Recommend replacement 3rd brake light? Dorman any good?

[HiHoeSilver]

Funny thing, Amazon seems to think it won't fit my '04 Suburban.

Also turns out I actually ordered the one recommended by Shreksbrother:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007TXZ48Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_dp_oEUjAbKKFEE9A

Either way, I think it will work fine.

When I click it now or says it won't fit mine either, lol. Whichever one you got will be good, I'm sure. At least it's a cheap part.

 

[Jesus Lopez]

So the 3rd brake light (AKA Center High Mount Stop Light or CHMSL for short) doesn't work on my 'Burb. I can't remember if it ever worked (hard to check when I'm the only one who drives it!) but it definitely doesn't work now.

I pulled the light out and checked the circuit to make sure it was getting power. Sure enough, 12v are visible at the light plug so that means it's got to be the light.

O'Reilly and Auto Zone want something like $65 for a replacement, which seems redonkulus to me. I see there are various ones on Amazon for around $25 but they have really spotty reviews. Seems like the quality on these cheap replacement parts is hit-or-miss.

This one from Dorman is about $40.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TYQB14/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=II1OSZGISYM4G&colid=29PHGCD6GGEP&psc=0

Does anyone have one and if you do, can you comment on how well it's made? Or does anyone have any other recommendations for a reasonable price?

Thanks in advance!

So far, I've had good experience with Dorman. I've had my brake switch go out and replaced it with a Dorman part. I will soon be installing a Dorman airbag sensor in the next couple of days to get rid of a airbag warning light.

 

[David Kriss]

As time goes by, I'm becoming less of a fan of Doorman. The quality just doesn't seem to be there. I bought this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019HZSJ4W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 back in July for my 2001 Yukon XL and I've been happy with it. It uses LEDs so the lights shouldn't burn out for a long time.

 

[01subCT]

Dorman is a huge aftermarket supplier they sell tons of oem replacement parts.they don't last as long as factory stuff but definitely save money over new stuff.they would be comparable to tyc aftermarket parts.you would find dorman in all the big part stores to

 

[DougAMiller]

My original lasted about 9 years. The first Dorman lasted around 3 years. On my second Dorman now, it's been in about a year and working fine, but I don't expect OEM lifetime from it. I'd rather put in the GM part, but they want too much for it. The problem with these is the electrical design. The GM part is 15 LEDs, 5 groups of of 3 LEDs connected in series. Each group of 3 are connected in parallel. This distributes the current fine until one LED fails, then the current that would normally flow through that one has to go through the other two which overloads them, causing them to quickly fail. It wouldn't have cost much more to put current-limit resistors on each LED, then they wouldn't have this problem. A better solution would be to use an LED driver IC to make sure that the LEDs have the proper current. The Dorman design is similar to GM, but using surface-mount LEDs instead of the through-hole part that GM used.

Sorry for the long-winded response.