FRONT PLATE removal / mounting brackets / kits / bumper hole fixes THREAD
Anyone know how much and where i can get it from? i'm guessing parts.com???
Thanks in advance




income for the cities etc. I may still have mine....all the way in the back, on the floor of a full storage unit...but maybe it would better to get another one...
You keeping the other one?
The Best of Mercedes & AMG
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Thanks,
Jake
I'm actually following up on another similar posting that was made here, in regards to getting pulled over for not having a front license plate. I was going to reply to that posting, however, I felt it more appropriate posting on this original thread, and putting a link to this thread on the other posting.
Anyways, like some of you know, I live in RI, but purchased my car from a dealership in CA (Autobahn Motors in Belmont, CA), and had it transported cross-country to me. Surprisingly, despite CA being a 2-plate state, my car, luckily, never had the front bracket mounted. And even though RI is also a 2-plate state, there was no way I'd be mounting that bracket on the front of my car.
I had no problems for a year or so, until it was time to have the car inspected for the 2-year inspection sticker. Having the plate on the dashboard was not going to cut it, as RI law requires it to be securely mounted to the front of the car.
I've seen the gominigo bracket as well as others, and felt that 1) they were too expensive for my tastes, and 2) looked a little too cheap in build quality. So I set out to make my own. Attached are the pics and steps along the way.
Here's how I made it and what I ended up using:
I ended up going to Walmart and picking up one of those hard plastic cutting boards you use to cut fruits and vegetables, so you don't ruin your counter top. I think it cost me around 9 or 10 bucks.

I also picked up a long bolt over at Lowe's. I forget exactly the size, but if any of you want to know, I can measure it. Along with the bolt, I also got a couple of washers to go with it. I know the threading doesn't match the eye bolt towing hook's thread that come with our cars, however, I don't need to thread it all the way. So I figured as long as it gets threaded just a little bit, it shouldn't harm it much.
I then took my license plate and proceeded to measure out its' size. Then, with a table saw, I cut out the appropriate size for the plate.



I kept all the extra pieces because I was going to double-back it, to make it that much stronger. What worked out nicely is that the cutting board already has rounded corners, so, with a grinding wheel, I then rounded off the 3 other corners of the backing plate.

With the extra pieces of the cutting board, I ended up using those to double the thickness of the mounting plate. That way, when it came time to put the bolt thru, the center area of the mounting plate wouldn't be as thick, allowing the bolt head enough room so when I mounted the plate, the plate wouldn't get pushed out because of the bolt head getting in the way. Using C-Clamps, I used plastic cement glue to combine these pieces to the main mounting plate. Once securely glued, I also rounded the corners of these pieces to match the main mounting plate.


To make the hole for the bolt, I first measured a center point, drilled a pilot hole, then used an appropriate diameter wood boring bit (slightly larger diameter than the bolt head), so the bolt head could be sunk partially into the mounting plate. I then drilled thru the mounting plate with a drill bit the diameter of the bolt. I also drilled appropriate holes for where the 4 screws would go to screw the license plate to the mounting plate.

Now, because the bolt wouldn't be fully threaded to the towing point on the car, and hence, the license plate wouldn't fully be touching the bumper of the car, I ran into a slight problem. The problem being that once mounted, the plate would spin freely and also slide forwards and backwards along the length of the bolt. To prevent this from happening, I ended up cutting an appropriate sized piece of 3/4" copper tubing and slid it thru the bolt. The size was the distance from the actual metal bumper (where the hole for the eyelet towing bolt is located) to the back of the mounting plate. That way, when I tightened the bolt to the car, the copper pipe piece would press against the back of the mounting plate (which has a washer), preventing it from spinning and moving.
To make it all look nice, I spray painted the copper pipe piece, washers and the bolt black.
Finally, here are the pictures of the plate mounted to the car. Please note, despite the amount of time and effort put into this, I have only mounted this onto my car when it was going for the inspection. Since then, I've had it in my trunk, just in case I ever get pulled over. Although it doesn't look too bad, I still prefer the clean look with no license plate in the front.






Hope you all enjoy.
Cintoman




