In an effort to scrub pounds from my Tc, the most obvious heavy part of the car is the glass roof and rear hatch. Of course, the glass roof is a sweet feature, so replacing them with, say, carbon fiber panels is out of the question.

Enter Flexite, a product made by Flex-a-lite, the company that makes mostly cooling components. They apparently offer polymer window sets that are more scratch resistant than Lexan, and are now taking orders for custom applications. Please read:

http://www.flex-a-lite.com/auto/html...te-molded.html

If they are able to make an entire set for both sunroof panels, and the rear hatch, I can imagine weigh loss of over 150 lbs, and not to mention weight at the top of the car, thereby lowering the center of gravity. So if y'all want to go around corners faster, this is a damn good idea! Notice they have a minimum requirement of 10 orders, and I doubt they're giving them away. Thoughts?

 

i think a big issue is getting the glass they'll need to mold from.

that rear roof piece is uhm... yea... stuck on there pretty good.

 

Its not even street legal dude. I wouldnt buy it. Plus some insurance companies wont approve of this.

 

How would you defrost the rear windows? Or would you?

 

I think they would melt if u tried strapping up wires. Other then that I think u do it the way our grand daddies did it. With our hands.

Product not worth buying unless your car is a track car.

 

For a car forum dedicated to performance, tuning, and customization, that the first responses include "not street legal" and "insurance" are really worrying me. . .

 

For a car forum dedicated to cars marketed towards those who generally can only afford one car, to be driven in everyday environments, like public streets, it'd worry me if none of the responses questioned the street legality of it all.

Oh yea, as another driver of these "public streets" it would concern me if people started caring less about street legal mods. tCs with aftermarket headers give me headaches. Yikes!

This mod seems a little pointless as a track mod for the roof when you can get the CF roof (unless this Flexite stuff weighs less than CF?) but even so, the stock roof isn't even all that heavy. At least not the 150 lbs you'd estimate. For the people who scoff at being technically street legal this'd be an awesome weight saver. You're right about taking weight off the worst part of the car; it'd probably do more for your handling than a set of springs.

 

i believe the entire roof assembly is what.. 50-60 lbs?

the glass and all the mechanical items...

 

I emailed the guy at flexite and he said they have received very little inquiries, probably because, as kungpao mentioned, Tc owners are typically cheap and only have one car that they want to be street legal. However, the rear hatch, both tops, and the front deflector all weigh almost 100 lbs. polycarbonate replacements would weigh in barely @ 20. That's pretty awesome.
The reason to NOT get carbon fiber is you can't see through carbon fiber. That's one thing I really like about the Tc is all glass roof, and the only one thing my girlfriend likes about the car too. . .

 

well yea one thing about neon lights and tints is that its simple things that some cops will take you on, and some wont because its just a way of getting money for them. But these windows your talking about. No cop will let that slide because 1 their weak and 2 its just dumb.

Hey if you want a good way to lighten your load and increase breaking power try taking out the engine block.

 

Agreed! real race car drivers lighten their car but do it in such a way that the driver wont be injured... what you are talking about is extremely unsafe to you or anyone else riding in your car.

 

Weak? Hardly. Polycarbonate is used in aircraft where glass would be insufficient for protection or too heavy.

And I somehow doubt a cop will be able to tell the difference between the stock roof and a polycarbonate roof. If you think removing weight from the top of the car is dumb then no one need say anything about your intelligence.

 

yeah thanks for the backup kungpao, polycarbonate is available in all racecars, and is stronger and safer than traditional temperlite glass. Cops are morons, it's impossible that they'd be able to tell with an oem fitment. They look like glass. Not to mention some supercars come with it. For example, the f-40 ferrari, and the new superleggara lambo, both street legal, registerable cars.
And I'm out on the whole HID light/neon/underbody crap. I'd pull you over too Delta if you had that goofy $h*t on your car.

 

yea but on a car the glass is not even a quarter of an inch thick. How thick do you think air plane windows are? at 500 MPH + I think air plane windows are thicker than car windows.

 

I beg to differ Delta... You would be surprised at how thin aviation windows *have* to be to keep the weight down - only the strongest stuff will do. If you take a good look at even the passenger windows on commercial jets you will see they are actually 2 or more layers of thin polycarbonate plastic with substantial airspace (for temperature insulation) between layers. even so, cockpit glass - which is thicker than the stuff on the sides, and in commercial applications is still dominated by glass - can still be shattered by impact with a bird at as little as 70mph...

I would say that if you can get OEM fit with an aviation grade polycarbonate, go for it... we dont have to worry about birdstrikes and, if the car does rollover those panels won't do much anyway as they don't bear any mechanical load. I think the Poly would be safer than the glass (no shattering)

 

I don't understand how this plastic is more dangerous than actual glass?

 

go for the group buy ...
this will also help cut down gas consumption coz' the car will be lighter (I think).
polycarbonate is the way to go!

 

thanks mksm, I will go for the group buy but need to garner more support. Most people on this forum have prolly never thought about it. They will soon enough.
Zebman, polycarbonate is not more dangerous than actual glass. It's the opposite. Check it out:
http://www.racingshields.com/index_files/pcvsglass.htm
The highest end see through devices are polycarbonate. For example, airplane windows, supercar windows, goggles and glasses for sun, racquetball, shooting, etc. The most expensive eyeglasses and sunglasses are polycarbonate. It's impact resistant and shatter proof. It's as strong as glass but lacks it's structural rigidity, kind of like the difference between carbon fiber and steel.
Delta, stick with the plywood body kits and underbody lights, but some people want a good, safe, professional way to lower the weight and center of gravity of their Tc while retaining an oem look. . .

 

Great article:
http://www.ptsllc.com/polcarb_intro.htm

 

everything I have ever bought from Flex-a-lite has malfunctioned or melted. I'm not sure I would trust these windows not to haze from abrasion under normal driving conditions after one winter.
...forgetabout scraping the snow and ice off the hatch.

tho if from a reputable company I'd be very interested.