Paculdo

how did you install your front plates? did you bend it? can you purchase a different front plate holder that is flat?

vdubpower

u dont

Paculdo

i wish i don't need to.. the car came with the front plates mounted.
when i (finally) got my plates and tried to put it there, i noticed it needs to be bended.
even the dealer installed frames were just screwed in (its plastic so it kind of conformed with the bend)

4 holes from the plate holder, and the center plastic grill is broken. plus taking out the plate holder leaves a 'mark' where its placed so i may end up having the front bumper resprayed.

cheapest is to just install the front plates :-(

N1ck

+1 Well said!

BHimself

Hey,
There was a really good forum post on this ~2-3 months ago (you can search, I'm not inclined atm). Anyway, it referenced a m3post.com thread where this guy found a sweet 8.99 adjustable bracket that fit into the wire mesh air intake. I bookmarked that one, here it is.
And here's the part at autozone.

I personally have gone so far as buying the $9 bracket, but haven't mounted it yet myself, choosing to preserve the look of the front end until a member of our local law enforcement demands otherwise.
Does it work? Dunno. Looks like it might with a little effort. Better than punching holes in the front end, but not as good as no front plate.
HTH. GL.

BHimself

Oh yea, If you do decided to go this route, I would recommend like the others, pad the back of the license plate. The bimmer thread suggested a few layers of duct tape to the back of the plate IIRC. Seems like a workable enough solution for the time being. I'm sure you could think of alternate methods to this if you try, the goal just should be to protect the bumper against rubbing metal if you're protecting it against holes obviously.

Karl901

Move to FLA.

CoolBDPhenom03

I'm not running a front plate. I just take the fix-it ticket to the DMV and double-side tape that baby on for the 5 minutes I need it.

SaphGreyC63

+1, and for me I have a cop friend who could just write it off.....

CoolBDPhenom03

Nice. Where is that?

MaroonC63

Well, i recently got 3 tickets for not showing a front plate. i live in northern Va. So i decided i'd just put the darn thing on. I put it below the grill, right above my front lip on the wire mesh. It looks really cool actually, ill take a pic and show you guys later, i just put luggage wire on it and it works perfectly!

GrnLantern

+1

This.

CoolBDPhenom03

The DC metro area are all ***** man. Years ago, they once ticketed my Acura in a gated, underground garage for having "expired" (really, out-of-state) plates. I got around it since my dad's name was still on the title so we filed for an exception.

I am Jeff

Front tow hook mounted plate holder. I'm using one from Rhoplate.

callmiro

You can't get a ticket if you dont stop

ddcha

I just bent it. And I didn't have holes drilled in so I used zipties and mounted to my front grill.

late_bloomer

How often do you get pulled over for it?

I cross the border to Canada very often and was wondering if that will be a problem.. Anyone with any experience on that?

CoolBDPhenom03

Don't have experience on crossing borders, but I got cited once instead of a speeding ticket <whew> and once in SF I was parked in a strange area that required you to back in so of course the parking enforcement drones tagged me then. So technically, I haven't been pulled explicitly for no front plate

driftmotion

I live in DC and cross the border monthly ... never once was I even asked about a front plate ... so I can't see why you would have a problem.

propain

You do unless you wanna get yourself into trouble. Sure the no front plate ticket is no big deal. The "I just went out with my wife and had 3 glasses of wine and got pulled over because I wanted my car to look cool and now I have a DWI" ticket isn't fun.

hansamg

MY car came with front plate holder and dealer ad plate. I took it off cause I don't have a frt plate. However , left with two screw holes into the plastic bumper. I just put the SS screws back into the plastic bumper- looks better than holes. ANy ideas other than bondo/paint. Can't believe MB didn't provision better for a frt plate other than screws thru plastic. SIlver car.

CoolBDPhenom03

Then sober up before you leave.

Agent_Oorange

It won't be a problem, they won't care if you have a front plate and don't require one in your home state. Not all provinces in Canada require them anyway. I'm supposed to have them on but non of my vehicles do, it's a $90 road tax every few months, whatever.

Even Money

I got a ticket for no front plate in WA state, about $220. No warning, no fix it ticket, from a city cop. On labor day no less. Was also hassled once crossing the border from Canada to U.S. by the border agent. So after all that, got the rho plate, screw in/out of tow hook.

cptdaz

I've gotten several tickets for front plates as well. One even threaten to impound the car. On a related note, NOVA cops are f-ing pr|cks.