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Black tape on the hatch window

RedBluff

NAXJA Forum User
Does the black tape on the outside edges of the hatch window serve a purpose? Mine are pealing off and I plan on removing it all. Does it have something to do with the defrosters in the glass or does it cover the fact that does strips weren't tinted?
 
Is it tinted?

I've heard of some jank tint shops that won't tint the entire window.....maybe it was tinted at a crappy place and somebody just put tape there to cover up the untinted window?

A picture would be lovely :)
 
Blaine B. said:
Is it tinted?

I've heard of some jank tint shops that won't tint the entire window.....maybe it was tinted at a crappy place and somebody just put tape there to cover up the untinted window?

A picture would be lovely :)

You are right on, they stopped the tint just short of the defrost elements.
The elements are raised above the surface of the glass and made of braided wire. Thanks.
 
You can tint over the defrost elements, it looks just fine. Although at night you'll notice car headlight's reflections off of the tint curved over the defrost elements...
 
RedBluff said:
You are right on, they stopped the tint just short of the defrost elements.
The elements are raised above the surface of the glass and made of braided wire. Thanks.
RedBluff has it right. The older XJ's have a raised wire running top to bottom on both sides of the rear window that connect to the horizontal foil elements. The aftermarket tint cannot be applied over the raised wire so vinyl blackout tape is installed on the outside of the window to cover the light gap. Somewhere in the early to mid-90's a design change was made and the large raised wire was removed and the wide vertical foil bands were added of which CAN be tinted over just like the foil lines of the defroster crossing the rear glass.

So to answer your question, yes, you can remove the tape but you'll have a light gap on both sides of your rear window. Most people never notice the tape with the tinted window... until it starts to peel away after several years. :D
 
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