Open Mon–Fri 9–6 · Open Saturdays 9–4 54/58 Princes Hwy, Arncliffe, Sydney NSW · minutes from Sydney Airport Call 0418 200 289
Roof stuck open? Don't force it. Call 0418 200 289 before you touch anything. What to do →

Convertible & sunroof specialists · Arncliffe, Sydney NSW

Convertible roof & sunroof repair

Convertible tops and sunroofs are among the most misdiagnosed systems on a car. Unlike general repair shops, we are specialists who live and breathe convertibles and sunroofs. Because we specialise, you get more accurate repairs, better outcomes, and more competitive pricing. Which is why we focus strictly on mechanical, hydraulic and electronic systems, and don't offer fabric, canvas or trimming work.

20+ yrs in automotive repair 1000+ roofs serviced 4.9★ Google rating
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

From the workshop

Follow us on Instagram

Recent convertible, sunroof and panoramic-roof jobs from the bench. We post when the workshop's quiet enough to put the tools down, so, not often... Follow @convertiblesunroofautocentre →

Repair guide

What's wrong, what we do,
what to expect

Each case below is a fault we see regularly: what's happening, what we do about it, and what to expect.

Case 01

Water in the cabin

Most common after heavy rain

What's happening

Nine times out of ten it isn't the glass or the fabric — it's blocked roof drains, perished seals or a frame out of alignment. Water tracks along the headlining and shows up nowhere near where it gets in, which is why guesswork (and silicone) usually makes it worse.

What we do

Controlled water testing and leak tracing until we find the actual entry point, not the symptom. Then we clear and flush the drain channels, replace perished seals with OEM or premium aftermarket rubbers, and realign the frame where needed.

What to expect

You'll see exactly where the water gets in before we quote any repair, and nothing happens without your go-ahead. The fix is covered by our parts & labour warranty, including against the leak coming back.

Full guide: sunroof & convertible roof leak repair →

Call about a leak Text a photo of the damp spot
Case 02

Roof won't open

Electrical or mechanical

What's happening

A silent switch is usually electrical: a failed motor, a tired microswitch or a module that's lost its calibration. A roof that starts and stops partway is usually mechanical: seized cables, worn guides or an obstruction the system is protecting itself from.

What we do

We plug into the roof's control system, read what it's actually complaining about, then test the motor, switches and mechanism. We repair motors and mechanisms and recalibrate the system, across Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, Mazda MX-5 and most other makes.

What to expect

A specific diagnosis, not a shrug. Where a repair is possible we repair. We don't default to replacing the whole assembly.

Full guide: convertible roof won't open →

Call about a dead roof Text your make & model
Case 03

Roof stuck open

Electrical, hydraulic or mechanical

What's happening

An open roof that won't close leaves the cabin exposed to weather and theft — and it's exactly when owners do the most damage. Forcing the panel or pushing the fabric by hand bends linkages and jumps cables, turning a small repair into a rebuild.

What we do

Call us first. On most systems we can talk through what to do next over the phone. Then we diagnose the underlying fault — sensor, hydraulic pressure, cable or motor — and repair it properly in the workshop.

What to expect

Calm, specific instructions over the phone: call 0418 200 289 during opening hours. The one rule until then: don't force anything.

Full guide: roof stuck open, what to do →

Call now: stuck open Text us a video
Case 04

Grinding, clicking or groaning

Early warning: act now

What's happening

Noise is the roof asking for help before it fails. Dry rails, cracked plastic guides, stretched cables or grit in the tracks force the motor to work harder every cycle — until one day it stops halfway and stays there.

What we do

We strip and inspect the tracks and mechanism, replace worn guides and cables with OEM or premium aftermarket parts, clean and lubricate the rails, then realign and recalibrate so the roof runs quiet and square.

What to expect

Caught early, this is the simplest job on this page: a service, not a rebuild. Ignored, it becomes Case 02 or 03.

Full guide: roof grinding & clicking noise repair →

Call about the noise Text a recording
Case 05

Sunshade jammed or sagging

Common on panoramic roofs

What's happening

Panoramic sunshades ride on small clips and guides that fatigue with heat and age. When one side lets go, the blind skews, jams or droops onto your head, usually from a single broken part, not the whole roof cassette.

What we do

We repair, remove or fully replace sunshades and their guides depending on the damage. Where the blind itself is sound, we fix the broken hardware rather than replacing the lot.

What to expect

Honest options laid out side by side — repair, removal or replacement — with the trade-offs of each explained before you decide anything.

Full guide: panoramic roof sunshade repair →

Call about a sunshade Text a photo
Case 06

Hydraulic fluid loss

Common on hydraulic roof systems

What's happening

Oily residue behind the rear seats or in the boot, a roof that lifts slowly or sits lopsided: the seals inside a hydraulic ram have let go. The ram itself is usually sound; it's the internal seals that have worn.

What we do

Hydraulic ram rebuilds are a core specialty here. We remove the cylinders, rebuild them with new seals, inspect the lines and pump, then flush and bleed the system before cycle-testing the roof.

What to expect

Your original rams rebuilt and returned to spec where appropriate, backed by our parts & labour warranty.

Full guide: hydraulic ram rebuilds →

Interstate? Foam-pack and post the ram to us, and we rebuild it and send it back. Mail-in ram rebuild, Australia-wide →

Call about hydraulics Text us the symptoms

The workshop

Inside the workshop

Convertible and sunroof systems are most of what comes through the workshop, across a wide range of makes and models. The photos show the kind of work involved: diagnosis, rebuilds and sunroof mechanisms.

  • Factory-trained technicians. Trained on the systems we service, not learning on your car.
  • Diagnosis before quotes. We test with the latest diagnostic equipment and show you what we find — then you decide.
  • OEM & premium aftermarket parts. Fitted right, covered by a parts & labour warranty.
Convertible & Sunroof Autocentre workshop frontage on the Princes Highway, Arncliffe
Our workshop on the Princes Highway, Arncliffe
Convertible roof mid-rebuild with frame and fabric exposed
Convertible top rebuild in progress
Sunroof mechanism opened up for guide and cable inspection
Inspecting electrical wiring harness pinch points

Known faults, by make

Common faults, by make

Each make has its own habits. Below are the faults we most often see by make. Select a make for the full guide.

Mercedes-Benz Sunroofs
Panoramic sunroofs and their sunshades — blinds that jam, skew or won't park, glass that leaks and drains that silt up — across the C43, C250 and every AMG variant, the A45, A200, GLA180 and GLA200, and the wider A-Class, C-Class and G-Class.
Mercedes-Benz Convertibles
SL and SLK vario-roofs with hydraulic cylinders weeping fluid into the boot — and over the driver and passenger seats; C- and E-Class cabriolets stopped mid-fold by roof-position sensors.
BMW
Z4 and 3/4 Series hardtops stranded half-open by pump and micro-switch faults; panoramic roofs whose blocked drains quietly soak the headlining.
Audi
A4, A5 and TT cabriolets with hydraulic ram seals past their best — the classic slow, lopsided roof — and flap sensors that refuse to confirm the latch; Q5 panoramic roofs with jammed roller blinds and blocked drains backing up into the cabin.
Porsche
Boxster and 911 Carrera (996, 997, 991) cabriolet soft tops with stretched transport cables and worn pivot points — the roof that hesitates at the B-pillar and asks for help by hand.
Land Rover · Range Rover
Panoramic roofs with leaking seals, blocked drainage and sunshades that abandon their tracks — through to the whole panoramic glass panel cracked and needing replacement.
Volkswagen
The Eos and its famously intricate five-piece roof seals; Golf cabriolets, plus Passat and Touareg panoramic sunroofs with drain channels that silt and overflow.
Mazda MX-5
Australia's favourite roadster: worn mechanisms, perished seals, and the blocked drains behind the seats that end in wet carpet.
Holden
Astra and Cascada convertibles with roof-module electrical gremlins and hydraulic systems overdue a rebuild.
Honda
S2000 soft tops worn thin at the fold lines and rear-window seams, with folding-mechanism and latch wear that leaves the roof no longer seating cleanly; HR-V panoramic sunshade blinds that jam or sag on their rails.
Nissan · Infiniti
350Z and 370Z roadster soft tops with worn mechanisms and perished seals; Infiniti retractable hardtops with the hydraulic and sensor faults a generalist rarely meets.

Don't see your car? We work on most makes: text us the make and model or call 0418 200 289.

How a visit works

Four steps. No surprises.

  1. 1

    Tell us the symptom

    Call 0418 200 289. A short conversation usually gets us further than anything else — we know which questions to ask. If a photo or video of the fault would help, we'll ask you to send one through. Most owners get a first read the same day.

  2. 2

    We find the fault

    Water testing, electronic diagnostics, mechanical inspection: whatever the symptom calls for. Where we can, we'll show you what we found so the quote makes sense.

  3. 3

    We fix it properly

    OEM or premium aftermarket parts, fitted by factory-trained technicians. Nothing happens without your go-ahead on the quote.

  4. 4

    Tested before it leaves

    We test what we fixed before it leaves: a leak repair is water-tested until the cabin stays dry; a roof that wouldn't move is cycled up and down until it's reliable; a noisy mechanism is run until it's quiet. The check matches the fault.

Straight answers

The questions everyone
asks before booking

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

Ask us directly
My roof is stuck open right now. What do I do?

Don't force it. Pushing the panel or fabric by hand is how a small repair becomes a rebuild. Call us on 0418 200 289 during opening hours and on most systems we can talk through what to do next over the phone. Then we fix the underlying fault properly in the workshop.

What will it cost?

Repair cost depends on the fault, so we diagnose first, and where we can we'll show you what we found before quoting. You get a written quote — with OEM or premium aftermarket parts and a parts & labour warranty — before any work begins. Nothing happens without your go-ahead.

Do you use genuine parts?

We fit OEM and premium aftermarket parts only. When there's a choice between the two, we'll explain the difference and let you pick, before the work starts, with the price of each in your quote. No mystery parts, ever.

How long does it take?

Turnaround depends on the job — a sunshade is a different animal to a full roof rebuild — so we don't pretend otherwise. What we do promise: your quote comes with a timeframe, parts are confirmed before your car comes in, and roof work is all we do, so your car isn't waiting behind unrelated jobs. Text a photo and we'll give you a realistic estimate up front.

What if it leaks again?

If it leaks again, you bring it back and we fix it under our parts & labour warranty. We don't argue, and we don't charge twice for the same fault. Every leak repair is water-tested before handover — we rain on it before Sydney does — which is why coming back is rare.

Two other shops already had a go. Can you still fix it?

Fixing roofs other shops couldn't is half our work. Roof leaks and stuck mechanisms are genuinely hard to trace: the entry point is often nowhere near where the trouble shows up. We track them with the right diagnostic equipment and two decades of pattern recognition. Tell us what's been tried already. It usually shortens the job.

What's the difference between a roof specialist and a motor trimmer?

A motor trimmer works on the fabric and upholstery side, but a convertible or panoramic roof is also a machine: motors, modules, sensors, cables, hydraulic rams. That machine is our half of the job. We don't do any trimming or upholstery — no soft-top fabric, canvas, rear screens or headliners — but we work right across the mechanism, the electrics and the hydraulics underneath it, and every repair is water-tested before handover. The fabric side is a motor trimmer's; everything that makes the roof move and seal is ours.

Do I need an appointment?

You need an appointment for the actual work: it keeps your quote and timeframe honest. But for an answer? No. Text a photo to 0418 200 289 any time, or drop by 54/58 Princes Hwy, Arncliffe: Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat 9am–4pm.

What owners say

Reviews from owners

Rated 4.9★ on Google. Read them on Google →

★★★★★

"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 a persistent sunroof leak in my Audi Q5. He quickly identified the problem, explained the issue clearly, and had it repaired in no time. The workmanship is great and the leak is completely gone, even after heavy rain. Friendly, professional, and reliable - highly recommend!"

Audi Q5 · Sunroof leak
★★★★★

"Have a Golf Cabriolet and the roof wouldn’t close completely and worked intermittently. Two other service centres couldn’t fix it and then I took it to Michael and he sorted it out. Reasonably priced and with a friendly and accomodating service -highly recommend!"

Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet · Roof not closing
★★★★★

"Awesome service! These guys are great. Straightforward with no beating around the bush. They do excellent work as well. No joke saved me about $5000 having the sunroof on my Lexus looked at by them!"

Lexus · Sunroof
★★★★★

"Very prompt service. Explained problem and solution clearly. I received a fantastic fix to my Subaru sun roof leak in 2 hours at an affordable price."

Subaru · Sunroof leak
★★★★★

"Was recommended to take my Clk320 to him to fix a faulty roof. Was quoted almost $2000 more by Mercedes to fix the same fault. Very happy with the price and workmanship. Would highly recommend for anyone needing convertible repairs to see them!"

Mercedes-Benz CLK320 · Faulty roof

Before you get in touch

Is this the right workshop
for your car?

Roofs are all we do, so we'd rather be straight about the jobs we're built for, and the ones we're not. A quick read before you call.

You're in the right place if

  • You've got a convertible, sunroof or panoramic roof that's leaking, stuck, noisy or losing fluid, and you want it diagnosed properly.
  • You want the fault fixed properly, with the diagnosis explained, not guessed at. A roof has a lot of moving parts; we fix the one you came in for and tell you honestly what may need attention later.
  • You're happy to book it in and leave it with us when the job calls for it. Some repairs are quick and only take a few hours but others are more methodical and need longer.
  • You’d rather pay a fair, competitive price for expert work than gamble on a cheap quote that relies on shortcuts.

We're probably not your shop if

  • You insist on a firm, final price before anyone's seen the car. Some faults we can quote over the phone; plenty we have to look at first.
  • You only need the fabric re-covered or re-stitched. That's a motor trimmer's trade, not ours.
  • The lowest number is the only thing that matters. We'll match a fair price when we can do the job well, but we won't under-diagnose or cut corners to be cheapest.
  • You'd expect us to pour money into a roof worth more than the car without a word. We'll always tell you honestly and upfront whether a repair is worth it. The call is yours, but you'll have the full picture first.

If that's your car and how you'd want it handled, we'd like to hear from you. Start an enquiry below, or call 0418 200 289.

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
View south down the Princes Highway, Arncliffe — Convertible & Sunroof Autocentre is on the left, opposite the Hertz sign
Heading south on the Princes Hwy, we're on the left — opposite the Hertz sign.

Start an enquiry

A few details so we can tell you whether it's a job for us and how we'd approach it. We reply to every enquiry and let you know either way. By appointment; for most faults, we diagnose before quoting.

Call now Text a photo