I decided to put my rear license plate on today.

Every time I close the trunk the plate bounces against the trunk a lil.

AHHHH, I wish the plate was on the bumper instead of the trunk.

i bought some weatherstripping foam at home depot and placed it underneath the plate...no more rattles when closing the trunk!

You can also just bend the bottom portion of the plate away from the car...that works too, and costs you nothing. Just don't bend it too far, or you risk breaking it. Just under a 1/4 inch should do.

I still wonder what the hell they were thinking when they only put 2 mounting holes instead of 4

Im going to go this route, thanks!

thanks guys - I can't stand that plate rattling when I close the trunk.

cant understand it? like not knowing where it came from? I hope youre kidding

reread his post.

this sounds like a bad rumsfield speech... i can't understand people who don't understand what the post really said.

is there any other kind??

I did the same thing, works great.

The TSX comes with 2 squares that stick to the car.

i just did, hahahaha

Where was it at? Maybe its in the bag that my front plate holder is in.

Do you mean THIS......???

""As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

I can't recall ever having a car that had holes for the bottom screws on the rear plate... if there is anything provided it usually will be a groove to hold the bottom edge of the plate.

Santa Rosa Steve

I think that is where they are... Let us know. They were always on the car when we delivered them.

yes... and to jcg878... you are correct.

I'm pretty sure that my Integra came with them but now you have me second guessing. I"ll have to check.

Did everyone's TSX just have the two mounting holes flush with the trunk?
When I picked up my car, it had two square spacers sticking out about 1/2 inch for the rear plates. Below were two foam pieces to match the depth of the spacers. So no trunk rattling here. Maybe it's a dealer thing?

Brother's Corolla had two flush to the trunk mounting holes for his plates and the dealer plate cover rattled and scratched up the paint. We had the dealer touch up the paint and pay us back for some weather stripping. No rattling anymore.

My TSX does not include the two foam things that you mentioned. It's VIN is somewhere in the upper 13xxx range. I added a metal frame for the rear license plate. It compounds the rattle clank problem. Weatherstripping sounds like a simple solution.

Is that foam dealer-installed foam or a factory-installed foam?

Regarding the two upper threaded areas for the rear plate, the threads on one is stripped. The threads are delicate. I had hand-tightened them only with a philips screwdriver and one stripped, but I can imagine the dealer having used power tools...

Mine just has the two mounting holes. No back padding. I havent had the plate rattling problem though - maybe I overtightened my plate bolts.

They are factory. They should be in the bag with the front plate. The dealer should put them on but... Should is the key word.

You can purchase foam sheets at craft stores. I keep some around for all sorts of automotive & household fixes. A quarter sheet glued to the back of the plate worked just fine to silence the rattle.... it's also great for lining glove boxes to quiet stuff bouncing around inside...

Santa Rosa Steve

ignore everyone here.

go to the local hardware store and buy two washers to put behind the plate.

total cost 30-50 cents.

I found the piece of foam that came w/ the front plate. Its pretty thick.

I found a new piece of velcro in my drawer, so what I did was stuck the velcro on the back of the plate. no more noise.

I screwed the plate on then bent it out. Done.

I thought the foam that comes with the front plate holder is for the front plate.

What year Integra do you have? My 99 Integra sedan only have two holes for mounting the rear plate, and I believe all 3rd gen Integras are like this.

YES! Finally someone agrees with me!

The other solutions mentioned I'm sure all work very well, but I try to be a person who favours simple, inexpensive solutions when appropriate:

Price of bending out license plate: $0. Price of not having a rattle when closing your trunk: Priceless.

Oh, and there are some cars that have 4 bolt holes. I've seen some SUVs with these. I also think the RSX has 4 bolts. The up-to 1999 Civics also had the clips on the bottom of the plates.

One thing I was wondering when i re-read STC's original post......you said "I *finally* decided to put on my rear license plate today....". Does that mean you've been driving around for some length of time *without* a rear plate? Or do you mean you had the plate in your back window or something?

I'm probably wrong

It can take a while to get plates here in CA, especially if you order personalized or special interest plates. Until they arrive your only "plate" is the copy of your registration folded and taped to the inside of your windshield by the dealer.

Santa Rosa Steve

I didnt take pics, I can if anyone cares, but I bought 2 SIMPLE crome license plate covers (front/back) and in the back I use two 6mmX10mm bolts to hold the bottom of the license plate cover to the plate to iliminate rattling and give a cleaner look. I then put two pieces of 3m circular pads on the back of the nuts. It is pretty solid, there is a small rattle (I could have put weather stripping all around the plate cause it is a rattle with the plate and the plate cover) but it it isnt like before.

I got my plates about a month ago, I was just too lazy to put them on. I have the temp registration on the windshield. I still have the temp registration on the windshield.

My fiance just put on her plates a few weeks ago, and she got the Evo in May.

A friend of mine is driving his 02 WRX w/ just his temp registration.
Almost 1.5 yrs w/o a plate on his car. haha

man lazy is right , I guess I woulndt mind if I didnt have to pay the $600 for plates and reg. but I was excited to put mine on.

I forgot that you guys in the States get your plates later (a very bizzare, but understandable thing to me).

At least in Alberta, they have plates at the registration office and you get them as soon as you pay the registrar. I'm not sure how the personalized plates work, though. Since I don't think I've ever seen temp. plates, I'd assume that you'd put in your order, and you won't get registration until your plates came in....or, they give you a pre-made plate until your new ones come in.

It must vary from state to state. here I'm at they have them at the dealerships.

It does vary from state to state.

In both Illinois and California plates are mailed from the Sec'y of State/DMV. I believe Illinois recently started issuing temporary cardboard tags that go in the rear plate holder. All California has is the slip of paper taped to the front window.

My wait time on California standard issue plates was about 62 days. My personalized ones took the full 5 weeks but I ordered them 3 days after the dealer turned in the initial request.

In both IL and CA the dealer usually submits the paperwork though I suppose you could go to the DMV and register directly and get your plates that day. Knowing CA though they would still insist on mailing them. Gotta keep those prisoners busy.

California DMV confirmed my personalized plate order with an email stating that they will be ready in 8 to 12 weeks...

Santa Rosa Steve

That's cool. They didn't email me any status on mine - just mailed me a slip of paper when they were ready. THEN I had to make an appt at the DMV to go get them. The appts were so far in the future that I decided to just go and camp out for an hour and a half at the DMV and pick mine up.

Now that I am reading this thread, the day of my pick-up comes to mind. When the salesman was going through the last stages of the "Orientation" he looked in the glovebox. There were two pieces of thick foam padding thingies in there. He grabbed them and said, "Hmm, I wonder why that's in there." He then put them in his pocket as we walked in the building to finish the paperwork. Now that I am reading this thread, I realized those pieces were for the back license plate. I still haven't picked up my permanent tags, so I will be sure that the plate doesn't rattle. Thanks to all for the heads up.

TEIGER