Moogle, that's a h*ll of an idea. You could scan the plate using stickback clear vinyl and get an excellent representation. Hmmm. In MA the only annual little tag you get is for the back plate, so the front one could be cut down and scanned.

The other thing I thought of is using velcro, but since I have a silver car the dark velcro would show when the plate is off. I do agree that it looks like sh*t if you have to use the factory setup.

One thing I have noticed tho. I can pull the entire bracket out of the holes and plug them and keep the mounted plate in the trunk as "broken" Obviously would prefer no front plate, especially with the angle of the front bumper cover. In my case with the "911" emblem in the center radiator I would really have no place to put a vinyl plate exept above the bumper plugs. UGH!

Oh, and BTW, although I've not lowered the car yet, you can see the difference in pic 2 vs pic 1 after I added 6mm spacers all around.

 

I've never seen the stock front plate holder, but maybe you could do something with magnets? Someone on the S4 board did a pretty slick install with them.

An example done on an Audi S4

 

Nice job on the mounting, much cleaner looking than the stock mounts. For those who are required to have a front plate be careful, when I was in traffic court a few months ago over half the people were there for lack of a front plate plus whatever else they could find. I'll keep the plate just to avoid giving the man a reason to pull me over.
Power to the people!

 

Cpa4S. Awsome work mate!
but if ur a legal stickler like i am and/or someone who likes to push his luck, the HTA states that a plate must be displayed on both front and rear. BUT it doesn't say where on the front. u could leave it on ur dashboard if u really wanted too, as long as its visible from the front.

 

I have installed my front license plate using the rubber Quick-Change Plate Holder from Guardian (about $11 plus S&H) that programmatore first mentioned in his 15Apr05 post. I believe that the result is a significant improvement in looks while making it easier to remove the front plate if necessary (e.g. for mounting a bra at a DE). I may improve further on this design’s fit by bending the plate along a horizontal axis in addition to the vertical axis bend I’m now using.

First, I cut off the mounting flaps that come with the Plate Holder – a chisel works better than a box cutter on this soft, but thick rubber. I then inserted the plate into the holder upside down (i.e. the flanges on the side where the flaps were are now on the bottom). I drilled two, appropriately measured 1/8” holes through both the plate and the holder using a high speed bit. I then drilled two 1/2” holes (coaxial with the 1/8” holes) through only the rubber holder using a Forstner bit (A flat cutting wood bit that is good for a cleaner cut through the soft rubber. A box cutter might also work). These holes were cut to allow the rubber holder to fit over the existing mounting plugs allowing for a much better fit at the sides.

I used two #8x1/2 stainless pan head sheet metal screws to hold the entire assembly to the existing mounting plugs. I painted the screw heads as well as the exposed rubber beneath the plate’s mounting holes using Ace Hardware paint pens of the appropriate color. The screw heads are fine. I’m still considering other methods to conceal the plate’s mounting holes. The photos seem to make these holes more noticeable than they really are (harsh lighting).