Open Mon–Fri 9–6 · Open Saturdays 9–4 54/58 Princes Hwy, Arncliffe, Sydney NSW · minutes from Sydney Airport Call 0418 200 289
Glass just shattered? Close the sunshade and leave the roof switch alone. Call 0418 200 289 before anyone touches it. What to do first →

Home / Repairs / Sunroof glass replacement

Glass · panoramic roofs · sunroofs · all makes

Cracked or shattered sunroof glass?
Panoramic roof glass replacement, Sydney

Most of the broken roof glass we see is a stone off a truck, a panel that let go on a hot afternoon, or a crack that has been growing across a panoramic roof for a week. Whichever it was, sunroof glass can't be repaired, and the job is bigger than a windscreen: headlining out, every fragment cleaned out of the rails and drains, the right panel fitted (sliding, bonded, or the complete cassette), the sunshade replaced if it went too, the roof re-taught to its end stops and water-tested. We do this on Mercedes, Range Rover, Peugeot, Tesla, Honda, Kia, Mitsubishi and most other glass roofs at our Arncliffe workshop.

20+ yrs in automotive repair 1000+ roofs serviced 4.9★ Google rating
Call about broken glass Submit an enquiry Submit an enquiry
20+years in automotive repair
1000+roofs diagnosed & serviced
4.9★Google rating
  • Factory-trained technicians
  • OEM & premium aftermarket parts
  • Latest diagnostic equipment
  • Parts & labour warranty

Before you drive anywhere

Sunroof glass just shattered?
The next ten minutes matter.

Most sunroof and panoramic glass is tempered. When tempered glass fails it breaks into thousands of small cubes, and the sunshade underneath is usually all that's holding them up. (A laminated panel cracks and stays put, which is the easier version of the same job.) What happens before the car reaches us decides whether this stays a glass job or becomes a glass-and-mechanism job.

Step 01

Leave the roof switch alone

Glass in the rails

Why it matters

Opening or closing the panel drags fragments through the guide rails, the drive cables and the sunshade tracks. Every cycle grinds glass into plastic guides that were fine a minute ago. The same goes for the shade: if it's already closed, leave it closed; if it's open and still moves, close it once and stop.

Make it safe to drive

Tape a sheet of plastic or a heavy rubbish bag over the opening from the outside, edges taped to the painted roof, not to the glass. Keep the speed down; at motorway speed the wind lifts the sheet and what's left of the panel with it. Don't lean on the remaining glass, and don't try to punch the rest out. If the shade is torn or glass is hanging over the seats, don't drive it; ask your insurer about a tow.

Send us two photos

One from outside showing which panel broke (the front panel that slides, the rear panel that doesn't, or both). One from inside, with the shade left where it is. Text them to 0418 200 289 and we can usually give you a first read the same business day: panel, panel plus shade, or complete cassette, and whether it looks like a job for your insurer. The itemised quote follows a look at the car.

Call about broken glass Submit an enquiry Text photos of the damage
Step 02

Why sunroof glass breaks in the first place

Stone strike · heat · forced roof

A stone strike

A stone thrown up by a truck chips the outer skin of the glass. Tempered glass carries its strength in that skin, so a chip you can barely see from inside keeps working, and the panel lets go hours or days later, very often on a hot afternoon. "A rock hit my panoramic sunroof" and "my sunroof just exploded" are frequently the same event, a few days apart.

No impact at all

Sometimes nothing hit it. A chip you never noticed, an edge nicked during a previous refit, a frame tightened unevenly, or a roof binding at the end of its travel can all load the glass until a temperature swing finishes it. It's uncommon on any one car, but with panels this size we see it. Which of those it was is usually impossible to prove afterwards, so we don't guess at causes. We photograph what we find and put it in writing for your insurer.

A crack that starts at a corner

A crack that starts at a corner and grows is usually a roof under load: a panel refitted after headlining or body work without the right shims and torque, or a mechanism that's been forced. Fit new glass without sorting that out and it comes back cracked. So we set the panel's height and flush, and run the roof through its full travel before it leaves.

A roof that's been binding: noises explained → Submit an enquiry

What replacement actually involves

Three kinds of sunroof glass replacement,
and what each one involves

Bonding a fixed panel is windscreen-style work, and a glass-only quote covers that part. What it usually leaves out is cleaning a cassette full of fragments, replacing the blind if it went with the glass, re-teaching the roof module and water-testing the drains afterwards. Those four things are most of the job, and they're what keeps the roof sealed and quiet once the new glass is in.

Job type

Sliding panel, bonded panel, or the complete cassette

Quoted as the smallest job that fixes it

The sliding panel

The front panel on most panoramic roofs, and the only panel on a conventional sunroof. It's bolted to the sliders, so it comes off without cutting anything, but the new glass has to be set for height and flush at every corner and the roof initialised so the anti-pinch and end stops learn the new panel. Skip that and it can either fail to seal or reverse itself every time it closes.

The bonded panel

The rear fixed glass on Mercedes panoramic roofs, the fixed Cielo roof on Peugeots, Tesla's roof glass, the Evoque's fixed panoramic panel: glued in with urethane, to the roof frame or straight into the body aperture, not bolted. The old bead is cut out, the frame cleaned and primed, the new panel bonded and left to cure before the car moves. The bonding itself is windscreen-style work; the difference is that we have the headlining down and clean out whatever is under the panel before the new one goes in.

The complete assembly

When the frame is bent, the rails are chewed, the sunroof base is rusted through at the drain outlets (we've met this on the Range Rover Sport), or the maker only sells the glass as part of the cassette, the whole unit comes out: new or a good second-hand assembly, fitted, programmed and water-tested. Second-hand is quoted openly as second-hand, with the new-part option beside it.

Call about a glass roof Submit an enquiry Which roofs we replace →
The rest of the job

Fragments, the sunshade, and the programming

What a glass-only quote leaves out

Every fragment out

Tempered glass throws cubes into the drain channels, the guide rails, the shade cassette and the headlining. Left behind, they block the drains and chew the guides, which is how a glass job turns into a leak or a grinding roof a few months on. We drop the headlining, lift the frame where it's needed, and clean the whole cavity before anything new goes in. Then the drains are flow-tested, because a drain with glass in it overflows the first time it rains hard.

The sunshade that went with it

On a shattered roof the roller blind often doesn't survive: fabric cut, or so full of glass it will never run clean again. We inspect it with the glass out and quote it alongside, so you and your insurer see one itemised job rather than a second quote after the roof is back together. If the blind is fine, it stays, and we say so. More on sunshade repair and replacement.

Re-teaching the roof

Mercedes, BMW, Land Rover, VW and most late-model roofs need the control module initialised after the panel is fitted, or the anti-pinch can reverse the glass before it seats. We do the programming, cycle the roof through its full travel, then water-test it and check the cabin is dry before handover. The repair carries our parts & labour warranty.

How we water-test a roof → Submit an enquiry

Glass roofs we replace

Panoramic roof glass by make:
what breaks, and what the job is

Glass breaks the same way on every car. What changes is whether the panel bolts on or glues on, whether the maker sells the glass separately, and how much re-teaching the roof needs afterwards. These are the roofs we see most.

Mercedes-Benz
Panoramic sunroofs on the A-Class, B-Class, CLA, GLA, GLB, C-Class, E-Class, GLC, GLE and GLS: on most of these, a front panel that slides and a rear panel bonded to the roof frame. Either can go; the rear one surprises owners because it never moved. Glass, blind and programming quoted as one job. Mercedes panoramic roof file.
Land Rover · Range Rover
Evoque fixed and opening panoramic roofs; Range Rover Sport, Velar, full-size Range Rover and Discovery sliding panoramic panels, depending on year and grade (some owners know them as moonroofs). Stone strikes on the big front panel are the usual arrival; a corroded sunroof base on the Sport is the other job we've had. Range Rover roof file.
Peugeot · Citroën · DS
The Cielo panoramic glass roof on the 308, 2008, 3008, 5008 and 508: fixed on most grades and years, opening on some, a bonded panel with an electric blind beneath it. The Citroën and DS cousins share much of the hardware. Peugeot roof file.
Tesla
Model 3 and Model Y fixed glass roof panels (on the Model 3, the front roof panel is its own piece): bonded glass with no mechanism, so the job is cut out, clean, bond, cure and reseal, with the headlining and side trims out and the cabin electronics kept dry throughout.
Honda · Kia · Hyundai · Mitsubishi
CR-V, Accord and Civic sunroofs; Sorento, Sportage, Carnival, Tucson and Santa Fe panoramic roofs; Outlander, ASX and Pajero Sport sunroofs. On some of these, depending on model and year, the maker lists the glass only as part of a complete assembly, so a good second-hand cassette is often the sensible option, and it's written up as second-hand on the quote. Where the glass is sold on its own, it's a glass, blind and clean-out job, sometimes with the frame lifted to get every fragment out.
BMW · Audi · Volkswagen
X1, X3 and X5 panoramic roofs, Q5 and Q7, Tiguan and Passat: mostly two-panel roofs with a sliding front and a fixed rear (the Golf's single-panel sunroof is the simpler version), drain channels that swallow glass and modules that need initialising afterwards. Tiguan file · BMW file.
Everything else
Mazda, Toyota, Subaru, Volvo, Ford, Jeep, Lexus, Nissan, Skoda and any other factory sunroof or panoramic roof, plus aftermarket sunroofs where the glass is still available. If it's a glass roof, text us the model and a photo.

Not sure which panel broke or what it's called? Text a photo to 0418 200 289 or call and we'll name it for you.

How a glass job runs

Four steps. No surprises.

  1. 1

    Photos first, then the car

    Two photos, the model and year, and whether it's an insurance claim. You'll usually have a first read the same business day: panel, panel plus shade, or complete cassette.

  2. 2

    We look at the roof, then quote the part

    A look at the car confirms which panel, whether the blind survived and whether the frame is straight. Then the itemised quote: new genuine glass, or a good second-hand panel or assembly, side by side. For a claim it goes to the insurer with the photo set, and we wait for the authority to repair.

  3. 3

    Headlining out, glass out, cavity clean, new glass in

    Bonded panels cured before the car moves; sliding panels set for height and flush and the roof initialised; the sunshade replaced if it was damaged. Factory-trained technicians, OEM or premium aftermarket parts.

  4. 4

    We rain on it before Sydney does

    Roof cycled through its full travel, drains flow-tested, seals soaked, cabin checked dry. You get the car back with the photo set, and the repair is covered by our parts & labour warranty.

Straight answers

Broken sunroof glass:
what owners ask us

If yours isn't here, call. You'll get the same straight answer.

Ask us directly Submit an enquiry
A rock hit my panoramic sunroof and there's a crack. Can it be repaired like a windscreen chip?

No. Most sunroof and panoramic glass is tempered (toughened), not laminated like a windscreen, so there is nothing to resin-repair: the strength is in the surface skin, and once a chip gets through it the panel can let go without warning, often on a hot day. Some newer fixed panels are laminated and crack rather than shatter, but a crack in a roof panel that size is replaced, not filled. Replacement is the only fix either way. What we need to work out is whether it's a panel job or a complete-cassette job. Two photos (outside and inside) give us a first read the same business day, and the itemised quote follows a look at the car.

My sunroof shattered or exploded on its own, nothing hit it. Is that possible?

Yes, and we see it. A chip you never noticed, an edge nicked during a previous refit, a frame tightened unevenly or a roof binding at the end of its travel can all load tempered glass until a temperature swing finishes it. Uncommon on any one car, but with panels this size it happens. Which of those it was is usually impossible to prove afterwards, so we don't speculate about causes; we photograph what we find, clean out the fragments, replace the glass and put the findings in writing for your insurer.

Is sunroof glass covered by insurance?

Comprehensive policies generally treat sunroof and panoramic glass as accidental damage. Whether it sits under windscreen glass cover (sometimes with a reduced or nil excess) or under the standard excess depends on the policy, so check your PDS or ask your insurer. Then send us the claim number: we prepare the itemised quote and photo set in the format GIO, AAMI, NRMA, QBE and the extended-warranty providers ask for, and nothing starts until the authority to repair is in.

Can I drive with a broken or shattered sunroof?

To us, carefully, and only if the shade is holding the glass. Close the sunshade if it still moves, tape a sheet of plastic over the opening from the outside with the edges on painted roof, keep the speed down, and don't touch the roof switch: cycling the panel drags glass through the rails and turns a glass job into a mechanism job. Not on the motorway with a flapping sheet, and not for weeks. If the shade is torn or glass is hanging over the seats, don't drive it; ask your insurer about towing. Rain, wind and glass in the drains all make the job bigger.

Do you replace just the glass, or the whole sunroof?

Whichever is the smallest job that fixes it properly. Sliding panels bolt to the sliders and are replaced on their own. Fixed panels (the rear glass on Mercedes panoramic roofs, Peugeot's Cielo roof, Tesla's roof glass, the Evoque's fixed panoramic panel) are bonded and are replaced on their own. The complete assembly comes out when the frame is bent, the rails are chewed by glass, the base is rusted at the drain outlets or the maker only supplies the glass as part of the cassette. We show you why before you decide, and second-hand assemblies are quoted openly as second-hand with the new-part option beside them.

How much does sunroof or panoramic roof glass replacement cost?

It depends on which panel broke, whether it's new genuine glass or a good second-hand panel or assembly, whether the sunshade went with it, and how much headlining and programming the car needs afterwards, so we don't publish a number. Send photos and we'll tell you what kind of job it is; the written quote is itemised (parts, labour, sundries) so you and your insurer see every line before any work starts. Every repair carries our parts & labour warranty.

What owners say

From sunroof and
panoramic-roof owners

★★★★★

"Michael is the best. My Benz had a seized panoramic sunroof and the motor for the roof died. He had it fixed and working perfectly in three hours. And was by far the most reasonably priced."

Mercedes-Benz · Seized panoramic sunroof & motor
★★★★★

"Ming did an EXCELLENT job fixing the sunroof on my C200. His pricing is fair and his work is great. I needed this done urgently, and he did everything he could to squeeze me in. I could not recommend Convertible and Sunroof Auto Centre highly enough!"

Mercedes-Benz C200 · Sunroof repair
★★★★★

"My 2006 Prado sunroof had 1 motor fail and wet carpets due to blocked drains. Michael is very friendly and advised estimate cost for options over phone. Ended up cleaning, drying, sealing the sunroof and disconnecting power switch so can be repaired later if desired. Overall, a pleasure dealing with Michael and team."

Toyota Prado · Sunroof motor & blocked drains

Visit the workshop

Bring it in, or start
with a text

Address
54/58 Princes Hwy, Arncliffe, Sydney NSW 2205, minutes from Sydney Airport
Hours
Mon–Fri 9am–6pm · Sat 9am–4pm · Sun closed

Start an enquiry

A few details so we can tell you whether it's a job for us and how we'd approach it. By appointment; for most faults, we diagnose before quoting. For urgent enquiries or if we missed you, call 0418 200 289.

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