If you’ve ever had your car windshield replaced, you might have seen the strips of blue tape surrounding the new glass and wondered what they’re for.
If you’ve ever had a chip develop into a crack, or been unfortunate enough to have something flick up from off of the road and cause significant damage to your windshield when driving, then chances are you’ve also had your windshield — or windscreen as they’re called in England — replaced at some point. The process is pretty simple, and carried out by professionals who do the job day-in and day-out. While most steps, like removing the wiper blades and old shield from out of the way, plus then fitting and sealing the new shield make perfect sense, there is one final touch that might seem puzzling.
When finishing up, windshield fitters will attach blue tape across the edge and around the perimeter of the new shield. This is called retention tape, and it does serve a number of important functions, although the primary reason windshield fitters use it is to hold the windshield in place while the adhesive or sealant properly dries.
