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Brake Light Kit Installation

You have the choice between a video and a written guide. 
Or both. Or none (not recommended).

Video Guide

Written Guide

General Information

The whole process may take 10-20 minutes.
It's perfectly feasible to do this alone; a helper to assist is more comfortable, though,

I am not liable in case something goes wrong or gets damaged.

Requirements


- the Kit
- Flat head screwdriver
- Drill
- Drill bit ~10mm (slightly smaller also works but is not optimal)
- wrench
- optionally some tape (for convenience, I did not use it) 

Mobirise

Useful side note:

For all who fix their racing harnesses on the upper Isofix mount or plan to do it (the discussion whether that mounting point makes sense nonwithstanding):
Since the removal of the retainer screws works really badly - doubly so when a harness is installed - the screws can be modified to simplify the process. I did this trick when I had the screws removed but it may theoretically also be done prior, when they're still installed.
The tip of the screw is simply a straight cylinder without thread. You can see this from the trunk as the screws are hanging freely in the trunk without any use.
So, by cutting/filing a small groove into that cylinder you can then use a flat head screwdriver to loosen/tighten the screw.
That done you should still use a wrench for initial loosening/final tightening and after that just use the screwdriver to get the screw in/out all the way.

Difference:
without groove - 10 minutes of cursing, hitting your head, sweat and fumbling around
with groove - 30 seconds work, there are more comfy tasks in the world

Hatrest Removal

From the trunk, unplug the third brake light plug.
Fold the rear seats down and take a seat.

Firstly, grab onto the upper part of the brake light and pull it towards you. It should pop right off the lower part and make removal of the hatrest far easier. 

Now for the annoying hatrest removal itself:
Since there are already plenty of guides for that I'd like to keep this short - if this part of the guide isn't elaborate enough I apologize, please refer to one of the various other guides on this particular matter.

Remove the four nipples behind the rear seats with a screwdriver or tool. 
Aside from the 4 clips removed earlier the hatrest is only held by wedging at the sides and 4 clips on the underside of the hatrest. Those have to be removed by pushing the hatrest upward.
Two of those you should get when pushing the hatrest upward in the middle and the second pair is close to the C-pillars on each side. So push the hatrest up on each side until those nipples pop out.
Removing the hatrest, in my opinion, goes well if you push the hatrest upward at about 20cm distance to the C-pillar (don't worry, if it folds in on itself a little there will not be lasting or visible damage)
For later: Reinstallation goes mostly the other way around.
You may leave the car with the hatrest tucked under your arm now.

Mobirise

Hatrest modifications

Turn the hatrest bottoms-up.
The light's lower part is welded to the hatrest in various places. Those welds have to be drilled open. An 8mm bit is technically the smallest practical size but you may have to use some force to pull off the lower part.
I used a 10mm drill bit and highly recommend it,

After successfully drilling the welds open (don't worry, the hatrest can take a small beating) you should hold the light's lower part in your hands. You may now finally throw that hated bit away.

Make sure that the drilled holes are relatively clean and even, you don't have to put in too much effort to clear non-drilled-away bits though.

There's a plastic bracket glued to the hatrest which is now not really very well affixed. 
You should now also install the blind plugs in the drilled holes furthest towards the front of the car and furthest outside. 

Just push them in from above, they should fit already. You may, however, use the supplied SMALL washers to bring some more rigidity into the system in case the hole got a little large.

Guide them in first, then hold in place while wiggling the small washers down on the clips until you've reached the bottom. I used a tong I had lying around for this because it gave me a better hold on the washer, you may also just do this with two thumbs. Please note I did not touch the clip with the tong.

Mobirise






Then shorten the plastic clips a little. Otherwise, they'll press strongly against the metal of the car's body once reinstalled and might hamper proper fitment.

Now for the Kit install.

Mobirise

Brake Light Modification

Firstly get the screws through the holes in the sheet metal.

You may want to put the nuts on lightly to facilitate install. I did not do that because I've got some routine in the install by now. It's just a nice aid.

The only issue will be the one single screw that's located furthest toward the vehicle's front. One may temporarily fixate it wit a bit of tape but I find that a little pressure on the thread was enough so it wouldn't fall in when mounting the sheet metal.

Mobirise

As you'll need to turn around the whole array next, the screws will have a tendency to fall out.
You may use some tape on the screw heads to prevent this but I find it sufficient to grab the threaded ends in one hand and switch everything over this way. This wedges the screws enough so they don't fall through. Once the sheet is lying on the light the twin screws will stay nicely in place but you may want to keep wedging the lone screw on the other side.

Get the light's cable through the opening of the bracket. 

Place the sheet metal on the upper part of the light so that the cutouts for the side flaps are lying right on the light's plastic flaps as pictured.

Then first push the bracket into the upper part of the brake light on the left and then on the right side (or vice versa). Once that's done, push the bracket "up" into the plastic frame.

Mobirise


This is how the sheet metal bracket is supposed to sit once properly in place.

Those plastic "wedges" of the light got a control function. You'll know you've done right if they overlap with the bracket as pictured.
Early in the process, when you removed the upper paart of the brake light from its socket, you may have accidentially torn off one or both of those plastic wedges. Don't worry about that, it happened to me too - they're entirely optional.

The principal fixation comes from the entire edge of the upper part holding the sheet metal. 

Mobirise



Though he kit as it is now will not slide so easily, in order to guarantee a safe fit both windows in the bracket will have to be bent down inside the light. For that you may use the flathead screwdriver again.

BTW it's not recommended to forget the screws as the windows can be bent back open again but that's not a pleasant task. So in any case, remember the screws.

Mobirise



I found that bending the windows down to approximately a 60° angle works pretty well.


This is how things should look like when all is done (and you didn't cheat with a different nut in order to take a decent picture).


The upper part of the brake light now posesses a bomb-proof socket and can be remounted.

Mobirise

This is how it should look, remark the blind plugs in front where there's a now-unused part of the socket.

Once you've got the nuts loosely on all screws, begin tightening with the screw in "front". It'd be best to look under the light from the "back", push the light to the "front" and tighten the nut until the sheet metal just ever so slightly starts to warp.

Then let that one be, tighten the other two nuts while checking that the light sits straight on the hatest.


You might have noticed the pair of screws pushing the plastic of the light upwards slighly. That's a feature as otherwise the plastic in that area will hang down and leave an unpleasant gap between light and plastic shell visible from outside.

Mobirise

I've fastened the nuts just so far that the screws were still pressing on the plastic.

You might have noticed the pair of screws pushing the plastic of the light upwards slighly. That's a feature as otherwise the plastic in that area will hang down and leave an unpleasant gap between light and plastic shell visible from outside.

Fasten the nuts until the sheet metal starts warping slightly while controlling from the front. Double check the light's alignment on the hatrest.

Afterwards, just reinstall the hatrest. Plug the cable back in, done.

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