roof cracks

I had my panoramic roof replaced, was told that they had improved the product and changed the part number. I hope that's true, since my car is an '09 and only has 34,000 miles on it, and I plan to keep it a long, long time.

Before doing that, I took it to a wrap place, thinking that having a see-through wrap, like the advertising on bus windows. The guy told me he wouldn't recommend it, as the wrap comes with white dots on it, and they would print black dots over them and I wouldn't be able to see much sky through it. The old roof was starting to look like a car whose clear coat was failing, and it might have shown through the wrap from the outside.

My plan is to keep the car covered more often when parked outdoors, and garage it 99% of the time. Before it had always been parked outside. The new roof makes me feel as though I have a new car again!

Hey, TRobinson6 - we didn't get as far as a quote, the guy didn't recommend it and didn't seem interested in doing the wrap since he felt it wouldn't address my issue with the panel. The cost of the new panoramic roof and installation was in the neighborhood of $1,200.00. I don't have the receipt handy. I know that's spendy for a car that would only sell for $5-6 K, but it has such low miles and I've added so many special bits to it, I'm just going to keep it as long as I can.

I have a California Pop Top, that I didn't use regularly. With the new replaced roof panel, I will make the effort to use it more often, during hot weather especially. Also, after all these years, I will finally be able to park in the garage, which should slow the crackification significantly.

I chose to have the roof replaced professionally because that's not in my skill set, and I expect a professional looking job. Many on this forum do have amazing skills and could replace it themselves. I have replaced several body panels on my smart, that's easy-peasy.