Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (2024)

Block out heat and damaging UV rays with one of these editor-recommended picks.

By Talon Homer

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Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (1)

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Outdoor parking can wreak havoc on your vehicle’s interior, thanks to heat and ultraviolet rays from the sun. Prolonged exposure causes materials to break down over time, leading to discoloration, dryness, cracking, or stickiness to plastics.

A car sun shade is the answer to preventing this kind of damage when your vehicle is parked on the street or a shadeless lot. In addition to protecting the interior, they also help keep the car cool (well, cooler), which means less time you have to spend blasting hot air until the a/c kicks in. Read on for our recommendations on the best options out there, plus advice to consider before you shop.

For more automotive interior products, check out our picks for interior carpet cleaners, cup holder adapters, and car floor mats.

The Best Car Sun Shades

    What to Consider

    Material and Design

    Most car shades have one dark fabric side, faces the inside of the vehicle, and a shiny reflective side, which faces out. The frame of the shade is usually lightweight aluminum, rigid enough to hold its place inside the windshield but flexible enough to be folded down for storage. Some shades even have an umbrella mechanism for collapsing or expanding with just a few clicks.

    In addition to opaque sun shades made to be installed while parked, there are also semi-transparent sun shades made to cover side windows and shield passengers from UV rays while you’re driving. This type of shade is particularly useful for those with small children in the back seat or for ride-share drivers.

    Dimensions

    One of the most important factors when searching for a shade is going to be the size and shape. Some models provide sizing details on how a shade fits a particular vehicle, while others only give generalized height and width dimensions. You’ll want something to give complete coverage of the windshield without falling down or being too cramped, so make sure you measure your windshield to ensure you’re purchasing the correct size.

    Pieces in Set

    Car sun shades can come in one large piece or a two-piece set. A two-piece set gives you more flexibility for full coverage, but the fit won’t be as snug as a single shade. A pack may also include additional pieces to cover the side windows and rear windshield, or a carrying bag so you’ll easily be able to keep the shade stowed and safe in your car for when a sunny day strikes.

    How We Selected

    As an automotive writer, I’ve spent over six years reviewing cars and automotive products, including interior accessories like sun shades. I also regularly use sun shades like these in my personal vehicle. In looking at options for this story, I considered product material, design, shade size, and number of pieces in the set, among other factors. I chose the best sun shades across a variety of categories to suit a wide range of needs and budgets.

    1

    Best Overall

    A1 Shades Car Sun Shade

    Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (2)

    Pros
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (3)One piece, with seven sizes available
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (4)Compact storage with bag included

    This one-piece car sun shade is available in seven different sizes—the most of any we cover—to give you a custom fit for a variety of cars, trucks, and SUVs. At the smallest size listed, this shade is about 59 inches wide by 21 inches tall, and 69 inches wide by 39 inches tall at the largest. There’s also roughly 9 inches of slack in the center for narrower windshields. Along with the size range, we appreciate the manufacturer’s easy-to-read size chart.

    The shade folds in half and twists into a compact package to stow in the included storage bag. Performing this operation inside a car may be too unwieldy, however, so we recommend collapsing it outside.

    Key Specs

    Dimensions59 x 21 in. (S) to 69 x 39 in. (L)
    Weight5 oz
    Pieces in Set1

    2

    Best Basic

    EzyShade Reflective Two-Piece Sun Shade

    Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (6)

    Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (7)

    Now 26% Off

    Pros
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (8)Three sizes available
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (9)Adjustable coverage
    Cons
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (10)Looser fit than one-piece shade

    This simple kit comes with two rounded rectangular shades, with three sizes available to suit everything from smaller coupes to larger SUVs. For narrower windshields, the pieces easily overlap, which gives a degree of adjustability.

    To install, the semi-rigid sides of each shade are simply pushed into the windshield frame, then the factory sun visors can flip down for additional support. Before you disembark, you can twist them into a compact size and zip them into the included carrier bag.

    Key Specs

    Dimensions29 x 23.5 in. (S); 31 x 28 in. (M); 36 x 32.5 in. (L)
    Weight7 to 9 oz
    Pieces in Set3 (bag included)

    3

    Best Accordion-Style

    Dash Designs Retractable Windshield Sun Shade

    Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (11)

    Pros
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (12)Adjustable size
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (13)Compact and inconspicuous
    Cons
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (14)Hard to get a perfect fit

    This product uses an accordion-style polyester material, much like a cellular shade. That also lends it a great degree of adjustability, as you can stretch the shade to your desired width. The only drawback is that you have to adjust the size every time you install the shade.

    The full height of the fabric measures 25 inches, and it weighs less than a pound. Installation is a snap, with double-sided tape to mount it to the passenger side, and it connects to a hook that’s mounted on the driver’s side. When not in use, the shade stores inside the casing, so it’s fairly inconspicuous.

    Key Specs

    Dimensions25 in. high, up to 44 in. wide
    Weight15.2 oz
    Pieces in Set1

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    4

    Best for Passenger Windows

    Enovoe Car Window Sun Shade

    Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (15)

    Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (16)

    Now 31% Off

    Pros
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (17)Semi-transparent
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (18)Static-cling installation
    Cons
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (19)Prevents window from rolling down

    Perfect for parents or ride-share drivers, this shade is meant to live on side windows instead of the main windshield, left in place while you’re driving. The mesh fabric filter eliminates sunlight glare and blocks a claimed 90 percent of UV rays while still allowing a good amount of outward visibility.

    The medium-size car sun shade comes in either a two- or a four-pack, for more coverage options. Larger versions are also available to suit bigger sedans and SUVs. The only caveat is that you can’t roll down the window while the shade is stuck to it.

    Key Specs

    Dimensions21 x 14 in. to 25 x 16 in.
    Weight4.6 to 9 oz
    Pieces in Set2 to 4

    5

    Best for Trucks

    Magnelex Windshield Sun Shade

    Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (20)

    Pros
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (21)Wide coverage
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (22)Steering wheel cover included
    Cons
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (23)Size may hinder storage

    This extra-large shade offers 65.7 by 36.4 inches of coverage for use in pickup trucks and SUVs. It features a reflective silver polyester outer layer to fully block both UV and heat. It can also fold in half for storage, but the large size may make that process more difficult.

    There’s a storage bag included, along with a bonus steering wheel cover, which can help keep the vehicle’s controls at a safe temperature while parked in the heat.

    Key Specs

    Dimensions65.7 x 36.4 in.
    Weight6.5 oz
    Pieces in Set3 (bag and steering wheel cover included)

    6

    Best Insulation

    Wigoo Collapsible Sun Shade

    Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (24)

    Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (25)

    Now 50% Off

    Pros
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (26)Ten-layer insulation
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (27)Three sizes available
    Cons
    • Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (28)Non-adjustable fit

    This collapsible umbrella-style sun shade boasts superior performance thanks to ten layers of material dedicated to blocking UVA, UVB, infrared heat, and all visible light.

    The folding mechanism comes in three sizes, and each has a notch cut out to accommodate the rearview mirror. Once collapsed, the shade slots into the included carrying bag, and the package is small enough to be stowed away in a glovebox or door pocket. The handlebar of the umbrella mechanism is also flexible to stop it being obstructed by vehicles with high dashboards.

    Key Specs

    Dimensions53 x 26 in. (S); 57 x 32 in. (M); 61 x 33 in. (L)
    Weight1 to 1.28 lb
    Pieces in Set2 (bag included)

    Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (29)

    Talon Homer

    Talon Homer is a writer and photographer out of South Carolina who was born with a love of cars, gaming, and advanced technology. He’s been featured in Car and Driver Magazine, Popular Mechanics and The Drive, covering consumer reporting, custom engineering projects, and transportation tech. If he’s not at the keyboard, he’s probably snapping photos at a race track or playing too much Halo.

    Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car (2024)

    FAQs

    Beat the Heat With One of the Best Sun Shades for Your Car? ›

    Black sunshades for car windows will absorb more infrared (heat) and trap it in the vehicle, while something like a metallic or reflective sunshade will bounce more infrared and visible light away. A good car sun cover or shade can reduce cabin and dashboard temperatures by about 8% to 25%.

    Do sun shades help keep car cool? ›

    Black sunshades for car windows will absorb more infrared (heat) and trap it in the vehicle, while something like a metallic or reflective sunshade will bounce more infrared and visible light away. A good car sun cover or shade can reduce cabin and dashboard temperatures by about 8% to 25%.

    Do car window shades block heat? ›

    Window shades for car is perfect for protection against sun glare, heat, and harmful UV Rays. Blocks the harmful UV rays and keeps your car safe.

    What color sunshade works best? ›

    Dark colors like black or brown are preferable if you want to protect yourself from the sun's UV rays as much as possible. Lighter colors can be riskier.

    What color car stays the coolest in the sun? ›

    (PhysOrg.com) -- From an environment standpoint, silver and white cars are cool; black cars are not.

    Is a car sunshade worth it? ›

    But with the use of a sunshade, studies have shown that temperatures can decrease by 40 degrees or more. Purchasing a sunshade is a small price to pay for staying cool, and it's far quicker and easier on your car's internal components to cool down your interior.

    What type of shades keep heat out? ›

    Honeycomb Shades

    The honeycomb design helps to insulate the window, and the cellular shade structure traps air to further reduce heat transfer. Standard honeycomb shades are single cell shades meaning that they are crafted with a single layer of cells that traps heat.

    Which side of a sunshade faces out? ›

    Open the sunshade. If it has a silver side, face that out. Slide the shade's bottom edge between the dash and the windshield where it meets on the passenger side of the car.

    What to look for when buying a sun shade for a car? ›

    Take note of any key points, such as if a sunshade isn't truly foldable or if it isn't effective at blocking the sun. Look into the reviews to see if they mention how much heat is retained in the vehicle. Factors such as these can make or break your purchase decision.

    Can sunshade crack a windshield? ›

    Don't use a reflector shade cover especially if you have a windshield glass chip - A shiny shade cover intensifies the heat on your windshield and it can turn a little ding into a full on crack, especially in triple digit heat.

    Should I crack my car windows in the heat? ›

    Cracking your car windows to combat the extreme heat will work for a while, but after an hour, there will be no change in the car's temperature. The graphic above shows a car's temperature difference between cracked and closed windows over 60+ minutes.

    How to prevent a car from overheating in summer? ›

    Park in the Shade

    One of the easiest ways to prevent your car from overheating this summer is by parking it in the shade whenever possible. Just like you can feel and appreciate the temperature difference between the sun and the shade, so can your car.

    How much does a sun shade cool a car? ›

    While it may not look like much, a car windscreen sunshade can reduce your car's interior temperature by up to 30 degrees. Pretty neat right? We don't want to create false hope that your car will feel like a refrigerator when you climb in, but it certainly will help you combat your car from scolding you.

    Should you get a sun shade for your car? ›

    Protect the interior: The sun can also do a lot of damage to your car's interior. Dashboards and seats can fade as the sun saps the color out of them. They can even crack and warp from the extreme temperature. A small investment in a sun shade can help your car's interior stay looking like new for years to come.

    Is it better to cover your car in the sun? ›

    In conclusion, a car cover is an effective way to protect your vehicle from the harmful effects of UV rays. By blocking the sun's damaging rays, a car cover can help to prevent fading, cracking, and other types of damage to the paint, finish, and interior of your car.

    How do I stop my car from overheating in the sun? ›

    Ten ways to make sure YOUR engine does not overheat this summer – some of them are very straightforward
    1. Monitor oil weekly. ...
    2. Keep air-con in check. ...
    3. Watch temperature gauge and coolant levels. ...
    4. Park in the shade. ...
    5. Buy a windscreen sunshade. ...
    6. Avoid pre-cooling. ...
    7. Crack windows when parked. ...
    8. Wipe down hot surfaces.
    Mar 22, 2022

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