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RE: Custom 3rd Brake Light

5K views 26 replies 4 participants last post by  XxHaimBondxX 
#1 ·
RE: Custom 3rd Brake Light

I plan on attempting to make an overlay for the 3rd brake light on my 2015 Soul this weekend. Any tips on what type of material i should use or what others have used on 1st gens.
Vinyl, tint, or something else.
 
#4 ·
Adding custom overlay to 3rd brakelight today and... I hit a snag. The brakelight housing itself is one piece.

The outside cover is actually glued to the inside grey piece and the rubber seal overlaps this grey piece in some places. I'm not willing to try and part the two. This may allow water to seep between the two and get onto the bulbs/wires.

Going to inspect a little more.
 

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#7 ·
So i went ahead and tried putting the vinyl cutout over the brake light cover. It looked pretty good blacked out, matching the black bumper and rear door trim. The bad part was the vinyl was way to thin (transparent?) so the light was shining through and it looked really bad.

Anyone know where to get some vinyl or something thereof that won't allow the light to bleed through?
 
#11 ·
So i've been testing some vinyl overlays for the 3rd brake light. So far i've got about $25 invested in 3 different vinyls. All of them are too transparent. The brake lights bleed through the vinyls. Contacted a few shops that make them for other makes and models but they are unwilling to make a custom one. They won't even sell me just the vinyl.

One shop said they would sell me a CF square ft but that piece would look totally different from the rest of the car. Another person gave me the advice of painting over it, which i won't do. Gonna keep trying to find some blackout vinyl that doesn't cost $300 a roll.
 
#13 ·
Yes i do have a lit of time on my hands... On the weekends only though.

As for being safety related...i won't mess with the 2 side brake lights, and as far as FL law is concerned I only need *2* operational brake lights.

And it does add some unique-ness to it.
 

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#15 ·
As i said i tried a couple different vinyls with custom lettering like in the below pic. The text came out pretty good w/ the exacto but it bled through.

If you don't mind, can you check if the CF will bleed through? I think that material would look 'off' from the matte black and glossy black on the rear. But i may have to go that route.

OR - can you paint vinyl? Like with a matte black finish?
 

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#19 ·
Haha, that's great.

These are the steps -
Print out custom text.
Place paper w/ custom text on plastic - the plastic of those cheap 3 ring binders.
Place plastic on top of vinyl.

I could use the plastic cutouts but again, trying to get them all on the same level and evenly spaced would be a pain.
 
#20 ·
I'm not sure why you're worried, you just have spread them out along the light somewhat evenly. If you're using the A-L-I-E-N, then just paste the "A" and the "N" first, then then "I" in the middle, followed by the "L" and "E". Maybe I will see it tomorrow morning as something impossible, but for me right now, the most difficult thing is to cut the letters. I have this so far on the first try.

out
 
#23 ·
Homedepot or Lowes sells plastidip spray black or red for $5.99. Weird, when you quoted my post, the pic showed up too.

How's this? View attachment 76201
That is weird. I mostly view on mobile, but even now on my laptop it doesn't show. The last one does, just not the first.

Hey! Since you have CF is it possible for you to see if light bleeds through? I did say that CF would look different from the other parts but it may actually look better than matte or gloss black.
 
#24 ·
Sorry I left you hanging, had to do a few thing outside. My cf did bleed a bit when I covered my LED torch. I don't think the red brake light is as powerful, so it may not bleed at all. Cf looks great anywhere, so I doubt it has to match other body panels. Still like that idea, but the brake light is so narrow, the letters would have to be very small, so not so sure it's worth it.
 
#25 ·
So after a few hours of cutting out and testing the look of different text and after one DOOOOPE! moment I got it done.

The CF was pretty easy to work with once heated. Application around the rear sprayer was hell and if you are actually looking for it there is a crease and I stretched the CF a bit too much.

I started it around midnight so i'll have to see how it looks in the daylight. I'm a little blind at night but standing about 50ft away i can make it out. And seeing how the actual cutouts don't affect the bulbs you can still see the 3rd brake light the regular distance. Now if a cop stops me for it i am ready to argue my case. I extensively read up on the FL statutes.

And a big THANK YOU to
for helping me out.
 
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