How-To: Remove Rear Deck & Third Brake Light

[Juan@aePerformance]

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

I'm interested in seeing this. Will you do a DIY?

out of laziness probably not, but if it comes out sweet I'll post pics.

[Grimlock]

Is this how tint shops get the third brake light out of the way to tint the rear window?

[sirus]

Wow... that took less than 10 minutes. I can see that puting everything back may take a bit longer though.

Just FYI: To remove the air bag cover panels push down on the center tab (top and bottom alternatively) of the blue "hangers". This will get them out of your way. Not sure about anyone else but they were in my way and just a general pain in the @ss.

Thanks again for the DIY!

[sirus]

Originally Posted by TrickyFrenchman

And not to hijack this thread, but how are "tinters" dealing with the automatic windows when opening the door if one is to not roll down your windows for several days?

Apparently the guy doing mine says he has to use a heat gun or something to help cure the tint so opening and closing the door doesn't affect the tinting and cause bubbles. I can let you know how mine goes tomorrow

[ATL BRZ]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

I just tugged it out from the sides.

BUT! It looks like this method exposes the bolts for the rear seatbelt reels. I was thinking I'd have to remove the rear seats to get those panels free. Good to know!

Originally Posted by DarrenDriven

I ended up just removing the top section of the third brake light and that was enough room to allow the tinters to do their job.

Originally Posted by TrickyFrenchman

So the top of the brake light just pops off, as in clips on? Tinting is in the future for me, and I was wondering how to deal with this without tearing apart the whole deck.

Getting mine tinted tomorrow, would love some more detail on how to get the 3rd brake light out of the way easily without removing the entire decklid and all the associated interior panels. Specifically, how to remove just the top section as DarrenDriven did, that should give my tinter enough room to do his job.

[ATL BRZ]

Nevermind... Found the method in another thread.

Originally Posted by Kwaziekeller

It's pretty easy to pop the top portion of the 3rd brake light assembly off, so if you're bored and want to see if your LED's are burned out too, it should only take a few seconds...

Disconnect the 3rd brake light plug in the trunk.
Push up on one of the corners of the assembly, just above the "seam" of the 2 plastic pieces on the "front" (towards the front of the car). There are 2 snaps (one in each corner) that will pop apart.
Once you pop one corner, pop the other.
You'll have to lift the "front" portion slightly and pull it towards the front of the car, being careful with the wires etc.
The "rear" part of the top half of the assembly has two tabs that slide into the bottom half, so putting it back together can be a little tricky, but just reverse the steps.

From another forum:

the 3rd brake light can come apart in 2 pieces. at the seam push up and then slide back and unplug. when putting it back on put the front end down first as there are 2 tabs it has to slide under to fit right

[g0lden]

i lost a clip on each side :-(

[captain_jack]

Tinters are just pulling out the door pin switch to stop them from going down while door is open. Its a negative trigger door pin. Removing it solves the moving issue while its being tinted.

[tm86]

Thank you @Moshpit37, your guide helped me remove my parcel shelf

I managed to skip a few steps by not removing the smaller triangle shaped panel. I removed the 10mm bolt but not the white panel clips. With the bolt removed there is just enough leeway to wiggle the parcel shelf out.

[Chinadian]

Originally Posted by DarrenDriven

I tried to get my rear deck out when my car was getting tinted, and I lost TWO plastic "popits" in the interior of the car somewhere. I was furious! Luckily, I was a block from a Toyota dealer and they had some near-exact matches at the parts desk.

I ended up just removing the top section of the third brake light and that was enough room to allow the tinters to do their job.

Great writeup, I am adding it to the DIY Directory right now...
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7365

How do you just remove the top section of brake light?

[GTS 86]

Help, trim clips fell down as per your warning (didn't know what you meant at first) and are out of my reach inside the chassis, how do I get them out (

[jimmillion]

Not my video but it looks like it belongs here.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHwhM5UWpZU"]How to remove third brake light Subaru BRZ 2012 - YouTube[/ame]

[AG3NT_5CARFAC3]

Awesome video! Thank you! I am going to remove the third break light and put some dynamat inside there and see if it will stop some rattling on the rear window

[JPxM0Dz]

Originally Posted by tm86

Thank you @Moshpit37, your guide helped me remove my parcel shelf

I managed to skip a few steps by not removing the smaller triangle shaped panel. I removed the 10mm bolt but not the white panel clips. With the bolt removed there is just enough leeway to wiggle the parcel shelf out.

Good to know