Auto Glass Replacement
Windshield Cracked? Auto Glass Replaced, Bonded, and Recalibrated at Macarthur
Macarthur replaces windshields, door glass, quarter glass, and rear glass with defroster at the body shop in Valley Stream, as part of a collision repair or on its own. A windshield is bonded to the body with urethane and is part of the car's structure, and the camera behind it is recalibrated after replacement. Glass is often a comprehensive claim with its own deductible, and the shop bills the insurer directly. Call 516-362-5350.
Certifications and reviews
The Certifications Behind the Glass Work, and What Drivers Say About Macarthur on Google
A windshield holds the roof up in a rollover and gives the passenger airbag something to push against, so replacing one is structural work. Macarthur is certified by Honda and Acura, Nissan, Infiniti, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, and Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram, is I-CAR Gold Class, and recalibrates the cameras that mount to the glass. Every plaque is photographed on this site.
I got locked out my car on a cold snowy night and Alex came and unlock my car. He was very quick and professional. I would definitely use this towing company again.
Great timing and professionalism. The tow truck driver Carlos was experienced and helpful. I would recommend this company and Carlos to anyone.
Not the usual experience with a towing company. Everyone that I spoke to was polite and respectful and they towed my car with care. Hopefully I never need my car towed again, but if I do, this is who I will be using!
- 16Certifications on the shop wall
- I-CARGold Class training recognition
- 1,800+Google reviews, 5.0 average as of Oct 2026
- LicensedDMV # 7110205 · DCA # 1389419
- 1 ShopTow fleet and body shop, Valley Stream
- 24/7Our own trucks bring the car in
The Google reviews below come from the towing side of the business, where most drivers meet Macarthur first. Many of those cars come to the body shop next, some of them with a windshield in pieces. If the shop has replaced yours, a few words on Google help the next driver looking through a crack.
Drive one of the certified brands? The glass goes in to that manufacturer's procedure.
- Auto Glass
- Windshield Replacement
- Windshield
- Auto Glass Replacement
- Car Window Repair
- Rear Glass
- Door Glass
- Glass Shop
- Body Shop
- ADAS Calibration
- Collision Repair
- Certified Shop
Why a Windshield Is Part of the Car's Structure, and Why That Changes Who Should Replace It
On a modern car the windshield is bonded into the body with structural urethane and contributes to roof strength in a rollover, to the stiffness of the shell, and to the way the passenger airbag deploys. A glass that is not bonded correctly can push out in a crash or let the roof crush further. That is why Macarthur treats a windshield as a body repair, not a trim job.
Older cars held the windshield in a rubber gasket. Today's cars glue it in, and the glue is doing a job. Here is what the glass does, and what a replacement has to get right.
Roof crush. Federal roof-strength requirements assume the windshield is bonded and intact. In a rollover, the glass and its bond carry part of the load that keeps the roof off the occupants. A windshield set with the wrong adhesive, on an unprepared pinch weld, or driven too soon does not carry it.
Airbag deployment. The passenger airbag on most cars inflates upward and bounces off the windshield toward the passenger. If the glass is not bonded, the bag pushes it out and the passenger gets less protection.
Body stiffness. The bonded glass stiffens the opening it sits in. A car with a poorly bonded windshield can creak, leak, and in some cases let the pillars flex more than designed.
What a correct replacement includes. Cutting out the old urethane without gouging the pinch weld, treating any bare metal so it does not rust under the new glass, priming the body and the glass as the adhesive maker specifies, applying a continuous bead of the right urethane, setting the glass square to the opening, and keeping the car still until the adhesive has cured enough to drive. The office tells you when that is for the product used on your car. The glass section on the body shop page puts this in the context of the whole repair.
Windshield cracked? It is structural work. Bring it to a body shop.
Windshield Replacement Step by Step: Cut-Out, Pinch Weld, Primer, Urethane, Set, and Cure
The technician removes the wipers, cowl, and moldings, cuts the old urethane with a wire or blade without damaging the paint on the pinch weld, cleans and primes the body and the new glass, lays a continuous urethane bead, sets the glass with setting tools so it is square and at the right depth, reinstalls the trim, and leaves the car to cure. The glass is factory-fit, with the correct tint band, sensor brackets, and heating elements for your car.
Here is what happens to the car when it comes in for a windshield, so you know what a correct job looks like.
Removing the old glass
Wipers, cowl panel, A-pillar moldings, and the rearview mirror and camera bracket come off. The old urethane is cut with a cold knife, a wire, or a powered blade, working to leave a thin layer of the original adhesive on the pinch weld and never cutting into the paint. Any scratch to bare metal is primed before the new glass goes on, because rust under a windshield shows up as a leak a year later.
The right glass
The replacement glass matches the car's build: the right shade band, acoustic layer if the car had one, rain sensor and camera brackets, heated wiper park area, heads-up display coating, and antenna elements. Getting the wrong variant means a camera that will not calibrate or a rain sensor that does not work. The parts section on the body shop page explains how original and aftermarket glass are listed on the estimate.
Priming and bonding
The glass edge and the body get the primers the urethane maker specifies, in the order and with the flash times the maker specifies. A single continuous bead of urethane goes on, and the glass is set with suction cups or a setting device so it lands once, square, at the right depth. Moving the glass after it touches the bead breaks the bond.
Curing and driving
Urethane needs time to reach the strength the crash standards assume, and the time depends on the product, the temperature, and the humidity. The office tells you when the car can be driven. Until then the car sits, with the doors closed gently so pressure changes do not shift the glass. Tape may hold the moldings for a day.
Ask the office when the car can be driven. It depends on the adhesive, not the clock.
The Camera Behind the Glass: Why Lane Keeping and Automatic Braking Need Recalibration After a Windshield
Most cars built in the last several years have a forward camera mounted to the windshield that runs lane-keeping, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise, and traffic sign reading. Replacing the glass moves the camera, sometimes by less than a degree, which is enough for the system to brake for a car in the next lane or miss one ahead. Macarthur recalibrates the camera after every windshield that has one and keeps the report in your file.
This is the step that separates a body shop windshield from a parking-lot windshield, and the step a glass-only installer may skip or send you elsewhere for.
What the camera does. It looks through a specific area of the windshield, through a specific thickness of glass, at a specific angle. It reads lane lines, vehicles, pedestrians, and signs, and the car acts on what it reads.
Why replacement affects it. New glass sits a fraction differently. The camera bracket may be bonded to the new glass in a slightly different spot. The glass itself has an optical quality the camera was calibrated through. Any of these shifts the camera's view relative to the road, and the system does not know.
Static and dynamic calibration. Some cars are calibrated in the shop against a target board at a measured distance and height on a level floor. Others are calibrated on a drive at a set speed on a marked road. Many need both. The manufacturer's procedure says which, and the certified shop follows it.
The report. The calibration produces a printout showing the camera's alignment within specification. It goes in your repair file next to the invoice, and it is what proves the system was restored. The safety systems section on the collision repair page covers radar and sensors in the bumpers, which are recalibrated for the same reason after a bumper repair.
Does your car have lane keeping? Then the windshield comes with a calibration.
Door Glass, Quarter Glass, and Rear Glass: Tempered Glass, Defrosters, and Getting Every Piece Out of the Door
Side and rear glass is tempered, so it shatters into small cubes instead of cracking. Replacing it means vacuuming the pieces out of the door cavity, the trunk, and the seat tracks, fitting the new glass to the regulator or bonding it into the opening, and on rear glass reconnecting the defroster grid and any antenna. Macarthur does all of it, from a break-in to a collision.
A broken side window is the most common glass job after a windshield, and the part people underestimate is the cleanup.
Door glass. The door panel comes off, the remaining glass and every cube in the cavity is vacuumed out, the regulator and the run channels are checked for damage from the break, and the new glass is fitted and adjusted so it seals at the top and does not rattle. A door that was forced during a break-in may also need the lock or the latch, which the shop sees while the panel is off.
Quarter glass. The small fixed panes behind the rear doors or in the pillars are bonded like a windshield, with the same urethane process at a smaller scale.
Rear glass. Hatch and trunk glass carries the defroster grid, often the radio antenna, and sometimes a camera or a wiper. The new glass is bonded, the grid connectors are attached, and the defroster is tested before the car leaves. On a hatchback the glass is part of the hatch's stiffness and the hinges and struts are checked.
Cleanup. Tempered glass goes everywhere: under the seats, into the seat tracks, into the door speaker, into the trunk carpet. The car is vacuumed thoroughly so you are not finding glass a year later.
Sunroofs. A shattered sunroof panel is replaced and its drains checked, because a sunroof that leaks after a repair is usually a blocked drain, not the glass.
Window smashed? The cleanup is half the job, and we do that half.
Glass and Insurance: Comprehensive Coverage, the Glass Deductible, and Why Many Drivers Pay Nothing
A windshield cracked by a stone or a window smashed in a break-in is usually a comprehensive claim, not a collision claim. Comprehensive coverage often carries a lower deductible than collision, and some New York policies carry no deductible at all for glass. Macarthur checks your coverage with you, bills the insurer directly, and tells you before the work what, if anything, is yours to pay.
Glass is one of the few repairs where many drivers pay nothing, and also one where people skip a claim they did not need to. Here is how it works.
Comprehensive versus collision. Comprehensive covers damage not caused by a collision: a stone, vandalism, a break-in, a tree limb. Glass damaged in a crash is part of the collision claim. Which one applies decides which deductible applies.
The glass deductible. Some policies have a separate, lower deductible for glass, and some New York policies offer full glass coverage with no deductible. The declarations page says which you have; bring it or call your agent and we will read it with you.
Does a glass claim raise my rate? We cannot answer for your insurer. Comprehensive claims are generally treated differently from at-fault collision claims, but your agent is the one to ask.
Billing. The shop sends the estimate to the insurer and bills them directly. You pay your deductible, if any, at pickup. The insurance section on the body shop page covers the rest of the claim process.
Paying yourself. For a side window or a car with no comprehensive coverage, the shop writes a price and you decide. The small jobs section explains how out-of-pocket work is written up.
Not sure what your glass deductible is? Bring the declarations page and we read it together.
Chip, Crack, or Spreading: When a Windshield Can Wait and When It Cannot
A small chip outside the driver's line of sight can sometimes wait, though it tends to spread with temperature changes. A crack, a chip in the driver's view, damage at the edge of the glass, or anything near the camera cannot wait, because it weakens the glass and can fail a New York inspection. Macarthur replaces damaged windshields; call and describe the damage and we tell you honestly whether it needs to come in now.
Not every chip is an emergency, and not every crack is a disaster, but a few rules decide which is which.
Location. Damage in the driver's sweep of the wipers is a safety issue and an inspection issue. Damage at the edge of the glass compromises the bond and spreads fastest. Damage in the area the forward camera looks through can blind the camera.
Size and type. A star or bullseye chip may stay put for a while. A crack of any length grows, especially with a cold morning and a hot defroster, or a hot afternoon and cold air conditioning. A crack that has reached the edge will not stop.
Inspection. A cracked windshield in the driver's line of sight can be a problem at New York's annual inspection. If the sticker is due, the glass needs to be right.
What we do. We replace the glass. We do not offer chip filling, and we will say so rather than sell you something else. If a chip is small and out of the way, we will tell you it can probably wait and what to watch for.
While you wait. Park in the shade, avoid slamming doors, and do not blast the defroster on a cold windshield. None of it fixes the glass; all of it slows the spread.
Describe the damage on the phone and we tell you whether it can wait.
Glass as Part of a Collision Repair: Why the Windshield Goes In After the Structure and Before the Calibration
When glass is replaced as part of a collision repair, the sequence matters. The structure is straightened first, because a windshield bonded into a crooked opening will crack or leak. Paint around the opening is finished before the glass goes in. The glass is bonded, cured, and then the camera is calibrated along with any other sensors the repair disturbed. Macarthur sequences it that way on every repair.
A collision that breaks the windshield almost always moved something else, and the glass is not the first thing fixed.
Structure first. A hit hard enough to break the windshield often moved the pillars or the cowl. The opening is measured on the frame bench along with the rest of the car, and the glass is not ordered until the opening is square. The frame repair page covers the bench.
Paint before glass. The pinch weld and the pillars are refinished before the glass is bonded so there is no masking line under the molding and no fresh paint under the urethane. The auto painting page explains the blend around the opening.
Bond and cure. The windshield goes in as described above and is left to cure before the car is moved to calibration.
Calibrate everything at once. Camera, radar, and parking sensors disturbed by the repair are calibrated together, and the reports go in the file. The collision repair page lays out the full sequence.
Side glass from the crash. Tempered glass that shattered in a side impact is cleaned out of the door and the cabin before the panel work starts, because glass cubes in a door cavity scratch new paint and jam regulators.
Windshield broken in a crash? The glass is one line of a bigger estimate, in the right order.
Auto Glass Replacement for Drivers Across Nassau County and the Queens Line, at One Shop in Valley Stream
Glass is replaced at 170 East Lincoln Avenue in Valley Stream. A car with a cracked windshield or a missing side window can usually be driven in during shop hours; one with a shattered windshield or a collision behind it comes in on a Macarthur flatbed at any hour, from anywhere in Nassau County, the Queens neighborhoods on the county line, or the Suffolk towns just across it. Every town has its own auto glass page.
Drivers from Valley Stream, Lynbrook, Elmont, Franklin Square, West Hempstead, Hempstead, Malverne, Rockville Centre, Oceanside, Baldwin, Freeport, Long Beach, East Rockaway, and the Five Towns around Cedarhurst, Lawrence, Woodmere, Hewlett, and Inwood are a short drive from the shop, and so are drivers across the line in Laurelton, Rosedale, Springfield Gardens, Cambria Heights, St. Albans, Queens Village, Jamaica, and Far Rockaway.
From central and eastern Nassau, Garden City, Mineola, New Hyde Park, Westbury, East Meadow, Levittown, Hicksville, Plainview, Bethpage, Wantagh, and Massapequa, from the north shore towns of Great Neck, Manhasset, Glen Cove, and Syosset, and from Amityville, Melville, and Huntington on the Suffolk side, the car comes in on its own wheels or on the flatbed. The full list is on the locations page.
Find your town and its auto glass page.
More Body Shop Services From the Same Shop
Collision Repair
From fender benders to major damage, repaired to pre-accident condition.
Auto Body Repair
Dents, scrapes, rust, and panel replacement.
Auto Painting
Spot repair to full repaints, matched to the factory color.
Frame Repair
Frames pulled back to straight and true.
Bumper Repair
Cracked, scraped, or pushed-in bumpers repaired or replaced.
Dent Repair
Door dings, hail, and creased panels.
One shop covers every repair on the list.
Questions Drivers Ask About Auto Glass Replacement
- Do you replace windshields?
- Yes. Windshields, door glass, quarter glass, and rear glass with defroster, as part of a collision repair or on their own, at the shop in Valley Stream.
- Do you fill chips?
- No. We replace damaged glass. If a chip is small and out of the driver's view, we will tell you honestly that it can probably wait and what to watch for.
- Can I drive the car right after the windshield is replaced?
- Not immediately. The urethane needs time to cure to the strength the crash standards assume, and the time depends on the adhesive, temperature, and humidity. The office tells you when the car can be driven.
- Will you recalibrate the camera behind the windshield?
- Yes, on every car that has one. Lane keeping, automatic braking, and adaptive cruise depend on it. The calibration report goes in your file.
- Is a windshield covered by insurance?
- Usually under comprehensive coverage, which often has a lower deductible than collision, and some New York policies have no deductible for glass. We check your coverage with you and bill the insurer directly.
- Will a glass claim raise my rates?
- Ask your agent. Comprehensive claims are generally treated differently from at-fault collision claims, but the answer depends on your policy and insurer.
- Will the new windshield have the same features as the old one?
- Yes. The replacement matches the car's build: tint band, acoustic layer, rain sensor and camera brackets, heated wiper area, heads-up display coating, and antenna elements.
- Do you use original or aftermarket glass?
- The estimate lists the glass by type. Which is used depends on the manufacturer's procedure, the policy paying, and your choice, and non-original parts are disclosed in writing.
- Can you replace a side window after a break-in?
- Yes. The door panel comes off, every piece of tempered glass is vacuumed out of the door and the cabin, the regulator and lock are checked, and the new glass is fitted and adjusted.
- Will the rear defroster work after rear glass replacement?
- Yes. The defroster grid and any antenna connectors are reconnected and tested before the car leaves.
- Will a cracked windshield fail inspection?
- A crack or damage in the driver's view, and certain damage elsewhere, fails a New York inspection. If your sticker is due, the glass needs to be replaced first.
- My windshield broke in an accident. Is that a glass claim?
- No, it is part of the collision claim. The glass is replaced in sequence with the rest of the repair: structure first, paint, then glass, then calibration.
- Can you tow the car in if the windshield is shattered?
- Yes, 24 hours a day. Call 516-362-5350 and a Macarthur flatbed brings it to the shop.
- Where is the shop and when is it open?
- 170 East Lincoln Avenue, Valley Stream, NY 11580. Monday through Friday 8 AM to 5 PM and Saturday 9 AM to 12 PM.
Did not see your question? Ask the estimator.
Call Macarthur for Auto Glass in Valley Stream
Bonded to the procedure, cured before it moves, camera recalibrated. Insurance billed directly.
Call 516-362-5350