering the moonroof since in theory the weight difference is negligible off the track, but I can't see gluing vinyl onto my roof to make it look like a rather distant approximation of real carbon fiber with none of the technical advantages. What does that solve?

Quality of the work looks good (minus wrapping over the panels for installing a roof rack) but I simply don't understand the premise. It's like a dark colored Landau roof.

[Majin Buu]

Originally Posted by Goat Rodeo

I guess I just don't get it.

The CFRP roof of the M3 coupe is one of the engineering highlights and significant cost items of the car. Since the CSL BMW has been adding more CRFP pieces in greater quantities to its cars in an effort to showcase their prowess with the technology. I can (if a gun was held to my head or I was offered a deal I could not refuse) see ordering the moonroof since in theory the weight difference is negligible off the track, but I can't see gluing vinyl onto my roof to make it look like a rather distant approximation of real carbon fiber with none of the technical advantages. What does that solve?

Quality of the work looks good (minus wrapping over the panels for installing a roof rack) but I simply don't understand the premise. It's like a dark colored Landau roof.

A diamond studded steering wheel would also be a significant cost item. Would you want it at no cost too? Being expensive doesn't make it good or necessary. It may be an engineering marvel, but on an E92 M3 it looks like an eyesore on any non-black car. If we were talking about an exige or cayman r or ariel atom, where the entire car is designed to be light and track worthy, then yeah i can see the need for the CF roof. But on a bloated boat GT car like the M3, where EVERYTHING in this car is way bigger and heavier than it should, then replacing just one small body panel with CF just looks silly and pointless.

Keep in mind we're only talking about 10-20lb weight savings compared to a metal roof without the moonroof. 20 lb on a 3700 lb car!!!! That's about a 0.5% reduction in weight!!!! Do you really believe this insignificant weight reduction would really lead to any better performance on the road or on the track? Show me one test where 2 identical E92 had a performance delta on the track just because the faster one had a CF roof and the slower one had a moonroof.

Contrary to BMW's propaganda, the M3 is NOT some kind of race car for the street. It's a GT car. And a sunroof is a must on any GT car.

[Majin Buu]

To be quite honest, from a performance perspective either on the road or the track, it would have been much better if BMW eliminated that silly carbon fibre roof, took the extra money they saved, and gave our cars a proper big brake kit from the factory, like the CRT and GTS get. That would have done much better to improve your laptimes than a 0.5% weight reduction.

[Lute__]

+1

Originally Posted by Goat Rodeo

I guess I just don't get it.

The CFRP roof of the M3 coupe is one of the engineering highlights and significant cost items of the car. Since the CSL BMW has been adding more CRFP pieces in greater quantities to its cars in an effort to showcase their prowess with the technology. I can (if offered a significant discount) see ordering the moonroof since in theory the weight difference is negligible off the track, but I can't see gluing vinyl onto my roof to make it look like a rather distant approximation of real carbon fiber with none of the technical advantages. What does that solve?

Quality of the work looks good (minus wrapping over the panels for installing a roof rack) but I simply don't understand the premise. It's like a dark colored Landau roof.

[Goat Rodeo]

Originally Posted by Majin Buu

A diamond studded steering wheel would also be a significant cost item. Would you want it at no cost too? Being expensive doesn't make it good or necessary. It may be an engineering marvel, but on an E92 M3 it looks like an eyesore on any non-black car. If we were talking about an exige or cayman r or ariel atom, where the entire car is designed to be light and track worthy, then yeah i can see the need for the CF roof. But on a bloated boat GT car like the M3, where EVERYTHING in this car is way bigger and heavier than it should, then replacing just one small body panel with CF just looks silly and pointless.

As I said, I can see why someone would opt for the moonroof. I do not understand then gluing vinyl onto your roof to make it look like the thing you chose against having. .. It doesn't look anything like the OEM CFRP roof. The title says "SOLVED", what was solved?

Originally Posted by Majin Buu

Keep in mind we're only talking about 10-20lb weight savings compared to a metal roof without the moonroof. 20 lb on a 3700 lb car!!!! That's about a 0.5% reduction in weight!

It's a 0.5% reduction in weight in the single most significant location. Considering the lengths and expense BMW went to for marginal weight-loss in less important locations on the M3 CRT/GTS, I'd say BMW's attention to weight-loss on a car with a 49K MSRP is quite impressive. Note the M3 undercuts its like-sized competitors by several hundred pounds. Agree OEM brake upgrade should have been an option.

[Majin Buu]

Originally Posted by Goat Rodeo

It's a 0.5% reduction in weight in the single most significant location. Considering the lengths and expense BMW went to for marginal weight-loss in less important locations on the M3 CRT/GTS, I'd say BMW's attention to weight-loss on a car with a 49K MSRP is quite impressive. Note the M3 undercuts its like-sized competitors by several hundred pounds. Agree OEM brake upgrade should have been an option.

What you say is theoretically true, and is based on sound physics. However, history has taught us that what works on paper doesn't always work in real life. The CF roof does offer a marginal weight reduction and lowering of the center of gravity of the vehicle. But does that really lead to better performance? If 2 identical E92 coupes were driven on a track at the same time by the same driver (a very talented racing driver) on the same tire, fuel load, gearbox, option packages, etc, would 1 car win because it has a CF roof and the other has a metal roof? I highly doubt it.

[tastykakes]

I enjoy it -- its good to be unique; a differt mod to catch your eye

[TexasSpartan]

Originally Posted by Goat Rodeo

I guess I just don't get it.

The CFRP roof of the M3 coupe is one of the engineering highlights and significant cost items of the car. Since the CSL BMW has been adding more CRFP pieces in greater quantities to its cars in an effort to showcase their prowess with the technology. I can (if offered a significant discount) see ordering the moonroof since in theory the weight difference is negligible off the track, but I can't see gluing vinyl onto my roof to make it look like a rather distant approximation of real carbon fiber with none of the technical advantages. What does that solve?

Quality of the work looks good (minus wrapping over the panels for installing a roof rack) but I simply don't understand the premise. It's like a dark colored Landau roof.

It's "SOLVED" for the OP, may not be for everyone or anyone else but the OP likes it. If this were a racing forum talking about marginal weight reductions, then that would be a different story and conversation. This, however is an M3 forum talking about various attributes, issues, and mods among many other things to our beloved cars. As I stated earlier, I would not buy a DD that did not have a sunroof, period. If I were buying this car to track more than I drove it to work, again, different story. What I don't get is all the talk about track times (in this thread) on cars that are used to get us to and from work and how people don't understand the OP's intent.