gatorbill75

When I picked up my new GLC-300 SUV at the dealer, the front license plate holder was not installed on the car. The installation consist of drilling three holes in the front bumper into which three plugs in the back of the license plate holder are pushed. The dealer told me that the license plate holder was in the trunk and it was up to me if I wanted them to install it since some clients preferred not to have it installed at all.

I am in California and the front license plate is required by law. I decided that it was best to install it and not give the police an additional excuse to stop me. The Mercedes-Benz part number for the front license plate holder is 253-885-16-02. If your dealer did not provide one you can pick it up on eBay for a better price than at the dealer parts department.

I did not want to drill the three holes in my front bumper, so I came up with the following method of attaching the front license plate holder using two long Zip-ties. I used 14” UV Resistant Zip-ties that are available at Home Depot, SKU 1004137721 (see Figure 11).

1. My car’s lower grille was completely solid except for two of the “diamond” locations which were left open. These two locations where at a perfect position through which you can thread two Zip-ties into newly drilled holes in the plastic front license plate holder in order to mount it to the car’s front bumper. I do not know if this was a fortunate coincidence or by design by Mercedes-Benz.
2. Figures 1 through 3 are photos of the un-modified front license plate holder.
3. Figure 4 is a view of the back of the license plate holder showing the three plugs that are normally used to install it onto the car bumper’s drilled holes. Also note the two clips at the bottom which are designed to wrap around the inside part of the back of the lower bumper.
4. For this installation method we will need to cut the tops of the three plugs off so that the front license plate holder lies flush with the bumper when installed. Figure 5 shows the back of the front license plate holder once the top of these plugs have been cut off.
5. We need to drill four holes into the front license plate holder through which the two Zip-ties will be looped through to attach it to the car’s front bumper. Figure 6 shows the location of these four holes. IMPORTANT: The top two holes are larger 3/8 holes which are just big enough to contain the “head” of the Zip-ties. The lower two holes are smaller ¼” holes to accommodate the width of the Zip-ties.
6. Figure 7 is a photo of my front license plate holder after drilling the four new holes for attachment using the two Zip-ties.
7. The front license plate holder is attached to the car’s bumper by wrapping a Zip-tie through the left upper 3/8” hole in the holder, then into the left “diamond” hole in the car’s front grille, then down around the car’s lower bumper back through the left lower ¼” hole in the license plate holder, and then connect to the Zip-tie “head”. This is repeated for the right side pair of holes in the license plate holder. NOTE: it’s important to end with the Zip-tie “head” near the license plate holder’s upper larger 3/8” hole so that it can be stowed away in it. This allows the Zip-tie to lie completely flat with the surface of the front license plate holder.
8. Figure 8 shows the end result of the front license plate holder now completely installed to the car’s bumper. NOTE: how Zip-tie “heads” are pushed into the front license plate holder upper 3/8” wide holes.
9. The license plate itself is mounted to the holder with two #10 ¾” inch stainless steel machine screws into the top two holes. Although this is the “normal” method of attachment, I decided to also use two strips of dual sided mounting tape to mount the back of the metal license plate to the front surface of the plastic license plate holder for extra stability and to keep the plate from flopping around at the bottom. I used Scotch 1 inch Permanent Double Sided Mounting Tape found at Home Depot, SKU # 1001056867 (see Figure 12).
   
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   Figure 12

gatorbill75

The final results of the mounting of the front license plate holder using this method are shown in Figures 9 and 10.

MBguy013

looks good! i'm guessing there will be some minor wear from where the plastic rubs but at least there aren't any holes!

Ravenkeeper

There's a company out there that makes vinyl license plates. I've seen a lot of them on Teslas. Just another option to consider.

gatorbill75

Thank you Ravenkeeper ! That's great input, the company is https://licenseplatewrap.com and looks live a very nice, and "street legal" option. These seem reasonable at $70, specially since you get an actual CA front license plate with it. They appear to be more suitable for cars with front bumpers of enough height to hold the entire plate.

During my search I also found the following companies which sell brackets that can be installed either without drilling or with "hidden" drill holes. Some I did not like too much, and others seemed pricey for what you could do with a couple of tie-wraps.

1. CravenSpeed Platypus License Plate Mount - $93 on Amazon - https://www.cravenspeed.com/ - not a big fan of the off center license plate
2. Various other manufacturers of "Tow Hook License Plate Mount Bracket" - many vendors on Amazon and eBay in the $20 to $40 range
3. Sto N Show quick release front license plate bracket: https://stonsho.com/ - on Amazon around $90 - my favorite option, but not at this price
4. UNDER MOUNT LICENSE PLATE BRACKET tag frame mounting holder on eBay - around $20 - good option at a reasonable price

DaveInSanDiego

I want to thank gatorbill75 from the bottom of my heart. I live in California and was dreading drilling holes in my brand new vehicle. Not that I am afraid of drilling holes, but it's my first Mercedes-Benz. The instructions in this thread worked perfectly. My front plate is mounted straight and securely.

Allow me to contribute a link to some good 316 stainless steel license plate screws. You get four machine screws and four self-tappers, the latter of which are good for the stock Mercedes-Benz front plate mount. - - These are top quality screws, highly resistant to corrosion, at a very reasonable price.

gatorbill75, I'll gladly treat you to a nice dinner if you are ever in San Diego.

Kindest regards,

DaveInSanDiego

gatorbill75

Thanks DaveInSanDiego, very happy to hear my experience has helped a fellow MB owner !