Third Brake Light Replacement

EViS · Post by **EViS** » Mon Aug 19, 2019 10:53 am

The third brake light seems to be detaching itself on the near-side of my e85. Is this just a broken clip/loose bracket or does the entire light unit need replacing?

If a replacement is necessary, BMW charge approximately £65 for a clear lens and £97 for the red one which is currently fitted. Any issues with opting for the clear lens? Or do most people buy non-oem for under half the price?

G600 · Post by **G600** » Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:06 am

I bought the £25 Chinese one, no problems with it (fitted for about 6 months), it's held in place by 3 nuts and springs, you can buy weaker springs from BMW that are supposed to stop it breaking again.

ERX · Post by **ERX** » Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:15 am

A lot of people seem to like the clear lens. I had the same issue as you with it coming away. After taking the light out, it snapped in half, so I've ordered a non-oem clear light off ebay for £25. The original one seems low quality and breaks itself so I feel like the cheaper one can't be any worse.

oldgitdave · Post by **oldgitdave** » Mon Aug 19, 2019 3:16 pm

I bought a non-oem clear one from eBay & it is crap. It came withe the wrong plug fitted so I had to solder the plug from the original. Once I fitted it both ends stuck out a mile, it was almost straight. Plugged it in & it didn't work, though it did if I applied 12v. Thought it was a polarity issue so reversed the contacts, still nothing

.
Gave up & bought a genuine BMW clear one, it fits so much better & more importantly it works

. £56.95 on eBay from prenticeportadown BMW.

wonkydonkey · Post by **wonkydonkey** » Mon Aug 19, 2019 9:47 pm

oldgitdave wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2019 3:16 pm I bought a non-oem clear one from eBay & it is crap. It came withe the wrong plug fitted so I had to solder the plug from the original. Once I fitted it both ends stuck out a mile, it was almost straight. Plugged it in & it didn't work, though it did if I applied 12v. Thought it was a polarity issue so reversed the contacts, still nothing .
Gave up & bought a genuine BMW clear one, it fits so much better & more importantly it works . £56.95 on eBay from prenticeportadown BMW.

My cheapo eBay came with the wrong plug too. Quick look at the original BMW light and the connector can be removed. So I swapped connectors over (took about 1.5 minutes) and all was well

ERX · Post by **ERX** » Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:28 am

Fitted mine yesterday, had the same issues with the connector. Didn't realise you can swap the connector over and my dad soldered the old connector onto the new one for me. It didn't seem to fit at first but it just slid in fine in the end and we siliconed round the sides just to make sure water doesn't get in.

It's all working good now, no issues with the light itself not coming on. Hopefully this one won't snap for a while, I realised my old light was December 2016 from the stamp on it and I'm pretty sure it was the OEM one.

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