gofor28off

I will be drilling the front bumper to install the OEM front plate bracket. It comes with the screws but no plugs. Do the screws go directly into the bumper or does it need plugs pushed into the drilled holes for the screws to go into? Thanks.

Canyonrs4

The OEM plate simply screws to the bumper, no plugs. Plugs are used to fill the holes once you remove the front plate and to fill the screw holes.

nwGTS

Can we beg you not to do it and recommend you just use a tow hook plate holder?

SpeedyD

I would personally advise against the tow hook plates... maybe it is just me, but it just doesn't look right and is painfully asymmetrical... I prefer the centered plate look 10x more than the off center look.

That said, I (weakly) second the notion of not drilling the front bumper. Mine is drilled and I keep going back/forth of getting it removed and sprayed... but then I'm not 100% confident in the "hidden holes" plate holder I have for staying on properly at higher speeds (just seems to have a small potential of coming off at speed)... I'm likely being paranoid.

I'm leaning towards leaving mine on, not adding a clear bra, and then just respraying in the future and fixing the holes in one shot. My car is meteor gray metallic so a respray done correctly should look fine.

semicycler

+1 - avoid drilling if at all possible and use a removable tow hook mounted license plate holder like this one: http://www.usmillworks.com/

Alternately, consider a bumper swap with someone local to you who already has theirs drilled. I'm sure they will pay you cash money for your unmolested bumper.

The next owner will thank you!!

SpeedyD

OP is in Toronto, Ontario... they will pull the car over without a front plate. Cops there are much more aggressive for lack of front plates, so the OP will (I'm guessing) always have the plate on.

Really strongly suggest just doing the drill or using a hidden screws bracket if my assumption is correct and that plate will always be there. I don't quite get the concept of putting the plate in a less attractive position for the sake of avoiding those holes. It's like throwing a piece of plastic over a leather sofa to save the leather...

If someone has the luxury of keeping the plates off 50%+ of the time, then I'd agree with the tow hook bracket....

gofor28off

I completely agree and it will be painful but the car is sold and the new owner would like the oem plate holder mounted. Will drill it, shed a tear and then screw the screws straight in... Thanks for the advice.

vern1

You need the plate in Ontario. Some ride without it and run the risk of getting pulled over but who needs another excuse for getting pulled over

The plate is on there all the time so just drill and mount and forget

I think the tow hook mount looks ridiculous and sticks out way more from a visual perspective than a center mounted plate

vern1

Sorry missed this - once its done you just forget about it or at least I did

PapaC4S

I would suggest looking at the Skene Design license bracket for the front bumper. It mounts very nicely on the lip of the lower grille opening.

jets

THIS^^^^

And to the OP: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

EbonyC4S

The Skene bracket is somewhat universal. The above example is positioned in front of the center radiator, blocking air flow. After a few minutes of playing around with bracket configurations, I found the combination to mount mine above the radiator allowing full air flow to the radiator. It was a puzzler at first.

PrimeMvr

It's hard to see in the pic, but I just tapped a single screw up from the bottom. Worked great and invisible.

997rs4.0

Do they still pull you over if you order a sticker license plate and stick it on the bumper?

beers4all

Here's what I did:
- Purchased new plates
- Mounted the rear
- Took a super high res photo of the front plate
- Emailed the file to the fellow that does my printing and had him produce the image on a vinyl adhesive sticker in the exact dimension of the actual plate ($30 for 2 copies)
- Applied the sticker to the front bumper over top of the 3M