My Unique LED 3rd Brake light

11th July 2009, 17:59

My 3rd brake light rattled due to my sub so i decided to wire in a red led strip.

Not sure if it will pass MOT though

never seen it done before.

Looks better in real life than in teh pics but oh well:

11th July 2009, 18:01

Should pass an MOT as you can buy them like that at around the same size from car shops.

also the new mercs have them liek that on the boot lid.

Looks canny, bet its bright on dark roads though lol

11th July 2009, 18:01

Don't see why it wouldnt pass?

11th July 2009, 18:01

dont look to bad mate!
dunno whether it will pass mot, its the same height as the original so should be ok??

11th July 2009, 18:34

yeah should be okayy....only reason i thought it may not pass is cos its not E-marked...or does that not matter?

and yeah its quite bright at night, it lights up my white centre console red

lol

.....and i got the idea from the new mercs

11th July 2009, 18:53

I really like it! I will have to get one of those

11th July 2009, 19:12

Looks good, should pass, cant see it being a problem as its making a safety feature bigger. Bentley continentals have the same

11th July 2009, 19:45

As far as the MOT goes you should be fine as long as its fitted securely and works when required. Though with any modification it is very much down to the discretion of the MOT tester.

I would be more worried about the police and your insurance company. Its quite a blatant modification and if a police officer is looking for a reason to pull you its probably going to be it. It will also invalidate your insurance if they pick up on it. The police could even technically do you for driving with out appropriate insurance. Same applies to altering any part that is required by law to be E marked I am afraid.

11th July 2009, 20:54

i think it looks smart as fook, well done mate

11th July 2009, 21:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by AXracing

As far as the MOT goes you should be fine as long as its fitted securely and works when required. Though with any modification it is very much down to the discretion of the MOT tester.

I would be more worried about the police and your insurance company. Its quite a blatant modification and if a police officer is looking for a reason to pull you its probably going to be it. It will also invalidate your insurance if they pick up on it. The police could even technically do you for driving with out appropriate insurance. Same applies to altering any part that is required by law to be E marked I am afraid.

with him on this... police may pull you for it, and if its not E marked its not road legal, although, i cant say ive seen Audi/mercs/ and other cars with LED strips that have E Marks...

same goes with insurance...

but im sure it will pass an MOT... you can have neons, LEDS, anywhting like that aslong as its solid lights, dont mis-represent an emergancy service, and the main source of the light cant be seen whilst on...
like neons under cars, can be on, any time, any day aslong as its a sold colour! and cant see the strip...

your brake light, well you could wrap your car in bloody red christmas lights, and aslong as they only glow red when you brake, its legal!

maybe a tad long imo, but i like the idea of it buddy!

11th July 2009, 21:45

You had this at FCS didnt you, i noticed it there. I said to my mate about it being longer, its kinda cool

11th July 2009, 23:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by AXracing

As far as the MOT goes you should be fine as long as its fitted securely and works when required. Though with any modification it is very much down to the discretion of the MOT tester.

I would be more worried about the police and your insurance company. Its quite a blatant modification and if a police officer is looking for a reason to pull you its probably going to be it. It will also invalidate your insurance if they pick up on it. The police could even technically do you for driving with out appropriate insurance. Same applies to altering any part that is required by law to be E marked I am afraid.

that sounds like i could get screwed for not much lol....hopefully it will be okay...

does eveything on a car have to be e-marked?
tbh ive never been pulled over so far and i have driven around with only 1 number plate light for ages and ive been driving since september and never been stopped...not many police round where i live tbh.
if i do crash i can easily cut it off.....only held up with some double sided tape and a thin wire.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonto_VTR

with him on this... police may pull you for it, and if its not E marked its not road legal, although, i cant say ive seen Audi/mercs/ and other cars with LED strips that have E Marks...

same goes with insurance...

but im sure it will pass an MOT... you can have neons, LEDS, anywhting like that aslong as its solid lights, dont mis-represent an emergancy service, and the main source of the light cant be seen whilst on...
like neons under cars, can be on, any time, any day aslong as its a sold colour! and cant see the strip...

your brake light, well you could wrap your car in bloody red christmas lights, and aslong as they only glow red when you brake, its legal!

maybe a tad long imo, but i like the idea of it buddy!

yeah looking at it again maybe it is a bit too long...ah well

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolC

You had this at FCS didnt you, i noticed it there. I said to my mate about it being longer, its kinda cool

yeah i did

wondered whether anyone in the convoy would have noticed lol
what as in its too long?

11th July 2009, 23:21

Do you have reflectors in your smoked jewels? If not, then the MOT will fail.

12th July 2009, 00:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark1

Do you have reflectors in your smoked jewels? If not, then the MOT will fail.

its passed an MOT before with them on....i think the reflectors are in the section nearest to the middle of the car

they are ultra ones and most people on here have them and ive never heard about them being a problem with MOT's

12th July 2009, 09:42

looks really tidy that mate

Good job!

12th July 2009, 09:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeeBBH

looks really tidy that mate

Good job!

cheers

12th July 2009, 10:08

Haha looks shithot bud

12th July 2009, 17:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by NICK2506

yeah i did

wondered whether anyone in the convoy would have noticed lol
what as in its too long?

Not not too long, just wondered how you done it but forgot to ask you because there isn't any join or anything where the origional brake light is.

12th July 2009, 17:44

Is this the 96cm or 120cm version of the LED brake light?

Mark.

12th July 2009, 17:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolC

Not not too long, just wondered how you done it but forgot to ask you because there isn't any join or anything where the origional brake light is.

i stuck a length of plastic tubing which is like 1cm high and about 90 long, and then i stuck the led strip to that....without the plastic the lights werent visable from behind as they werent low enough...took the old light unit out and wired this into the wires from the original brake light

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark1

Is this the 96cm or 120cm version of the LED brake light?

Mark.

its just an LED strip off ebay, but its 96cm iirc.

12th July 2009, 21:08

That pic made me lol,

could imagine bein behind that and thinkin wtf

could land a plane with them

12th July 2009, 21:39

Looks good, nice to see something different apart from those 3rd brake light covers

13th July 2009, 02:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by EazyDayz

That pic made me lol,

could imagine bein behind that and thinkin wtf

could land a plane with them

thanks...

Quote:

Originally Posted by benJee_VTR

Looks good, nice to see something different apart from those 3rd brake light covers

cheers mate

just noticed your avatar!! your car is lowered!! looks 100 times better

13th July 2009, 09:17

Looks awesome IMO

13th July 2009, 11:27

looks mint!

13th July 2009, 11:35

looks abit tacky imo.....if it was the same size of just a tiny bit smaller (length) than the original it would look smart but it just looks odd as its just blatently too long and a diy mod. Cut it down abit and it will look 10x better !

As for the Mot and police i wouldn't worry their not gonna stop or fail you for having this its fine i didn't have a third brake light for my mot once before and drove without one for a while as it fell off for the same reason yours did.....

13th July 2009, 14:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by baker556

looks abit tacky imo.....if it was the same size of just a tiny bit smaller (length) than the original it would look smart but it just looks odd as its just blatently too long and a diy mod. Cut it down abit and it will look 10x better !

As for the Mot and police i wouldn't worry their not gonna stop or fail you for having this its fine i didn't have a third brake light for my mot once before and drove without one for a while as it fell off for the same reason yours did.....

cheers mate...yeah im debating whether to cut it down.....i think i can every 3 leds....and its currently 96cm (96 leds).
do you reckon like 20 cm so shorter than the standard one would look good or like 30cm so a bit bigger than the standard one?

13th July 2009, 15:10

Looks good mate, nice and different. Id agree on making it a little smaller though.

Would also look epic if you smoothed them into your spoiler

13th July 2009, 17:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by NICK2506

thanks...

cheers mate

just noticed your avatar!! your car is lowered!! looks 100 times better

Thanks mate

dont mean to thread hijack

Lights look nice

13th July 2009, 18:09

that light looks awesome mate good work

as for MOT it should be fine

13th July 2009, 18:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben_Saxo

Looks good mate, nice and different. Id agree on making it a little smaller though.

Would also look epic if you smoothed them into your spoiler

yeah that would look awesome....but would be more hassle than its worth

13th July 2009, 20:25

Not really, second hand spoiler, a jigsaw and a bit of fibreglass and your sorted

13th July 2009, 22:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben_Saxo

Not really, second hand spoiler, a jigsaw and a bit of fibreglass and your sorted

hmm....i'll have to think about it...

14th July 2009, 16:42

Looks very good imo and perfect length from a slight distance (y)

14th July 2009, 17:57

Did you shorten it in the end?

14th July 2009, 18:01

looks gd m8 might do it myself

14th July 2009, 18:19

3rd brake light is not part of an MOT iirc

14th July 2009, 19:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimoVTR

3rd brake light is not part of an MOT iirc

if you have one, it has to work properly. that's the only requirement i think.

14th July 2009, 21:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by danzman1991

Did you shorten it in the end?

na not yet....may cover the ends up with gaffa tape and see what it looks like

14th July 2009, 23:53

If you mind me askin how much did it set you back as i think the spolier idea would be worth a go ifits not to much to go wth my little project

15th July 2009, 00:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skinner-4

If you mind me askin how much did it set you back as i think the spolier idea would be worth a go ifits not to much to go wth my little project

about £10