How long does a windscreen replacement take?
Sixty to ninety minutes on site for a car windscreen. Add thirty to sixty minutes if the car needs ADAS calibration, then about an hour of cure time before it should be driven.
A chip repair is about thirty minutes and you drive away immediately. The number people actually need is not the fitting time though — it is when they can use the car. Those are two different things, and the second one is the one worth asking about.
Time on site, by job
Actual working time with the vehicle, not a booking window. Cure time is on top and is covered below.
| Job | On site | Drive away after |
|---|---|---|
| Stone chip repair | About 30 min | Immediately |
| Car windscreen replacement, no camera | 60–90 min | About 1 hr cure |
| Car windscreen replacement with ADAS | 2–2.5 hrs | About 1 hr cure |
| Side or door glass | 45–90 min | Immediately |
| Rear windscreen | 60–90 min | Usually immediately |
| Truck or prime mover screen | 1.5–2.5 hrs | About 1 hr cure |
| Bus or coach screen | 2–4 hrs | About 1 hr cure |
| Motorhome or RV front | 2–4 hrs | About 1 hr cure |
Fitting time and cure time are different
This is the part that catches people out when they are planning a day around it.
Fitting time
How long we are working on the vehicle: cutting out the old screen, trimming and priming the pinchweld, laying the urethane bead, setting the glass, refitting mouldings and cowling. For a car, sixty to ninety minutes.
Cure time
How long the urethane needs to reach enough strength to hold the glass in a crash and support the passenger airbag. Typically about an hour, but it depends on the product and on temperature and humidity — which in Queensland move a lot between a February afternoon and a July morning.
Safe drive-away time
The figure that matters. It is the manufacturer’s stated cure time for the urethane used, in the conditions on the day. We tell you the actual number for your job before we leave rather than quoting a generic hour.
Calibration time
If the car has a forward-facing camera, calibration happens after fitting. A static calibration is thirty to sixty minutes; a dynamic one is a road drive of fifteen to forty minutes. See ADAS calibration.
Do not drive it early to save an hour.
Before the urethane has cured, the windscreen is not yet a structural part of the car — and the passenger airbag has nothing solid to inflate against. The hour is not padding.
Why your job might run longer
Six things that add time, all of which we can usually flag before we arrive.
A camera behind the glass
The single biggest factor. It roughly doubles the appointment on a car, and if it needs a dynamic calibration part of that is on the road.
Corrosion in the pinchweld
If we cut out the old screen and find rust in the bonding flange, it has to be treated properly. That changes the job and sometimes means it cannot be finished in a driveway — we will stop and explain rather than bond over it.
A previous poor fit
Excess or uneven urethane from a past replacement has to be cut back to a consistent height before new glass goes on. Adds twenty to forty minutes.
Vehicle size
A coach screen is a two-person lift and a much bigger perimeter to prep. Buses and motorhomes are half-day jobs rather than hour-and-a-half jobs.
Bonded versus rubber-mounted glass
Older vehicles and many RV fronts use a rubber gasket rather than urethane. Different job, often slower, and perished rubbers get replaced rather than reused.
Weather
We do not lay urethane in heavy rain or into a pinchweld full of blown grit. In bad weather we move to a garage or covered park, or reschedule — see mobile or workshop.
How to lose the least time
Four things that make the difference between an interruption and a write-off of your morning.
Book it where you already are
Home or your workplace car park. Most city jobs go in mid-morning and are finished before lunch, and you never move the car or wait anywhere.
Give us the details on the phone
Make, model, build year, and the VIN if you can reach it. That is what stops the wrong glass turning up and turning one appointment into two — see why we ask.
Empty the dash and the front seats
We need the dash clear and both front doors able to open fully. Two minutes of your time saves ten of ours.
Plan the cure hour, do not fight it
Book so the cure time lands over lunch or the end of the day. Nobody has ever regretted leaving a car alone for an hour; people do regret driving it at forty minutes.
Keep reading
How long does a windscreen replacement take?
Sixty to ninety minutes on site for a car windscreen, or two to two and a half hours if the vehicle needs ADAS camera calibration. After fitting there is a cure period of about an hour before the car should be driven. Trucks, buses and motorhomes take longer because the glass is much larger.
How long before I can drive after a windscreen replacement?
Typically about an hour, but the exact safe drive-away time depends on the urethane used and on the temperature and humidity on the day. We give you the actual figure for your job before we leave. Driving earlier matters because until the urethane cures the windscreen is not yet structural and the passenger airbag has nothing firm to deploy against.
How long does a chip repair take?
About thirty minutes, and you can drive immediately afterwards. There is no cure period to wait out and no camera recalibration required, which is a large part of why catching damage while it is still repairable is worth doing.
Can you do it while I am at work?
That is how most of our city and office-park jobs run. Booked mid-morning, finished before lunch, and the car has its cure hour sitting in the car park while you are upstairs. You do not need to be with the vehicle.
Do you offer same-day windscreen replacement?
Most bookings are same-day if you ring in the morning and the glass for your vehicle is in stock locally. Low-volume models, imports and some heavy vehicle screens need glass brought in, which we will tell you when you call.
How long does a truck or bus windscreen take?
A prime mover or rigid screen is usually one and a half to two and a half hours. A bus or coach screen is two to four hours, partly because of size and partly because many are two-piece splits. We attend depots and yards so the vehicle is not travelling for it.
Need it done today?
Most bookings across Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan and Bayside are same-day if you ring in the morning. Call and we will tell you a real window, not a four-hour one.