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My magnets came today, and HOLY COW are they strong. Unbelievable given the size of them. This is going to work great; many thanks to OP for the idea! I do not intend to use the front bracket on a regular basis (most of the time will not), and will instead use OP's idea of carrying it in the frunk, and if pulled over just dsay 'Doh! Forgot to put it on after a detail job!'. Hope that works...if it doesn't I'll develop a Plan B.
Hope it works for you, because it did not work for me! $175 smackers - ouch!
Hope it works for you, because it did not work for me! $175 smackers - ouch!
Ouch is right! Police are more tolerant here than many places so we will see. And typically all you have to do is show the car with the plate on and they will void the ticket.
My magnets came today, and HOLY COW are they strong. Unbelievable given the size of them. This is going to work great; many thanks to OP for the idea! I do not intend to use the front bracket on a regular basis (most of the time will not), and will instead use OP's idea of carrying it in the frunk, and if pulled over just say 'Doh! Forgot to put it on after a detail job!'. Hope that works...if it doesn't I'll develop a Plan B. For those worried about it marring the paint, just sick on some fuzzy velcro at the contact points on the bracket so problem should be solved. I do think if PPF is on the car it won't be a problem anyway.
Just keeping up with this thread, I think your idea of using the 3M double stick tape could work, as long as it's not too thick. The closer the magnets are to each other, the stronger the pull. I haven't tried this yet, but if the back side of the bumper can be accessed from under the car without taking it off, that would dramatically simplify the process, and the 3M tape would enable that because you don't have to worry about the epoxy running. I keep my car on a lift so it would be easy for me to poke around and see if I can just remove a few fasteners and snake an arm up there. I you pre-mount the magnets in the plate bracket, and then get the magnets close on the inside of the bumper, they will definitely find each other!
Just keeping up with this thread, I think your idea of using the 3M double stick tape could work, as long as it's not too thick.
The tape I have is very thin, about 1/32" so I don't think the thickness would be a problem. It is super strong as well, and with the magnetic force I don't think the magnet would ever move. Going to try it that way when my car comes in. Worst case is I'll have to remove the bumper but I don't think that step will be needed.
I had seen a thread on the 6Speed forum years ago where someone had used rare earth magnets to attach their front license plate bracket rather than screws or the very unattractive off-center, parking sensor complicating tow hook solution. I always wanted to do this, so my plan was figure out what I would need and then glue the magnets to the inside of the bumper when I took it off to install the Rennline front grilles that I was planning to get.
As I posted in another thread, I ended up visiting Rennline last week so they could do a final test fit of their screens for the 991.2 GTS. In anticipation of that, I reached out to a company called K&J Magnetics (kjmagnetics.com) to get a recommendation for what size and strength of magnets I should use. We decided on 4 of each of these:
Part numbers are BX084BR-N52 AND DC6BR-N52 and they are rubber coated.
I then took the stock license plate bracket:
I roughed up the areas where I planned to place the magnets (very close to where the screws would go) with a little sandpaper:
And then used some 3M 5200 Black Marine Epoxy to secure the magnets to the plate (if I were to do this again, I would use JB Weld Epoxy instead of the 3M Epoxy because the 3M stuff takes SEVEN DAYS to cure. Lucky thing I was planning ahead:
Two other things I would do differently after going through the full install process: don't put too much epoxy on top of the magnet, I ended up having to sand it down to get the plate to sit flush. Additionally, the lower 2 magnets should be moved up 1/2"-1" higher because the plastic center fill insert partially blocked where I had put them.
While the bumper was off for the fitting of the grilles, I used the JB Weld (which sets in 5 minutes and fully cures in an hour and is readily available on Amazon or in the store) to attach the inside magnets.
You can see in this picture where we had to "field modify" the plastic insert to notch it where I needed the magnets to go based on where I put them on plate bracket:
I let the JB Weld cure and grabbed a bite of lunch, then the bumper was put back on and voila:
After sanding down the epoxy on the back of the mounting plate, this sits exactly flush as if it were screwed on and the strength of these magnets is really impressive. It takes a pretty good tug to get the plate off. The person on 6Speed that did this said he had driven over 100mph with this plate on the front and there's no sign that it ever moved at all. The bracket has a guide to automatically center the plate on the car, so it's easy to find the center. I've only driven locally with mine so far, but I'm pretty comfortable that this will only come off when I want to pull it off. I'll update this thread from time to time confirming that I still have a front plate!
(I don't plan to leave it on most of the time. But when I travel in the area around NYC there's a higher risk of getting stopped. In 5.5 years of ownership of my Panamera I was stopped 3 times for not having the front plate on. Twice I was just given a warning, once I was given a ticket. I plan to just put it on when I'm in the higher risk areas, and if I'm stopped without it, I will just say that when I washed the car I forgot to put it back on, and would it make a difference if I just put it on now? Then take it out of the frunk and pop it on. We'll see how it goes!)
I hope others can benefit from this!
- Brian
Looks great - is it possible to remove the blank plate (below where the license plate sits) without taking the bumper off to mount the rear magnets?
FYI - 3m 5200 is not an epoxy. It is a polyurethane adhesive/sealant.
It is great stuff in any case. There is a fast cure version that cures in 24 hours but I think available only in white.
Although there are a few plastics and other substrates that 5200 does not adhere well to, with proper prep., it essentially forms a permanent bond on everything else.
PS - glad we don’t have to run a front plate in Louisiana.
What a wanger job Don't put it on, pay the fine and move on...jeeezzz
I don't think the issue is around paying the fine... it's more about not knowing when you might get pulled over... and Murphy's law... it'll most likely be when you're late for an important meeting, appointment, event, etc.
What a wanger job Don't put it on, pay the fine and move on...jeeezzz
Thank you for this very classy comment. Internet anonymity never ceases to amaze me.
I'm actually really happy I did this. As it turns out, a town close to where we live that we visit frequently has started to clamp down hard on not having a front plate. I have already been told twice since I got my GTS in May by local LEOs that I needed put it on. One one of those times I got a ticket for it. In 5.5 years of driving my Panamera in that town with no front plate I never got a single comment. So now, whenever I'm going there I'll be popping the plate on to avoid the trouble. It takes only a few seconds. That's the beauty of this solution.
I'm fortunate to live in a state that doesn't issue front plates. Unfortunately, I purchased a CPO from a state that does and when I removed the front mounting bracket I was greeted with 5 holes in the bumper. The magnets are a great solution. Thanks for posting.
Thank you for this very classy comment. Internet anonymity never ceases to amaze me.
I'm actually really happy I did this. As it turns out, a town close to where we live that we visit frequently has started to clamp down hard on not having a front plate. I have already been told twice since I got my GTS in May by local LEOs that I needed put it on. One one of those times I got a ticket for it. In 5.5 years of driving my Panamera in that town with no front plate I never got a single comment. So now, whenever I'm going there I'll be popping the plate on to avoid the trouble. It takes only a few seconds. That's the beauty of this solution.
+1. Would love to keep my front license plate off if someone else was willing to pay my fine each time. BTW, its $175 where I live.
I'm actually really happy I did this. As it turns out, a town close to where we live that we visit frequently has started to clamp down hard on not having a front plate. I have already been told twice since I got my GTS in May by local LEOs that I needed put it on. One one of those times I got a ticket for it. In 5.5 years of driving my Panamera in that town with no front plate I never got a single comment. So now, whenever I'm going there I'll be popping the plate on to avoid the trouble. It takes only a few seconds. That's the beauty of this solution.
Ditto. Virginia is a 2 plate state, but where I live they do not enforce no front tag. Other parts of the state do enforce, so if traveling there I just pop it on. The only danger for me is if there is a roadblock in my area which is normally done by the VASP to check for expired tags, inspection stickers, and drivers licenses. In the case of no front plate, it's a 'fix it' violation and once it's installed the fine goes away. So I've been told anyway as I have never been stopped for no front plate.
Same here. Afraid to pull the plate off mine due to marks on bumper. Did you have to pull front bumper? If I do pull it friend of mine at dealership told me to order plugs from bumperplugs.com, but you probably already knew that. Thanks for any advice or guidance.
08-29-2017, 12:55 PM
