Defrost/Defogger Lines

[DSouth]

Hi there,

I was cleaning my rear window in preparation for putting it back into the car. While I was cleaning it I noticed the lines looked pretty faint. So I threw an Ohm meter on it and sure enough no continuity. Upon closer inspection the lines are almost completely gone. There is metal that extends about 5 inches from ether side of the window but there is no metal in the rest of the lines.

So, I have a choice.

A: Re-line the whole thing.
B: Scrap the lines altogether.

Has anyone re-lined a whole window? Is it worth it?

[Rusty Heap]

don't know if you need one, or if it would fit, or want to buy a replacement, but I have a tinted rear window from my 82 SC that is in perfect shape.?

I know you can paint on "grid" filler if there are obvious gaps, but that's kinda a quasi'good way to fix yours.

[DSouth]

Thanks for the offer, but I figure I'll either try my hand at re-lining the entire window or just go without the defrost altogether. I'm a bit concerned about how well I'll be able to mask off for each line. Tedious work.

[Rusty Heap]

And you're in the O.C. Cali land. I'm sure frost hits you often.......yeah right.

Taping it off isn't that much work, neither is me selling you and shipping my rear window.

PM me if you want photos.

[dipso]

I had the same problem. I went the 'get rid of' direction.
Pulled the defroster switch, gave to a fellow pelican to use for some fog lights. Pulled the defroster relay, gave to a pelican to use for his car. Pulled all the wires, lights and relays.
I never used it anyways and in So Cal I didn't really need it. There were a few times when I wished I had it, but it never worked properly.

The only part of the process I wasn't happy with, was that I could not remove those lines from my rear window. I tried a razor blade and solvents.
Any tips.
I would love those lines gone.