3rd brake light fix. maybe overkill. maybe a good idea..

Chris_D

Elite
 Mostly Holland. Sometimes UK.
Having recently bought my first zed, I'm in the process of sorting some of its' existing issues, faults and foibles.

Further down the list was my intention to get the nasty broken 3rd brake light sorted.
So it was off to the stealers yesterday to pick up an original replacement unit which has exactly the same design flaws as the broken one, i.e. made of brittle plastic and a poor fitment interface relative to boot operation.
i.e. the combination of poor quality plastics and the action of closing ones boot will, over time lead to eventual failure, thus completing the component life-cycle.

Reading a few posts indicates to not tighten the 3 fixing nuts as hard as factory setting but to fingertight until the unit is JUST secure enough. I think I read somewhere that weaker upgrade springs are available but my local stealer, Ekris Utrecht didn't know anything about this unsurprisingly.

To augment the risk mitigation against failure from slamming forces I've wrapped the internal 'horizontal' faces in ribbed electrical tape, minimizing hard material contact under slam load (shutting the boot).
It's akin to something basic we do in design engineering where failure mitigation is compensated by vibration/ accelerative load force damping. I've lathered the whole of the internal computer housings in the Eurofighter Typhoon with sorbothane and other load-absorbing high-density composites - luckily there hasn't been a failure yet....

i dont have 3mm sorbothane sheet to hand and i don't think there's enough clearance anyway - so good old electrical tape will have to do! Maybe this will help others with a similar problem/requirement.

Will post update in a few months...or at least a few times where my good ladyfriend Laura has forgot/ignored my repeated polite requests to shut the boot lightly. Something she's done many times previously is slammed the boot so hard its resulted in even a broken windscreen! Suffice to say, this is why addressing this particular problem might not be overkill...at least in my case. Only time will tell...

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Sounds convincing - let us know if it survives the extreme down forces it's going to endure over the months ahead :cry:
 
It is indeed annoying, have had the same problem despite weaker springs. I've even tried adjusting the boot latch but it still doesn't catch every time, maybe that's also something worth looking at.
 
Can't see that making any difference tbh.

Your lady friend looks very nice, but if she is trashing your car then she should not be your friend :lol:

Closing the boot using the centre to push down on probably causes most failures as the distance between the boot lip and light is very thin.
 
it might help. it might not. only time will tell.
I did notice a bead of rubber around the edge of the new one however. the old one doesnt have this so maybe that will help too.
ofc closing gently will help but Lau tends to forget about little things like this.
 
When mine went I glued it, then while it was apart put in a single strip of clear sellotape in the inside of the lens trimming to fit with a sharp scapel. Four years on it still looks like new so job done.... :driving:
 
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