I still wish I had bought a white van. I've always suspected that they are MUCH cooler, but I've never really researched the specifics. My van is dark blue with a dark blue CCV top and you can stand in it in the summer and just feel the heat baking your head up towards the roof.
I recently bought a roof air unit I am in the process of installing but the thought of a big ugly white roof AC on a blue van wasn't going to work. Solution? PLASTI-DIP!!!
The shroud looks great in plasti-dip matte black, but I wanted to see how much hotter it would get.
A photo of my deck stairs baking in the mid-day sun, ambient temp about 85 deg
Here's the shroud while still white, same day on my deck about 85 deg
Here's the shroud a couple of days later after Plasti-dip had dried thoroughly, still about 85 deg ambient temp
As you can see, the difference is huge, and we're talking plastic not metal. I have since learned that plasti-dip can take quite a beating temperature wise, but I'm hoping this expirement doesn't hurt the efficiency of my AC unit. I took one more quick reading a half hour later and it was up to 167, but I didn't get a pic of that one.