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I have my new OEM brake light holder, housing and clips, i have had the car apart and cannot see how the clips are fastened into the car, are they on sticky pads??. If anyone could take a piccy i would really appreciate this. It does look cool and is an excellent fit against the glass, but how it it held up.
Cheers
graham
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.--:Albert Einstein
Strange that it doesn't come with any fitting instructions. Is this a Hella item?
Perhaps you could contact them for some instructions.
How much was it Graham? I've been thinking about getting one of these for a while myself.
I do seem to recall that there was two different reaer glasses listed, depending on whether the third brake light was an option or not. Possibly just the heated elements are routed slightly differently? Who knows.
The light is an OEM one from Audi, and the main component comes in 4 parts. The bulb Holder, the lense and the 2 metal clips which it clips into, but i cannot suss out where the metal clips fit into the tailgate
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.--:Albert Einstein
er Audi don't make car parts.
Hella, Cibie, Valeo and Siema are OEM Origininal equipment Manufacturers for automotive lighting.
Thats why I asked if they are Hella items. Only trying to help.
Yep, that's exactly what Graham's asking about. If you look in my first post, you can see I quoted the name Hella and and termed it as a "third brake light".
Can you give him some pointers as to how this is fitted please?
PS. I didn't know this were standard fitment in the U.S, very interesting
A few pics would be champion .
Sorry for any mis-understanding, but i havnt examined the light for manufacturers marks and the parts came individually, it is the only one listed in ETKA for the coupe, and came packaged up in VW/AUDI/SEAT packaging without instructions. it appears to be the small adhesive pads which hold the rear view mirror in place. I will look on the 3M website for some black sticky pads as the clips are silver and stand out as mile in the window, i want these to blend into the black border around the window.
graham
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.--:Albert Einstein
Graham I hope you can see the third lite (circled) as mounted on USA cars (this on my CQ).
You can also see the boat anchor for a rear bumper we have to deal with here. Insurance Companies have a huge influence on our Highway Dept.
I have just fitted mine , it was a lot easier than i thought it would be .
1)Remove spare wheel and jack
2)Fold back trim along the back edge of the boot to gain access to side trim
3)Peel out and fold forward the side trim to expose the factory alarm and autocheck unit for rear lights
4)In the haynes manual for the coupe believe it or not is a wiring diagram of the circuit.
5)If you want to do it properly you buy the relay (£50 ish) and the harness(£40ish) and an array of other bits- I wanted cheap but working properly without triggering the autocheck.
6)The 1mm Red and Black signal wire from the brake pedal switch goes into the Auto check unit from the backside and is not monitored so a 12v feed from this cable will not trigger the autocheck, not the plug closest to the front of the car as this feeds the rear clusters and is monitored.
7)Remove the trim on the tailgate (the top panel where the light will be and the panel which runs down the left hand side of the glass).
8)In the shape of the plastic cast of the boot is a groove which the cable (1mm 2 core)will run down, held in place with sticky tape-thats all Audi use to hold the de-mister and wiper cables.
9)Undo the grommet pipe at both ends where the cables go from the car body to the tailgate and feed the cable for the 3rd brake light through the tailgate following the path of the de-mister cables.
10)Using a piece of 1mm wire , fold the wire with a 6" fold. (so the wire has a 180˚ bend in it folding back along itself 6 ") Carefully push the folded wire through the connecting pipe following the path of the cables going in from the car body end of the pipe.
11)Once the wire is showing thread your cable 6" through the loop formed by the 180˚ fold in the wire and carefully pull the 3rd brake light cable through the rubber tube so it is now ready to go into the car body.
12)Behind the OEM car alarm is a large void which leads up the pillar to where the cables come out of the car body work to enter the tailgate, i tried to just feed the cable down by hand but there seems to be too many obstacles in there as it wasnt having any of it. So i used the 1mm wire with the loop on the end and fed it up the pilar from behind the car alarm and pulled it through the hole in the bodywork where the cables come out.
13)Once again i looped the 3rd brake light cable through the loop in the wire and pulled the wire down into the boot.
14)I unplugged the plugs going into the Autocheck unit and using a multimeter found the cable which FEEDS the autocheck unit when the brake pedal is pressed. BE CAREFULL AS THE MONITORED WIRE COMING OUT OF THE AUTOCHECK IS THE SAME COLOUR AS THE UN-MONITORED FEED WIRE GOING INTO THE AUTOCHECK. this is why i unplugged and tested with a multimeter to see which cable was live whe the brake was pressed.
15)I tapped into the feed wire about 6" before the plug with one of the strands from the 3rd brake light using sheilded crimps. (I always use the striped wire as a positive)
16)Now put a crimp lug onto the remaining strand from the 3rd light and find a suitable earth point (i used the screws which hold the autocheck in place)
17) Do some continuity tests to ensure that the connections are sound with virtually no resistance, the striped cable for the brake light where it is coming out of the tailgate has a 12v feed when the pedal is pressed, and that you have a good earth on the return line.
18) Re-fit all of the trim and rebuild the car so you should be left with just a cable hanging out of the top trim on the tailgate. DONT FORGET TO RE-ATTACH THE PIPE FROM THE BODY TO THE TAILGATE OR YOU WILL GET A HELLUVA LEAK WHEN IT RAINS
19) Put some tiny sheilded crimps onto the ends of the cables which are small enough to sit below the level of the light when fixed in place
20) Find the exact centre of the window and using a permanant marker mark the outside of the window not the inside as the elements could be damaged.
21)Build up the light but leave it disconnected and fit the metal clips into the light which hold the sticky pads
22)Find the centre of the light and line the centre of the light to the mark you put on the outside of the window and find the best position for the light and have a freind (or bluetack in my case) hold it in place.
23)Shut the boot and mark on the outside with marker pen where the metal feet which hold the STICKY PADS in place line up, draw a rectangle around them both.
24)Open the boot, remove the light and stick your sticky pads on the window where your marks are.
25)Remove the backside of the sticky pads and stick the metal feet to them lining up with the marks on the window.
26)Fasten the cables to the light fitting (presuming you have fit the bulbs) and slide the light fitting onto the feet and hey presto you have a 3rd brake light.
27) Wash off the permanant marker using soap, IPA, scouring pad, etc
Good right up there Graham, perhaps this could be moved to the Guides and Top-Tips section by one of the mods?
I didn't realise that the light is mounted on the glass, I imagined it would have fitted on the upper trim piece of the tailgate. Can you show us a pic of the install for the curious amongst us?
Once fitted there isnt a great deal to see as the install is very tidy, here is a picture from the outside, i have just taken it, when it stops raining i rill unclip the light to show how it is mounted.
Graham
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, it was a lot easier than i thought it would be 
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