I have been working on getting some LED upgrades done on my 8 (thank you to all contributors on the many great threads on the subject), and I stumbled across the ZOMK / X3 Racing LED 3rd Brake Light kit on eBay. I hadn't seen too much about the 3rd brake light, other than the masking jobs and a few other blurbs, so this caught my eye. I did a few searches on the site and didn't get any real results, so my apologies if I missed something and this thread is redundant.

Does anyone have any input on this setup? It seems pretty affordable, about $50 shipped, and I watched their little installation video and it seems extremely basic. However, there's some concerns I have.

First, it seems to be the exact same product under two brand names - that just sort of raises a warning flag to me. Second, they do not include the adapter (the video points out it is $.50 at your local Autozone), and for $50, why not just include it and be done with it?

Also, I just don't like how the shipping is $16 or so on a little piece. Sometimes I feel like they do that with cheap (poorly made) products in order to pad their profits a little bit by dinging you on shipping.

Finally, I have read that replacing the 3rd brake light with LEDs will cause some problems with warnings from the car (I think people said it causes the ABS light to come on?), and it can be remedied with resistors, but they make no mention in the installation video. Is that another thing I need to be aware of?

Link: LED 3rd Brake Light

Any input is welcome - I may just cowboy up and buy it, and if I do, I'll be sure to keep everyone updated. Cheers!

 

Its a nice light.. That is the LED brake light that a huge group buy got.. Install is very easy and the only thing you have to do is use your OEM gasket for a better fitment.. here is a pick of mine when I installed it..

 

You will only get an error (and need a load resistor) if you have LEDs for both taillights + 3rd brake light. Just replacing the 3rd brake light requires no load resistor.

Mine:

 

Be careful though, a person on here had major troubles with the seller. It's in the Good/Bad guy section...

I have that light and it still looks and works great

 

Here's the original group buy thread

https://www.rx8club.com/group-buy-center-85/offical-new-rx8-led-brake-light-group-buy-162403/

And here's the bad guy thread

https://www.rx8club.com/good-guy-bad-guy-74/bad-guy-beware-lxlxlxl_saki_lxlxlxl-racer-union-com-spyderauto-com-x3racing-c-166615/

 

dont buy from x3racing they stole a picture of my car and put it on their website to sell this break light.

 

All, thanks for the responses. I do plan on eventually putting LEDs in for my brake lights, so perhaps I will just wait until I am doing that to take care of the 3rd light as well. I've spent too much money lately, so it will have to wait a month or two, but I'll get to it eventually ... probably.

I still don't like the way they're selling it through so many different names, and it sounds like somebody got the royal shaft from them in the group buy, but it sounds like it's working fine for most people and for $40, it might be worth a try. Thanks again for the feedback.

 

can anyone shed some light on the issue with instaling the resistor, i installed the led brake light as well as led tail lights....anyone have information on what resistor is needed and how to instal it?

 

I DIDNT needed resistors for my LED brake/tail light, I DID for my LED turn signal bulbs..the third brake light doesnt need one. You can pick up basic LED resistors (looks like a rectangle chunk of ceramic with a wire coming out of both ends), and just have the + wire connect to one end and the other end goes to whatever your powering.
Heres my input on the ebay led 3rd brake..I ordered it off ebay for 45 bucks shipped, got it in 4 days, and it literally took me 5-10 minutes to install it. Quality looks great to me, and its lasted so far without a problem. Basically cut the brake light wire, match the + and - and pop it in place with the OEM gasket.

 

oh ho, i want my tails/turn/3rd brake lights to be leds T_T..
gotta work!

 

ok thanks, any info on the specific resistor which is needed, ohm/power specifications?

 

No resistor is needed for having taillights/brake lights + 3rd brake all LED

For 2 LED turn signal bulbs you'll need these:
http://www.v-leds.com/BlinkerWarning...83296-1-3.html

For all 4 LED turn signal bulbs you'll need these (you just need two resistors, not one at each bulb):
http://www.v-leds.com/BlinkerWarning...79822-1-3.html

 

i installed tail + 3rd and now my dsc and abs lights show up on the dash, and its not just a warning they seem to be disabled...i learned this when the rear let loose while doing a fast u turn....kinda scary when you are expecting the skid to correct you out.

this only happens once i turn the headlights on (im asusming since the tail lights turn on as-well as the 3rd brake light)

 

What bulbs are you using in your taillights? I've got all LEDs and this doesn't happen to me, but they are high power LEDs so maybe they are drawing enough power so the car doesn't see them as a bulb out.

When I got my taillight bulbs from V-LEDS, they said I may need resistors and suggested these:
http://www.v-leds.com/BlinkerWarning...81145-1-3.html
but I ended up not needing them.

 

I also got the LED 3rd brake light and the VLEDs (tail/brake lights) that Aipex8 recommended. No problems at all. No load resistors, either.

 

i got the tails from rx8 strakes.com and the 3rd brake light is the one which is from the GB, which replaces the entire 3rd brake light unit

oh i also have led's in my clear corners as well f that makes a difference

 

You may want to contact RX8Strakes about it as I don't really know to much about their LEDs as they don't really give any specs about them on their site. I've seen a few threads about weird problems after installing their LEDs though, maybe they can help.

 

will do i appreciate your help :-)

if anyone else has any ideas feel free to chime in :-)

 

Geez! All the while, I thought that they really include the adapter. Does anybody know about the shipping costs to Fargo?

 

ok my question, i bought the exact same brake light. Mine does work when I brake. However, I installed an "RX-8" decal on it before I installed it and the LED's are not producing enough light to show the RX-8 image. when i look at the light I can see each individual LED light instead of one bright display. Is this normal? Do I need more power? is it wired correctly? I want the RX-8 to be seen perfectly.

 

typical of leds