No dudettes went the way of the dinosaurs...

 

I have clears, and have been stopped twice by city police for not having any red reflectors. I spoke with Lyle (Vinyl Styles) and he's going to wrap the outer edge in reflective red vinyl. He's travelling, so it will be a couple of weks, but I'll post pics when he's done. It's going to be just a thin edge, but it will get the police to back off. The other option is to drive with lights on during the day........................

 

That is what I have been doing, been working so far.....
fingers crossed

kinda like manual day time running lights
i kinda like that as it does make the car more visible to suvs etc
the 3rd brake light pulsar can't hurt either lol
and i wired the rear fogs to the brake lights lmao
kinda like a x-mas tree when i hit the brakes...

anyway back on topic

 

Ive never had any problems with my lights or mods in general when i get pulled over. My registration tages even said May 06 and the May was unreadable. I finally put the current tags on in March 09. Ive gotten pulled over approx. 30 times in that time frame with nothing mentioned....

 

I have been told by the Police that my lights are not legal 3 times, but never have gotten written up yet I too drive with my running lights and I also turn on my fog lights during the day. I have been thinking of cutting in some red reflectors into the lower grills. PureWorks post some pics of Lyles handi work when your done, he is close to me and this could be an option. Thanks.

 

Will do. BTW, all of my M7 grills, and my spillter I purchased from Steve at Custommini........great guy!

 

 

How about for 2005 MCS's? I know our local MINI dealership had dealer installed clear tails, but just not for 05's. They told me the wiring in the 05 was different compared to the ones previous and the ones after (01-04 and 06). :-\

I'm just looking for slightly better/whiter looking tail light covers, kind of like the LED tail lights from that one pic...

Any help would be awesome. I'm a total n00b at any kind of mods, so might need my hand held. Thanks!

 

wow cops dont even look at my car for my clear taillights or 5% tint or exhaust. nothing, i guess they arent worrying about MINIs in MN. They go after SUVs mainly.

 

The only option for 05 for clear tailights would be to either put on 02-04 tailights and retro fit the reverse down to the bumper, or get the LED ones.

 

OK, so I just gotta get LED lights that are for 2005 2006 R53's then, cuz the reverse lights are part of the tail lights for those and I won't have to re-wire anything then!

One more question... How do I remove the tail lights for the R53 (2005)? Is there a DIY guide? ...Is it the same as the R56 DIY guide for tail light removal?

 

I have some too!!

Before:


After:

 

Classy looking. Now finish it off with a white 3rd brake light and it'll be perfect.

 

If I may, I'd caution you all against doing the "3rd Brake Light Mod". I did this, following the easy instructions on Motoringfile, and it looked great.

2 years later, my rear bulbs started staying on all the time, EVEN WITH THE KEY OUT OF THE IGNITION!

Worse yet, they were on at like 200% brightness. This drained my battery so fast, that I had to disconnect it anywhere I went. Well, turns out that my "body control module" was fried. This is a very expensive repair, (north of $1000). Luckily, my car was still under warranty, and my MINI dealership covered it. They don't know what caused it to go, but they did warn me that it would not be replaced for free again, even if it was still under warranty. I promptly removed the jumpers used in the 3rd brake light mod, and haven't reinstalled them since then.

(Nor have I had any reoccurrence of the problem).

This wire jumper plays tricks with your BC-1 body control module. Don't do that; it'll cost you!

 

Thanks for the heads up..

 

I know this post is from April but I just noticed the "30 times" and I was floored...

How do you get pulled over 30 times?

 

Jonnieoh: Interesting. No jumper I remember with the clear 3rd brake light. Plugged in with matching connector. Did you do the pulsating 3rd brake light mod? I've had no interest in the pulsating thing. Just a replacement clear lens with red LEDs.

I decided to switch to the clear 3rd brake light unit when the OEM red unit's gasket failed and started leaking water down the inside of the boot glass. Prior to that I went to clear tails when the OEM lens starting taking in water leaving impossible to clean water spots.

 

Well my luck ran out Was written up for no rear reflectors and no front license plate In searching on google this morning this thread came up PureWorks, did you ever do that tail light mod from Lyle?

 

Hey Jonnieoh, are you referring to the 3rd brake light mod which Gominigo sells here: http://www.gominigo.com/BLK-MINI.html

I was thinking about doing this. I cant stand the ugly plastic insert.

 

Well this is what I came up with I think it came out pretty good. After looking at the back of cars for weeks this is what I liked. I like that they follow the contour of the grill. They are off of a Lexus G470, they are not cheap either

 

What kind of bulbs are you running? I just ordered some "chrome" bulbs that should light up red... but ended up lighting pink

 

They are strictly reflectors. I just needed some red on the back end to keep the Police happy

 

I am bringing this very old buried thread back from 6 feet under. I have the genuine MINI clear tail light kit which came with two ugly reflectors. I have infer that you need to cut the bumper cover to mount the ugly red reflectors. Today I decided to look up the letters of the law, and if I interpret it correctly, they can be mounted as JIMINNI did. For me this is the only acceptable locations for the reflectors.





The side marker reflectors have to be no less than 15" from road surface. But if I read the requirements correctly, the rear reflectors (called reflex reflectors) has no minimum height requirement. It is far from clear however. In the height entry it just say "Do".

location of required equipment excerpt of FMVSS 108


my Mini had the clear tail light installed back in 2004


here is one R50 that is mounted legally

 

Here are the reflex reflectors for R53.2 clear tail light kit. There is a pair of this recessed fitting so the reflectors are vertical when mounted to a curved bumper cover. I cannot tell if they would work when mounted to the faux air vents.






The compound offset angles appears to be just about right upon casual checking.

 

OK. I re-read the document more carefully. It turns out for cars like Mini Table IV is applicable as it is less than 80 inches in width. The height requirement is between 15" and 60" from road surface.