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      05-05-2014, 08:50 PM   #1
brother i
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Centered removable front plate mount for <$10

Hey everybody!

Particularly relevant for California because our parking enforcement has the power to give front plate tickets.

I never got pulled over for not having a front plate, but did get a few when parked. It's a fix-it ticket - but still an annoying hassle to deal with.

Spent some time walking around a local hardware store, looking at each shelf trying to use my wild imagination to use what I saw on the shelves for a plate mount.

My requirements were simple:
1. Gotta be cheap
2. Can't drill holes in visible places (duh!)
3. Gotta be centered (tow hook mounts look... fugly imo)
4. Preferably easily removable

Solution was found in a surprising section - shower stuff.
If you google "adjustable single curtain rod" you'll find exactly what I got for the main mounting piece . Add a metal bar to attach the plate and a few screws - boom, mission accomplished with a single screw on the bottom-part of the bumper (the side that faces the ground which I don't mind drilling)

Note: make sure you get the rod in which the inside part fits in both ways. Also, after hacking off your desired length squeeze down the rear end to guarantee a snug fit before you attach it (much easier that way).

It could be improved - it's a little flimsy as it is, I suppose a better way would be to get two curtain rods (and omit the metal bar), but that would require more holes in the bottom of the bumper (as it is now, I reused one of the screws that attaches front part of the bumper to the bottom part - and only drilled one hole further back). It's fine for my use case though - I just put it on when parking (and it's plenty strong enough if I forget it on - the wind just pushes it in when at freeway speeds, so it's juuust fiiine).

See attached pics for details (damn, my bumper is scratched up. Damn, my car is dirty! Oh well)

Hope to save a headache for someone

Ah, attaching is a breeeeeze - https://www.youtube.com/embed/lB4I7M...l=0&showinfo=0
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Last edited by brother i; 05-05-2014 at 08:59 PM.. Reason: disable related videos on youtube.
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      05-05-2014, 09:02 PM   #2
Dalecan
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Great idea, cheap and does the job.
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      05-05-2014, 11:49 PM   #3
Jumbosock
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How sturdy is it? Does is move under freeway winds?

That metal strip you have mounted to the lower part of the license plate... Did you consider buying a longer one of those and bending it into an L? Might be studier.
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      05-06-2014, 12:45 AM   #4
brother i
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Cool

Using an L-bar instead of a piece of curtain rod - that's what I had initially, but for that I needed to screw it into place (every time I wanted to get a fix-it ticket signed off). This actually seems more secure, as using a single screw with a sturdy-ass (but significantly heavier) piece of metal seemed to put quite a bit of stress on that single screw. I wanted something easily removable, and slide-in - slide-out variant of curtain rod works nicely.

I haven't seen the car driven on the freeway without me being in it since I made the plate mount - so can't really tell if it moves... It does have some side-to-side play as it is, mounted in a single location. Didn't come off though on a 15mi drive home when I forgot to take it off a few times :-)

Like I said, more sturdy solution would have been to buy two curtain rods - and use them at each hole of the license plate. Potentially trickier to put in though, as you'd need to align both sides (not a biggie though I'd imagine, just put one in and align the other by feeling under the bumper). Maybe I'll do it one day... Or not

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Originally Posted by Jumbosock View Post
How sturdy is it? Does is move under freeway winds?

That metal strip you have mounted to the lower part of the license plate... Did you consider buying a longer one of those and bending it into an L? Might be studier.
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