Tom M'Guinn

I can't quite bring myself to drill into the rear bumper, and the tow-hook mounts all seem to stick out too far. I thoughts I'd use 3M tape and just stick the plate on there, but the rectangular ridge/outline makes that problematic, and you can't use a frame in the normal way... So, I got out the 3D printer and made these mounts in ABS, which stick to the bumper with 3M auto tape. The mounts have grooves that line up with the ridge on the bumper, which ensures they sit flat and all line up when mounted on the body. Once on, the license plate and frame screw in like the license plates of yore. What do you say? Cool or over-engineered? I haven't permanently taped them to the bumper yet, so there's still time to back out. Will put the mounts on thingiverse for anyone who may want to give it a try.



All 4 mounts printed at once. Top two are the same, but the bottom two are left and right specific. The contour of the bumper didn't lend itself to the L shape on the bottom, so I kept it on top to maximize tape surface area.




After acetone-smoothing the mounting surface, I apply the 3M super strong auto tape to the side that faces the bumper. On the outward side, I installed brass thread inserts (Amazon or McMaster) that essentially melt their way into slightly-too-small holes in the plastic. You heat them up with a soldering iron and slide them in. They have knurling on the sides intended to prevent them from spinning and, once melted in, they are as strong as you'll ever need for a license plate!




The grooves in the mounts self-align them to the car, and you can look through the threads to confirm they line up with the factory hole bosses...




Then the plate just bolts onto the mounts and looks like it should. The mounts are 12mm thick, so the plate sits out about half an inch, which doesn't seen noticeable and prevents the plate from rubbing on anything. Now I just need to get some black m6 screws....

stout

Now that is very cool, Tom.

Did I mention we need to grab lunch?

Penn4S

freeman

Why are the present rear mounts ineffective or unsightly?

evilfij

Gordon Shumway

Color me confused. Why would one not want to put screw holes in a place on the rear bumper that will never be seen because...well, you know...a license plate. Looks like nice engineering, but still a solution looking for a problem, is it not?

urbanscribe

Same here. If you can fire up the printer perhaps a number of us would fund the effort and send you some proper Bordeaux We all face the same drill concern.

abe

I can understand issues with the position of the front plates and drilling. I can not understand what the issue is with the rear plates as there is only one place it can go and nobody will see the holes. Why so much trouble over nothing.....
IMHO\
Abe

abe

duplicate..delete

nolan12

I'd be interested in a set as well.

PTGFAR

I don't have a problem with holes in the bumper for the license plate screws. If the holes should get stripped out, this would be a good repair.

TTSPete

Please splane us. I have the same car and it came with existing license plates holes. I don't understand the having to drill holes.

Porsche_nuts

need something like this for front bumper

Ski Porsche

Groovy license plate.

LexVan

Looks good. It would keep the area behind the plate from getting abraded. You need to change out your brass looking mounting screws. Black would be much better to match the frame. Or use black plastic screw covers.