G8 High Mount Brake Light LED Replacement Bulbs (Yes, Really!)
So here's the problem, which surely we've all seen before:
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And the LED Strip alone, out of the Housing:
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When looking through the Light Bulb Threads here and elsewhere, I kept finding that nobody had actually found replacement bulbs for the High Mount Brake Light, any lists I've seen simply say, "LED STRIP, ORDER FROM DEALER" or something similar. After my Local GM Dealer pointed out that the Replacement LED Strip is over $140.00 these days, and the labor to install it is a few hours (as they say the Headliner needs to come down), I decided to see what I could source for myself. The good news is, that LightHouseLEDs (.com) has these hard-to-find 4-pin PIRANHA Superflux 5mm 4-pin RED LEDs in stock, for a mere $0.22 ea! (And the headliner only needs to come down a little bit to get to the LED Strip!)
CLICK HERE FOR A DIRECT LINK TO THE HIGH MOUNT BRAKE LIGHT REPLACEMENT LED WEBPAGE!
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From experience, although the LED strip only has 16 lights on it, I would suggest purchasing about 30 LEDs when doing this project, as they are very cheap (c'mon, $0.22 ea.!), and there is a high probability that if you only order 20 (4 extra), 5 will not work when they arrive!
Here's the rub: the solder work required to do this mod is fairly cramped and precise, being done by machine at the factory where solder points can be placed very close together. When it came time to actually do the work, I chickened out and brought the strip and LEDs to a local computer repair shop, and had the 16 LEDs removed and replaced for me (That's 64 points off, 64 points on), at a cost of $50. So with 30 LEDs purchased for $6.60 along with USPS first class mail shipping of $2.49, which arrived only 3 days later, my total cost to fix the lights was just under $60! Talk about a deal!
Hope this information saves some folks a few dollars, I know I was happy about it!
NOTE:
For those of you who are considering this repair, one more piece of advice: The key markings on the actual breadboard itself onto which the LEDs are soldered, that is, the white lines that show you in which position to place the LEDs on the board before soldering, MAY NOT BE CORRECT. A Multi-meter is a necessity here, as I found that the Piranha LEDs were polarized BACKWARDS from the Key markings showing how to place them. Observe your "+" and "-" on the LEDs and you should have no problems. If you can't figure out which side is which, a 9v battery as shown works just fine.
Good Luck!
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