DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

What options are people using for a central brake light mounted in the rear window? Is there a go-to setup? I think they are pretty much essential these days.

Neil

I used a rectangular FIA led rain light on a bracket. My DDK 'friends' have been taking the pi** ever since. I think Ralph used a small round rain light and posted pictures on here.

could try something like this - thin strip either top or bottom in rear window - hide wires under rubber trim.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/king-future? ... 7675.l2563

Some people place a LED brake light strip in the central vent slot above the rear window - puts the light up high and keeps the rear window clear of clutter.

Would that work for your car?

map wrote:Some people place a LED brake light strip in the central vent slot above the rear window - puts the light up high and keeps the rear window clear of clutter.

Would that work for your car?

What is the routing for the wires if you do it this way do you know?

I started this ages ago but have yet to get round to finishing it - recently acquired an all red lens too.

It's been powder coated satin black and has been in the passenger footwell for the last 6 months!



I did originally think about using one of these:



Bought one off of German Ebay and then changed my mind.

DamianF wrote:

map wrote:Some people place a LED brake light strip in the central vent slot above the rear window - puts the light up high and keeps the rear window clear of clutter.

Would that work for your car?

What is the routing for the wires if you do it this way do you know?

It’s on my list of jobs but from what I’ve seen on other cars it’s a case of being able to access the relevant area behind the roof liner. Bringing the wires up shouldn’t be a big problem - I’d run mine up behind the trim/liner on the C pillars or behind the window seals. Access to install the LED unit will be a pain unless you’ve got reason to be working in that area anyway.

Why not make your existing brakes lights brighter?
led can dazzle and the sharpness of illumination sends a sharper message to those too close behind you.

LED brake lights here https://www.hids-direct.co.uk/categorie ... e-and-tail

The lights are quite low and with SUVs and off roaders that seem to be everywhere now, I think having a third light higher up is a good idea. Brighter leds may help but a third light higher up makes sense. There are a few people on here that have done this. Some have added a third light that sits on the parcel shelf and should be fairly simple to route and hide the wiring. I think it was Andy who made a high level brake light for the roof vent, which looked very neat and discreet. I wanted something high up too so went for something at the top of the rear screen. I asked Gary Cook to run the wiring with the rear heater screen element wiring through the rear screen rubber when this was being installed. Since I have a sunroof car, the ground was run to the the sunroof motor. The light unit I planned to fit was led so thin gauge wiring was fine. You could, of course, run the wiring up the c-pillar which would probably be a lot easier. I’ll update my restoration thread soon to include this.
Kind regards
Gitesh

If you're putting a rear-facing light on the parcel shelf or high up on the rear window (especially if a LED ight cluster), just be aware of the potential for the reflections from that light on the rear screen to dazzle or distract you in the rear view mirror.

I have a rain light/3rd brake light combo at the top of the rear window in my race car, and it needs a cowl around it else the whole of the back of the screen and parcel shelf lights up bright red every time it comes on, which I find very distracting. Nice idea to put somthing in the roof vent, as this should also keep most of the reflections out of the cabin.

If placing something behind the rear screen, I would recommend to make a small cowl around whatever light you choose, profiled to fit snug to the curvature of the screen so that no light bleeds back into the car.

MikeyC wrote:If you're putting a rear-facing light on the parcel shelf or high up on the rear window (especially if a LED ight cluster), just be aware of the potential for the reflections from that light on the rear screen to dazzle or distract you in the rear view mirror.

I did wonder if it may cause reflection but I thought that I would wait and see when I eventually fitted it. I have 2 uprated LED festoon lamps for mine so it will be nice and bright and hopefully not too much reflection.

Form before function with mine!

https://bearmach.com/led-high-level-sto ... eCEALw_wcB

These are small and light enough to glue clips onto, which could then be folded over and fitted into the top of the rear screen rubber. It would then just be a case of routing the wire through to the brake light circuit?

Finally got round to fitting the high level brake lamp. With 2 LED lamps you don't appear to get too much reflection.



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