Just a heads up, for anyone who has or is considering a roof rack on a 3rd-gen:

I have a Yakima ski/bike rack mounted on my roof, and it's been there for quite some time with no problems, but when I put a cargo basket on it recently, even with very little weight on the rack, and with no pieces contacting the glass, my sunroof cracked. I'm guessing it's because the car has a pretty weak roof, and the added rigidness that resulted from bridging the front and back parts of the rack caused the roof to flex and squeeze the sunroof panel. Yakima claims the capacity of the roof is 165lbs, including rack hardware, and I was way below that.

Has anyone else had this problem, and does anybody know if it's possible to get a european-style moonroof with a metal panel, rather than glass?

 

Thats strange, I work at a bike shop and install racks. I never have heard of that problem. I have a Thule rack and keep 2 50lb bmx bikes on it with no prob.

 

Yeah, I when the cracks occured, I had already been using the rack for quite some time with bike mounts on it, and I never had a problem. It was the cargo basket that caused the problem.

 

I've had Yakima rack on my car for several years now (I remove it during winter) and this year my sunroof got cracked too . I agree that even though Yakima is rated at 150+ lbs, I don't think Maxima's roof can handle that much. I only haul a pair of Trek MTBs and they weight less than 30 lbs each. Now, does anyone know how much a replacement glass might cost?

 

I just resently used a rack but had know problem with the moon roof. The doors were tough to close because they rubbed. what kind of rack do you guys have, fabric straps or metal clamps? also I had my moon roof crack a few months ago for no resone. posibly heat. I have glass coverage and got it fixed for free. Take my friends advice and have the work done at nissan. I didn't and the moon roof doesn't go up enough when it is in the closed position. It did that before but my friends was fixed when he got his back, also no cost.

 

I use Yakima Q-towers, which have metal clamps. The doors work fine with the rack in place.