1Louder

I know there are a couple threads on this, but I think I did it a bit different with a different outcome. I wanted to move the plate off the front bumper, but I didn't want to recess it back underneath it (requiring you bend the plate). So I created some custom mounting brackets that worked very well.

What you'll need:
One 1" wide 1/8" thick strip of aluminum (any hardware store will have)
One package vinyl bumpers
2 Nuts or some kind of locking mechanism for the two screws that normally mount your plate
Hack Saw
Drill bits suitable for metal (3/8", 1/4")
Clamp
Hammer

Parts cost less than $5.00.

Here's before:


1) Remove the OEM plate mounting holder, save the screws

2) The only real hard part about this (and it's not that hard) is making the correct bends in the aluminum. The screws that mount the bracket are wider than the screws on the plate, so it's not a straight shot. However if you make your bends correctly, you'll get the desired offset. What I simply did was place the bracket 2 1/4" from the plate (which is the distance you'll want between the two bends your going to make) and place the bar between, and scribe where the angles should be. On the plate holder side, make the mark about 1.5" off the end.




3) Set the bar at the angle you just scribed and use a hammer to bend it along that line. You just have to guess at this - bend and check the angle until it matches the angle on the original mounting holder.




4) Along the second line you scribed, bend it to 90 degrees.



5) Cut the piece again - I cut about 2" from the bend but you can go shorter.

6) Repeat 2-5 but make sure you set up and scribe lines using the opposite side that you started with. Otherwise you'll make two identical brackets.

7) To drill the holes, first place the bracket against where it needs to go (I made some adjustments here - hammer a bit to bend into the right shape). Scribe where your first hole should go to mount it to the car, and drill with the 3/8" bit. Do the same for the other bracket.

8) Mount the two brackets to the car and hold your plate up. If the brackets don't reach the holes, bend and push, hammer again if needed. I didn't have to do more than use my hands to move each about 1/2" in to center and they matched. You can now see the height of the plate - bend more metal if it's not right. Holding the plate up, scribe where the holes should go and drill with 1/4" bit. Here's what they looked like mounted and when holes were drilled.




9) (optional) I put two vinyl bumpers on the top of each bracket so the metal would not rub against the bumper. Also, I put some padded foam tape on the back of my plate where it may contact the point on the lower faring.

10) Mount your plate - and done! Here's the results.




Here's the side view.



In the end it's a small move, but I do like it better than the plate sitting so high.

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

Nicely done my was is i took l brackets
drilled through my plate so the stock bracket holes would go into the l bracket evenly and be symetric on the plate.

mltk53

nice, but my solution, no license plate..kehe

1Louder

^^ I'd prefer none too, but didn't want the hastle with the cops if pulled over.

xenonhid

Nice, not sure how Seattle PD would respond to the No plate look which I'm tempted to do.

1Louder

I did some quick searches. Here's the law:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=46.16.240

I could not find exact data on the cost of the ticket, but found a chat board where someone from Seattle got a ticket - was $124.

I see cars without one (now that I look) - I suppose it's a roll of the dice. Probably not something they'd pull you over for all by itself, but if you were pulled over for another reason I bet they'd tack it on.

ruffellprefley

very professionally done. maybe i'll get around to doing it this way some day. for now, it's long screws with some spacer nuts.

EuRTSX

I just took my plate off, after relocating and what not, it just isnt worth the amount of times I've replaced my front plate holder after a-holes kept hitting my car. No plate in front = good.

xenonhid

^^ Thanks, I do see some cars without their plates in the UW campus area.

mltk53

u kno, to be honest, having no license plate has helped me a couple times, well, once actually. i did a rolling stop and i got pulled over. and i was like talking real kind and stuff and the cop gave me a "no license plate" ticket for $10 as a warning instead of an actual rolling stop ticket. i kno, im kinda lucky. but yea, still dont have the plate on. hehe

Chris_F

nice job, but it makes the car look like it has rabit teeth

SoCaliTrojan

I did mine with a few more parts, but no drilling or bending necessary. And it's a good thing I relocated my plate. On my way to the last meet, the car in front of me kicked up a piece of sheet metal (maybe 1 foot by 1.5 foot). It rolled right towards me (and note that I'm going at like 70 mph or so). I couldn't swerve to avoid it...so I figured I might as well let the damage be symmetrical. I aimed my car so that the metal would hit my car in the center. When I finally examined my car, only my front plate was damaged...it had been bent halfway. I guess the brackets I used gave way a little to absorb the energy. Without my plate there, the lower part of my bumper would have been cracked/sliced/destroyed. But I guess it would have given me a reason to buy a lip kit.

I'm currently driving with no front plate until I can either repair my plate, or replace it. I'd rather not get a new number, or else people might think I bought my car used (or that it's an 08)....lol, my TSX is my first brand new car, so I'm proud =P

I thought about going personalized, but then it would make my plates easier to remember in case someone has a problem with my following the speed limit or something lol

Anyway, your design looks similar to another member's design. Looks more professional than the other designs I've seen. I do agree that I've been getting annoyed at the plate going beyond the bottom lip of the bumper. I was thinking about trimming my plate or something lol

JTso

iTrader: (2)

I have posted how to tuck the plate under the bumper a while back but this requires the modification of the existing plate. I later revised the method and came up with a much easier and effective approach. First, if you examine the area being displayed on the plate after installing a standard license plate frame, you know how much room you have to work with. Below are the steps I used.

1. Take the actual plate and scan it in 1:1 high res.
2. Use photoshop to clean up the scan image if necessary.
3. Crop the image to only display the require plate info
4. Print out the image on a high res. color printer.
5. Laminate the color printout to protect if from the elements.
6. Use spray adhesive and apply the laminated printout onto a correctly sized thin aluminum plate.
7. Drill two holes on the plate near the top for mounting.
8. Use two zip ties and fasten the plate to the exsting mounting holes on the bumper. The plate will be supported firmly by the grille and lower bumper section.

The result would be exactly the same as the pics below. You won't be able to tell the difference without touching the plate! If the laminated plate is damaged from rocks or weather, just peel it off and print out another one.

xjohnkdoex

iTrader: (2)

lol @ this pic. the fact that you parked further away from everyone else in the other lot is more noticeable than your plate relocation!!

acura_ak

me too....it looks a lot better without the front plate.

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

oh thats because its easier to park in reverse so i dont scratch the rims, and my doors been taking a beating its not a bullet proof vest man.

People been slamming their doors in to my car even if im really far away from theirs....

so i always park further so its a less of a chance my door gets a nast nick or ding...

oh yea that parking lot is across the street now that i look at it, it seems like im like the only one parked here but im not the lot im in is for the on campus apartments.

SoCaliTrojan

I'd be scared to do that. The cops might think give me some sort of BS like I'm using a fake plate or something.

I want to trim mine, but I don't think I have the tools for it

ILoveMyHonda

Your custom plate bracket is nice, very creative.

I didn't like how the OEM plate location "interupts" the body lines either, so here's the his and hers's take on plate relocation. (Sorry for the thread jackage.)

jlukja

LOL, with the plate tucked in under the bumper it looks like the TSX has buck teeth.

ruffellprefley

i'm not sure if you're serious about using a laminated piece of paper as your license plate, but i would think that it isn't legal. Nobody would probably know, however license plates have a certain reflectivity to them that the paper simply would not, and at night, a cop might take a closer look at the plate if they pulled you over after passing you from the front (for a different infraction).

just a thought. probably unlikely to ever happen though

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

I thought my car was bucked teeth

JTso

iTrader: (2)

Yes, I'm using it as my front plate. The rear plate is the real one with the required tabs. I believe the reason the cops want to see a front plate so they can target the car with red light cameras and lasers. A plate is only reflective if it's new, clean and without any license cover. I came across many new WA plates that look completely fake at first glance. They are no longer with raised letters or numbers. They are simply a flat plate with odd looking type face printed on a standard size frame. I'm more concern about the 20% tint on my car than the plate as it's so obvious from any angles.

DNvCross

makes me happy to live in a state where front plates are not required.

ruffellprefley

i must say, after trying out this excellent DIY from my previous relocation DIY, that it isn't as easy as 1louder has made it out to be!

this isn't to discredit his design nor execution, but bending the aluminum into the correct angles was rather difficult for me.

in doing the experiment myself, i realized that with a wider piece of aluminum, maybe 2", it would be possible to make non-angled bends in the strips and have the holes line up by drilling them non-centered on the wide strips. the difference between the distance between the license plate holes and the bumper holes isn't that big.

EuRTSX

No Plate > *

ruffellprefley

yeah, yeah, of course!

but for those of us that just want to play on the safe side... this is a good mod

cybereclipse

hehe
i've been running in cali with no front plate for at least 4 months now...

1Louder

Sorry this gave you some trouble! It was hard to be precise with a hammer. But your alternative sounds like it would work just as well. I didn't realize there was an offset when I bought my aluminum strip so I had to figure out the angles on the fly. I would have preferred the straight shot - a wider piece would do it just fine.

Mskierki

the wider the aluminum strip the slower the car will go. Also having all that weight in the front will throw off the 60/40 weight distribution.

ruffellprefley

TRUE! at least we're not working with aluminum and not lead.

xenonhid

1louder , thank you again for making one of your custom plate holders for me. I just got them today and I'm very excited to put them on!

erick3

looks muucch better!

instrbTSX

nicely done man

Redfish

iTrader: (2)

Just relocated mine, for the third time in 2 months...finally happy with the outcome:

xradman

While getting the wire mesh grill installed, I used this opportunity to come up with a way to install front license plate. Although the factory mount is better than most, I did not like interrupting the flow of the front bumper with a license plate. What I ended up doing was putting a small 1/4 in bend along the top and bottom of the license plate and then installing the plate in front of the central wire mesh grill. The plate is secured to the wire mesh with 4 plastic zip ties. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

shmork53

1louder, I did the exact same thing! It was sort of a PITA with the distance between the mount holes and the distance between the license plate holes not the same. It took a bit to get the angle right, but it has been over a year and plate is still solid.

I too ran with no front plate for a while until I moved to downtown Portland where meter maids can hand out no front plate tickets. Much happier with the lower position as it doesn't mess up the lines as much.

Great work!

renedcruz

iTrader: (8)

Probably this can be helpful for someone. This is the way I relocated my license plate. Fairly easy.....

I used the OEM license plate bracket. What I did was just take my plate, make sure it was leveled, and drilled two holes in the middle of the OEM bracket, just above the arms that hold the actual plate to the car.



Then, I just cut off the top part of the OEM bracket with a saw(as illustrated by the red line). I used a saw but you can use anything that will achieve a clean cut.


This is how it looks after I cut the top off, sanded down the edges and mounted it on my car.....

mduthappa

1Louder, I like the way your front plate looks!
State of Maryland...front plate is a must.
The original plate holder is not so great.
I will try out our idea. Thanks!!

LSands45

I think what you did is great but may be a bit of overkill in the area of work.
I basically accomplished the relocation of the front tag using a simpler approach and in my humble opinion looks even better.
What I did was modify the tag a bit. There is 5.75" of space between the top and bottom of the lower grill. All I did was trim off the top and bottom of the tag so that the tag was now 5.675" inches tall. I did not go into the "written portion" of the tag. Even after I trimmed the tag, there was more exposed than would be exposed if the tag were in a license plate frame.
Now that the tag is trimmed cleanly, I drilled 2 new holes in the tag so that it would line up with the factory front mount bolts on the plastic grill.
2 bolts, 2 washers and presto the tag is installed cleanly in the grill.
Like I said, I personally like this look better than having the tag protruding in front of the bumper. It is also a lot less work.

tsxdoc2011

Can we see a picture of your install? Thanks, sounds like a nice job