I driving down the freeway earlier today and the sunroof took a hit from a flying rock, completely shattering it. I see used sunroof assemblies on ebay, but how easy or difficult is it to change out the glass? One of the body shops I called said they have to take off the headliner etc. to fix it - does that sound right?

 

Replacing the sunroof assembly is not a overly complex task. Yes, the headliner will he be to be removed. Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours and I'd definitely recommend having a buddy to help out if you were to do this yourself.

 

The first shop I went to for an estimate (I have used them in the past and they do very good work) said it would be $2100 and they wanted to replace the whole assembly and included taking off the headliner and what not in the labor part. So I called my insurance glass program and they shipped the replacement glass to a local shop who switched it out in 45 minutes. They didn't even touch the headliner so its possible to change out the glass without taking all that off. So I guess the cheap option is to pick up the glass from a junkyard and put it in yourself or by a shop.

 

Sorry to bring up an old thread but my car got broken into last night and they smashed my sunroof from the inside. Could someone point me in the right direction of finding a DIY on getting this fixed or any kind of advice?

 

Technically, you do NOT have to remove the entire headliner just to replace the glass lid:


However, most shops will remove the headliner in order to vacuum out (clean up) any glass shards/ debris from the shattering of the glass. This is usually standard practice whenever ANY glass is broken to prevent potential injury to you or others from glass pieces dislodging and flying into the passenger cabin. Sounds impossible, but stranger things can and have happened.

Sorry to hear of this incident. Hope you can get repaired and back on the road soon!

 

That’s actually perfect! I really didn’t want to go the route of taking it to a shop since I’m a college kid with absolutely no money and my deductible is terrible. I can take care of the cleaning myself I just need the actual sunroof glass off to avoid more glass getting into the car. Thank you so much

 

No worries. I remember those days. It will not be a difficult job but will require patience as there is very little room to work.

If there are any pull-a-part yards near you I would try there first for a replacement. There's always ebay and the sort.