With my vRS estate suffering from the normal water penetration and subsequent failure in the 3rd brake light, I thought about other options to the rather steep price of a replacement from the stealers.

So, I had bought some white 300mm LED strips for footwell lights, and thought this may well work with a bit of modification; it also had the additional advantage of being sealed in rubber (waterproof!) and power input from both ends so if one LED blew, others would still have power.

Took the old unit off for it's MOT anyway, so prised it apart, and found by trimming about 2-3mm of rubber off each end of the strip, it fitted the red light housing just right.

Fitted everything together, refitted to car and it works fine.

Except it's shows up PINK :eek:

So, I was wondering if some kind soul can post a pic of their 3rd brake light, or if anybody else can tell me if their "red" 3rd brake light has the same :gay:issue.

I know the LED strip also comes in red, so that may be a better option!

I'll try and get a pic tommorow when I have the car during daylight hours.

Cheers

Steve

How's this?

Hi Steve

I have a similar problem on my 03 VRS estate. Part of it has died completely and the rest works intermittantly.

Did you do this repair with the light still in the spoiler attached to the car, or did you take the spoiler off?

Many thanks for taking the time to satisfy my curioisity Simon.

As you can see below, my light whilst bright is definitely not red!

Early dawn:

Daylight:

moatmeister: prise the the light away from the spoiler, and you'll find about 7-8 inches of cable to play with. Hopefully that'll be enough - it was for my car.

Thanks again Simon

Steve