The front license plate bracket was non-existent when I recently purchased the car. So I bought a bracket/plate holder and attached it through the two bottom holes...but it loose at the top. Are you supposed to drill holes into the bumper to attach the top part of the bracket?

Thanks,

Chris

 

You dont need to drill a hole to secure it. Mine was attached solely with screws however I bought a bumper from Japan and there is a hole drilled to secure the plate. If you take the bumper off you can see where to secure the screws. I cannot remember off hand.

 

The RL was not designed to have the screws bolted to the bumper. If you look closely at the lower grill of 05-08 models there will be to slots for screws to go into. This is for the plate frame. (LOOK CLOSELY) 90% of RL owners do not know this. This helps keep the resale value high as well as another neat feature of Acura's smart thinking from the good era.

 

Yup, both my RL and RDX have special hidden screw slots for the license plate frame. Then the plate itself attaches to this frame. This way you don't permanently deface the car. I leave the front plates off however.

 

Those screws in the grille are super neat. Definitely a nice touch by Honda. I'm curious to see if anyone has installed a hide-away plate system on the front of the RL?

 

^ That would be nice. No front plate tickets add up...

 

@CJP

Whats the part number of the plate holder you bought? I bought what I thought was the factory front plate holder only to find upon delivery it was to be bolted to the actual bumper and the holes on it didn't reach or align those discrete bottom holes on the lower grille.

 

 

Do you have the motorized version or the manual one? I'd love to see it mounted on your car!

 

 

 

 

 

I believe this is the part number. I purchased it from my local Acura dealer. They took me out and installed it right in front of me. It took no longer than 5 minutes. Not all RL's are like this for some reason. It may be one of those mid-year updates or something. This is an imported car and comes off the same line as the Honda Legend so I don't know how they change stuff like that, but that's just my input.

• 71145-SJA-000

 

Haven't gotten a front plate ticket in over 25 years of driving. I live in a dense metro area so the police have more important crimes to attend to. I also have 20% tint on my RDX and 30% tint on my RL (front windows) and never had an issue. I've been pulled up side by side a local cop car on the streets around here, and they don't do a thing.

 

It's honestly hit or miss and depends on your locality. I know in Illinois you typically won't get pulled over for lack of front plate. You'll typically get cited if they have you pulled over for something else. OTOH, if you park in the city of Chicago with no front plate and your car is registered to Illinois, you're almost guaranteed a ticket.