Nissan Patrol Sun Shades: The GU Y61, and How to Check

We cut one Patrol, and it's the GU. The listing covers the Y61 wagon built from 1997 to 2016, and it is a door set: front pair, rear pair, or all four. We don't make a set for the later Y62 Patrol, and we don't currently cut the Pathfinder.

That's the short answer. The rest of this page is about making sure the Patrol in your driveway is the one we cut, and what you get for it.

The Patrol listing

The Patrol page holds the same listing.

GU or Y62

This is the part to get right. The GU and the Y62 were sold side by side in Australia for a few years, so a build year near the end of the GU's run doesn't settle it on its own. The two cars don't share door glass, and one pattern can't fit both.

You can usually tell them apart from the driveway:

• The back of the car. A GU wagon has rear doors hinged at the side, with the spare wheel mounted on the back. A Y62 has a single tailgate.
• The engine. The Y62 was sold here with a petrol V8. If your Patrol is a diesel, it isn't a Y62.
• The shape. The GU is the squarer, more upright wagon. The Y62 is bigger and rounder through the body.

If you are still not sure, read the build date off the compliance plate on the driver's door jamb. Our guide to build dates and generations shows where it sits. Then send us that date and a photo of an open rear door before ordering, and we'll confirm the set.

If a picture you've seen of Patrol shades shows the rounder, later Patrol, that is a Y62. It isn't the car this set is cut for.

GU wagon or cab-chassis

The GU was also sold as a cab-chassis. Our patterns were made on the wagon. A cab-chassis has no rear doors, so only the front pair could apply, and we would rather check your car first than guess. Ask before you order.

What's on the listing, and what isn't

The GU listing has the four doors. That's all. There is no piece listed for the side glass behind the rear doors, and none for the windows in the two back doors.

On a touring wagon that leaves some glass uncovered, and we would rather say so here than have you find out when the parcel arrives. We don't have a pattern for those windows on the GU yet. If you want them covered, the measuring app is how we quote a window we haven't cut. Our piece on third-row and quarter glass explains why that window needs its own pattern and why a universal shade doesn't fit it.

Compare that with the LandCruiser 200 and 300, where the third-row glass and the tailgate are both on the listing. The LandCruiser by series guide has those, if you are choosing between the two or have one of each in the family.

The shades themselves

The Patrol set is recorded as a magnetic fit: the edge of each shade holds on the steel of the door frame, with nothing stuck to the glass and no tools needed. They go in and come out in seconds. With a rear shade in place, the rear window still winds down, so passengers in the back can have the window open and still keep most of the sun and the flies out.

The rear door shades can stay in while you drive. They hold in normal driving, but take them off before a long run on the highway, and if you're doing hours of bitumen between towns, that means stowing them until you get there. Front door shades are for when the car is parked. The front side windows have to stay clear while you drive in every state and territory, and our guide to whether car sun shades are legal sets out the detail.

Which set for a GU

A GU is more often a touring or towing car than a school-run car, so the order of priorities is a little different from a family SUV.

• Kids or passengers in the back seat on long drives: the rear pair at $59.99. The second row gets the side sun for hours on a day that heads west.
• Camping or parked up in the sun: all four at $99.99. With the fronts in at camp, the cabin is shaded on both sides and it is harder to see in. Our car camping guide covers setting a car up for sleeping in.
• Mostly driving solo: the rear pair still earns its place, because it keeps the sun off whatever is on the back seat. The fronts only help once you've stopped.

Order well before a trip, not the week before. If the set doesn't fit the way it should, you have 30 days to send it back under our returns policy.

Our 4WD touring guide goes through setting a wagon or a dual cab up for a long trip, and lists the other touring 4WDs we cut. The full Nissan list has the Navara, X-Trail and the rest of the Nissans we make shades for.