i haven't looked into it much but maybe someone here knows Im wounding if there is away to remove it completely off the back window?

swap in a rear hatch without a defogger grid.

i knew some one would say that, back to the qustion....
"Im wounding if there is away to remove it completely off the back window"

its silver or something, they make repair kits. Live where it doesn't snow? I would say it will probably literally "clean" off, razor or something. Don't try it just because I suggested it, there may be more to it than that and probably is. I'm not gonna take responsibility for it.

Did you try google? researching repairs and trying to find removal might help. its the same for -all- cars so thats why I suggest. I normally do searches instead of suggesting but this one will probably take a while.

sorry, that's just the only way I could ever picture it being done and looking right. Besides those hatches are ALL OVER the junkyards around here on the 4 cyl (yes there's about 5 of em in a row) and 6 cyl cars in the yards around my way..

I don't have them on my 5.0 and guess what man, that window fogs up quick in the heat, rain, sex, etc...... just my

I think if you were to try and remove them it would scratch the glass so bad that it would defeat the purpose.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHa... That was great.

FueledSoul, you might not like 89RsPower's answer...but thats the only way to go. You MIGHT be able to scratch those off. But I doubt it. And if you did get them off, you'd most likely have scratchs and scuffs all over. Or remnants of the lines that just wont come off.

I passed up a non-defrost hatch at a swap meet (summer carlisle) once for $10. Even had a black decklid already. They are around, and cheap, and it would be less work even to swap the deck lids than to try to scrape those off.

J.

the hatch and such is easy to swap, heavy but easy. All in all its only a handful of hardware and most is the same size.

I am worried about taking it off because there might be something bonded to the glass, irremovable.

if you decide to replace it and are positive then by all means scrub at it, use a stainless steel razorblade ?not supposed to leave scratches?

but yes, next time its raining, don't expect to see out of the hatch unless you got the a/c going in the winter to dry the interior air up.

i have 3 deforst hatchs laying around that i cant even sell! but being in the midwest you dont see any non-defrost hatchs, but yea id deff swap out the defrost hatch for a non-deforst one if i could! but man iv looked and looked.... thats why i was wounding if there was anyway to take the lines off, i do have 3 hatchs to play around with so i guess maybe all try to scrap a line off or two and see how it goes

It'll leave a residue of some sort, but there won't be discoloration in the glass. The glue used is some high strength factory stuff, so knowing that you'd think it would've fallen off on its own already lol. I would try the razor to scrape it off, and a really fine steel wool pad to get the residue off. Worked well on my grand am when the cop in NYC put the do not park sticker on my driver side window lol.

thats funny you say "steel wool" iv told so many ppl how great steel wool works for getting off over spay, glue, and what ever else gets pasted on glass, they look at me like im crazy ,
maybe when the sun comes up all try out a few ideas on a rear glass

steel wool and a razor blade is probably your best bet i dunno about the big chunks of metal on the sides of the glass tho thats gonna be a tough one

If it's a really soft metal maybe, and I say MAYBE AT YOUR OWN RISK, you could get it hot with a propane torch on low and do a heat and scrape thing? Or maybe a decent heat gun from home depot would work? Just something floating around my head, I could be dead wrong about this though.

everything is bonded with glue? even the metal plugin tabs?

STAINLESS steel razor!!! "i had steel wool in my head, forgot to type it, i guess."

Show us a pic of the progress.

Yes keep us updated...whether you suceed or fail. Im curious to see how you make out, and how looks, etc etc.

J.

I'm interested in doing this also. Although, I'd like to go one step further and remove the dark green tint from around the perimiter of the glass also. I'd like to get it down to just clear glass and then tint it so you don't see the border between green and black when it's done. Has anyone attempted that?

how about eazy off oven cleaner. the stuff should disolve the glue but wont hurt the glass?

razer blades and steel wool take the glue and backing off but your still left with a fine red line thats nearly impossible to take off, i tried to burn the lines off so far nothings worked so this morning i dumped some aircraft striper on a few lines I'm going to let it sit like that all day and see what happens

They wouldn't burn off? Odd. How'd the glass take the heat?

Thats out... ever thing else is out too except 80 grits and
sand blasting! looks like thats the only way to take it off. It wrecks the glass but it was worth a shoot just to see what it took to take it off. this hatch glass might be a good template for forming a peace of Polycarbonate....

The lines are bonded into the glass?... probably. The conductive part is the silvery stuff on the lines.

If you use fine grit sandpaper "really fine" and wet sand it? it might slowly remove the stuff. but then you'll need cerum oxide to polish the glass and some practice to avoid making it distort everything "swirly fishbowl type thing" (i'm not 100% on this oxide thing, will be attempting on my windshield thats been killed by highway debris, pitting"

The tint is probably irremovable because its probably part of the glass itself. not "applied" look at any vehicle's back glass with polarized lenses "sunglasses will say they're polarized or not" walmart usually.

There is a checkerboard pattern of tint and it shouldn't be removable at all.

Well thats my $0.02 and i hope i'm right. Good luck. The strips HAVE to be able to be removed somehow, they aren't inside the glass. Maybe contact a company that makes automotive glass "google and e-mail, then wait up to 1 week for response" and let us know how its made.

I've retinted a couple of these and have NEVER, been able to scrape off the lines with a razor blade and windex WITH amonia and regular coke. Anyone who has done tints knows what a royal pain it is to remove.

You will sit there for a couple hours just peeling and scraping, peeling and scraping just to get the glue off.......and no damage to the defroster lines. Sorry, I think it's going to take more then a razor blade to take them off. Maybe take off the glass and lay it on it's topside and soak it with some brake fluid or marine mystery oil overnight and then MAYBE a razor blade will scrape 'em off.

Um? your scraping off the conductive part, the red lines are still going to be there but kiss your defrost good bye....

he knows that, removing the red is the program right now. We are trying to find out how it is applied and how to remove it. I think its bonded.

I once attempted to remove the defroster lines from my bird's hatch, I could never remove the red/orange part so I had to break down and buy a non defrost hatch, was pretty cheap at 45$

AFAIK the lines are molded (baked?) part way into the glass when it's made, at least that's what it felt like.

it is impossible to remove the grid short of the aforementioned sandblasting, and that would etch the glass or even break it.
even if you could get the lines off you'd probably always have a slight indent where they once ran.

Honestly, I don't think it's possible to remove them, so if it's a clean hatch you are after, I'd just buy a non defrost hatch and swap the deck lids, It's really the only viable option. They are only bolted and siliconed on, it's actually much easier to swap rear glasses than to try and get the lines off, trust me, I speak from experience

the glass is easy to remove, i'll do a tutorial as soon as possible.

The sealant for the part with spoiler is my problem, its just black silicone? It is better to redo it anyway regardless because they leave the gap that grabs leaves. Same with stock rear weather stripping.

Yeah, after yo get all the bolts and nuts off the glass it's just held on with black silicone rubber. In addition to the bolts under the plastic panel on the decklid, there are four small bolts holding the metal glass frame to the decklid, (2 per side) so after it's free of those you just have to cut the silicon holding the deck to the glass, then the lid will just pop right off.

This job is easiest done with a friend but I just did it myself CAREFULLY (no, not recommended)

hell, I removed the rear part myself. didn't know why it was stuck. you can wiggle and pull without cutting the silicone but gently work it?

The rear glass is somewhere up there in weight 70lb? And is a PITA!! Also remember about the two gas rods, they need removed AT the deck lid, not at the rear seats. That takes a 10mm wrench?