Dear Tom and Ray:

I have a question about rear-window defrosters. If I put some kind of
window sticker over those little wires on my rear window, will it do any
harm to the defroster or will it melt the sticker? Is it OK to put one or
two in the corner of the window and cover a small section of the wires? --
Angelica

RAY: It depends, Angelica. There are two kinds of rear-window defrosters.
Well, three if you count the mother-in-law in the back seat with the rag.

TOM: There are two electric rear-window defrosters. The most common kind is
actually embedded in the glass. If you have that kind, you can put whatever
stickers you want on the inside or outside of the window without harming
the defroster or the stickers.

RAY: But some (old or cheap) cars have an aftermarket rear-window defroster
in which the wires are threaded through a piece of clear, sticky tape,
which is then stuck onto the inside of the rear window. And I'd be
reluctant to stick anything else on top of that.

TOM: Because of the relatively small amount of heat produced by these
things, I doubt that the sticker or the wires would damage each other. The
problem would come if you ever wanted to take the sticker off, because then
you'd probably ruin the defroster.

RAY: And while you might not think you'll ever want to take that sticker
off of your rear window, the Dukakis for President people thought the same
thing back in '88.