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Old 06-05-2009, 10:24 PM   #4 (permalink)
RobertSmalls
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Buffalo, NY, USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Christ View Post
Redneck sun-block for your car: Add aluminum foil to the roof. (You'd appreciate it if you were in fields all day in a truck w/o A/C pulling stuff around.)

You could also just polish the roof and put laquer on it, so it didn't rust, but aluminum foil is easier.
Zinc Oxide is white on the optical band, so it doesn't absorb much heat from sunlight, but it's black on the infrared band, so it cools well. I don't know if it's suitable for painting a car, but I bet a spectrally selective paint will outperform even Al-foil. If I find the Insight's sheet metal (i.e. the roof and hood) gets hot when left in the sun, I'm going to paint the roof white. Or maybe I'll just strip the paint off and polish the bare metal. ;-)
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