In 1985, the government required all vehicle manufacturers to start installing third brake lights in their vehicles. Starting in 1986, all Mustangs had a third brake light mounted somewhere in the back, high up in the center. By 1999, the design had gotten to the point where the brake light was built into the trunk and was actually a part of the top surface of the trunk. This looked great when the lights were new. It created a problem down the road because the top plastic surface would tend to fade. This is your typical ’99 – ’04 tail light. As you can see, it’s badly faded and even cracked at some places. Models such as the Bullitt, that did not have a wing, are usually even in worse shape. The originals are very hard to find and, if you can find one, they are still quite expensive. Thankfully, the aftermarket has come up with a nice alternative. These upgraded LED third brake lights are available for all ’99 – 04 Mustangs, except for your ’03 and ’04 Cobras. They are available in both a smoked finish as well as an ultra-clear finish and both feature 12 ultra-bright LED lights.

For this installation you’ll need a ¼ inch ratchet, a 10mm deep socket. Although not required, we will suggest needle nose pliers and a flat head screwdriver. Here you can see our original third brake light next to our new LED third brake light. To remove the brake light from the car is very simple. Simply remove the two 10mm nuts, unplug it, it will come right out. You will have to remove this harness and install it into the new third brake light, which is a very simple process. Simply turn the housings and they’ll slide out. The LED light features its own sockets, so you’ll want to remove the bulbs, just from the center four. The outside one stays the same. The LED is designed to plug into the factory light socket. As you can see, this is slightly larger than the light. You may need to crimp these terminals down or open up the spades inside the socket to get it to fit properly. It’s going to be a tight fit because you want to make sure it doesn’t loosen up and cause some lights to go out.

Once you have all your LED’s attached, now you can attach the harness to the new light. Now we’re ready to install our gasket and reinstall our light. Your new gasket has an adhesive backing. Simply remove the backing and install the gasket. You want to reuse your original 10mm mounting nuts. Now you’re ready to install your new brake lights. After placing the lights in place, we want to tighten them back, our two 10mm nuts. Grab the plug. Plug it back into the harness. We’re going to test our light and make sure all of our LEDs are lighting up properly. Our smoked LED third brake light looks great with the smoked taillights on our ’99 GT. Installation is pretty straight forward. It should take you no more than 20 – 25 minutes. You’ll be back on the road in no time.

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Overall Rating: 5/5

• 5 Stars
• 1 Reviews
• Write A Review