ghitos73

A relative of mine just bought a '98 E430. It's a beautiful car!When he received the car, the front license plate was not mounted on the front bumper. Since he did not want to bring it to the dealer to install the hardware, we figured we could do it ourselves. One thing stopped us ... there are no mounting holes on the front bumper itself.

So, my question to E-class owners is this, is there supposed to be a hole in the bumper with nuts on the inside? or can you just drill the holes yourself and use regular screws?

awiner

Crazy as it sounds, you drill right into the bumper and use self taping screws. The thought of screwing up a perfectly good bumper with 2 holes makes me shiver.

JamE55

Agree with Adam!

ghitos73

Yikes! I was afraid you guys might say that ... oh well, you can't see it after you've tapped the screws ... I'll do it though. Thanks for you guys' input.

Ray

When I bought my used 99 about a year ago I found the front license plate bracket in the trunk when I went to mount the CD player. I still haven't installed the plate because I don't like the look of it but the bracket has two tabs that clip into two thin sideways slots in the front bumper. It's made of plastic so I can't imagine it can cost that much at the dealer. Just ran outside to check, it is an original Mercedes part.

ghitos73

Ray,

You still need to drive two tapping screws through your front bumper in order to mounting the license plate bracket. The two sideways tabs don't hold it on the bumper alone. If you did that, it would fall forward.

You've got the same problem my relative has with his car. He just doesn't want to go to the dealer for something as simple as mounting a license plate bracket. Who knows how much they would charge for something like that ...

awiner

Those tabs ensure that the bracket is centered. However you still need to rape you bumper and pop 2 holes in it....

theine

I'm lucky, in Florida we don't use license plates in the front!
I would die, if I have to drill two holes on my front bumper.

Richard / E320

I dislike the front licensed plate so much that when I purchsed my E320 I picked one that had not had the PDI done, so the bracket was not installed.

In California, you are required to have a mounted front license plate, so the dealer had me sign a release of liability form because I didn't want the bracket installed! They also told me that I could bring my car in at anytime and they would install the bracket for n/c.

I have always wondered what the fine is for no plate but hope not to find out the hard way...

samosborn

Luckily I bought my E430 in NV where front plates aren't required.

In No. California, I learned from experience unfortunately, they'll hit you with a $100 ticket for not having a front plate installed (or $10 if you "fix it" and install it).

I couldn't bear to put the holes in the bumper though...

Sam

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2000 E430 Sport

Richard / E320

samosborn;

In your post you write:

In No. California, I learned from experience unfortunately, they'll hit you with a $100 ticket for not having a front plate installed (or $10 if you "fix it" and install it).

I was wondering if this is current information or from sometime back. I'd gladly pay a $100 fine if I didn't have to actually mount the front plate. I assumed that if I got cited I would pay a fine and be required to show proof that the plate was then mounted to be in compliance. Paying only a fine would be great...

samosborn

Info current as of 2001, in the SF Bay Area. You pay $10 if you actually mount the plate after receiving the citation, or $100 if you don't. Amount of fine may be different in other parts of the state or country.

Sam

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2000 E430 Sport

Richard / E320

samosborn-

Thanks for the update; I assume that if I chose to pay the $100 fine and not mount the plate, I could again be cited in the future and have to pay another fine...