How We Create Custom Sun Visors for Rare Semi Truck Models

14th Jan 2025

Ever wonder how custom sun visors are handcrafted to fit discontinued semi-truck models?

We'll give you an inside look into how 4 State Trucks' fabrication shop, Chrome Shop Mafia, crafts these truck sun visors.

Key Takeaways

Custom visors are ideal for discontinued, rare, or modified trucks where standard aftermarket visors do not fit.
In-shop measurements provide the best fit for cab curves, mounting holes, brackets, and windshield clearance.
Stainless steel provides a polished finish, while aluminum works well for painted designs.
Fabricators create a cardboard mock-up before cutting, shaping, welding, and mounting the final visor.
Material, cab complexity, paintwork, and one-off design details affect the total cost and production time.
Modifying an existing visor design is often faster and less expensive than building one from scratch.

Why Install Custom Semi Truck Sun Visors?

Lorry sun visors are designed to help reduce glare and block heat on the road.

Hand-crafted visors can include CNC-laser logo etching and unique brand identifiers for your truck.

It can really add that extra touch of custom appeal for the drivers who are interested in it.

Some drivers own rare, discontinued vintage truck models. They have a hard time finding aftermarket visors that fit.

In these unique situations, a custom visor is necessary.

Even if this isn't you, you can still pay for a fully custom-welded visor.

There are only two iron-clad rules:

You must leave with the visor on your truck (no exceptions).
Once finished, there are no refunds or redesigns.

Custom Semi Truck Sun Visor vs Traditional Visors

For most semi truck models, there are hundreds of unique visor styles on the market. You'll have no problems outfitting your rig with a cool-looking visor that matches your truck's theme.

Drivers are often shocked at how different a visor looks once on their truck to how it looked on the retail show room floor.

The visor material is heavily stretched to fit the contour of your semi truck's roofline and windshield shape.

For the clients that are dead-set on getting a custom-made visor, we often get asked:

“I want you to create a custom sun visor. What do you need from me?”

Here’s Why We Need Before Building a Custom Visor

Custom visors aren’t a "one-size-fits-all" situation.

There are plenty of angles and curves to consider, plus we often line up mounting brackets with pre-existing cab holes so we're not drilling new holes into your cab.

To make the entire procedure easier, we'll need to see your truck in person.

If you own a common make/year/model and are okay with approving designs strictly based on photos, we might be able to work remotely—but that’s the only true exception.

Here's How We Build It

The Mock-Up: We start by shaping your visor from cardboard, right in front of you based on your instructions.
Material Choice: Want paint? We’ll use aluminum. Want that shiny look? Stainless steel is your go-to (the most popular choice). You can tell us which styles you prefer.
Fabrication: We cut, shape, and weld it into a one-piece, boltless visor—super clean and strong.
Brackets: We create custom brackets to ensure a perfect, stable fit that's appropriate for your existing visor setup.

Once it's made, the installation process is basically just like any normal visor: accurate measurments, drilling, then securing the new visor.

The Biggest Challenges of Custom Visor Builds

Curved cabs with aerodynamic design features can be challenging to fabricate and fit.

Fitting the custom visor to the manufacturer's original bracketry and mounting locations can also be tricky.

The choice of material directly impacts the time and price.

Stainless steel has a higher price because it isn't very malleable; therefore, it takes lot more work to build a visor out of it.

Aluminum can also require a bit more preparation if there's a detailed paint job. This factors into the labor expense.

The Average Time & Cost of a Custom Semi Truck Visor

No pre-made templates or jigs here—this is true custom work.

Expect at least a couple of days for a stainless piece and up to a week for a painted version (prep, paint, and cure take time).

To have your own, personal custom sun visor, the fabrication costs will typically run from several hundred dollars, up to (depending on what is done) $2,000 for a truly "one-off" creation!

If it's something like a post-installation adjustment, the price is far lower.

Windshield Coverage Rules and Limitations

For legal purposes, we can’t cover more than 7” of your windshield.

This coverage limit sometimes confuses folks.

Just remember:

Wide visor doesn’t mean it covers more of the windshield.
We factor in roof cap coverage, mounting angle, and other details.
Choosing an even "wider" visor might cover less glass than you think.

Simple Tweaks & Cheaper Aftermarket Options

If we already build a visor you like and you just want it tweaked (say, a few inches trimmed or a “bow tie” shape), that’s easier and cheaper than starting from scratch.

Don’t hesitate to ask!