My 2021 BMW i3S is riding dirty. As it’s registered in California, it is required to wear a front license plate, but I haven’t installed one yet. Why? Because unlike on my old Jeeps, which had provisions for a front plate that required just a few bolts going into already-existing holes, my BMW i3 does not come from the factory with holes for the front plate. You have to drill them. And even if I used a tow-hook mount instead, the car just wouldn’t look right.
I find myself continually contemplating whether I want to sell my mint condition, Galvanic Gold BMW i3S and replace it with a much cheaper ($20K cheaper) one that I can use without worry about scratches or dings or my child’s vomit. Anyway, this has me on the prowl for a less expensive, but still good-condition i3, and unfortunately my search is really going nowhere because I have a tough requirement: I don’t want the car to have a front license plate.
I realize that this is all a bit silly and I shouldn’t care as much as I do, but come on: How could I not care about whether my car has a bunch of holes drilled haphazardly right into it face?
The Holes Look Rough
Seriously, here’s how my current i3S looks, front bumper still factory-fresh:
Meanwhile, here’s a cheaper-but-still-nice 2018 BMW i3 with the interior I like and an overall condition I’d categorize as “excellent” aside from that one flaw:
I know I’m being a bit picky here, but also, maybe I’m not? These are poorly drilled holes through the plastic that makes up a car’s face! To me, this is as bad as if someone backed their trailer hitch into a car and left a big gash.
More egregious than that i3 is this Lexus RZ I recently saw posted to a Facebook group I’m in:
YIKES! Looks like that thing took on machine gun fire!
And I know, I know, one could just chuck the front plate on and cover up these holes, but I’d know they’re there. And also, if I lived in a front plate-free state, those holes would be especially annoying.
The truth is, cars rarely look as good with plates on their faces, though I get that the rules are the rules. I just wish modern cars weren’t designed to be drilled into, as the operation is permanent.
Back In The Day, This Wasn’t A Problem
And the thing is, it wasn’t always that way! Take my Jeep Comanche, for example. The factory front license plate frame mounted via bolts to the bottom of the front bumper:
Modern bumpers are plastic, though, so self-tapping screws have become the norm.
Tesla May Be The Only Major Automaker That Doesn’t Require Bumper Drilling
To be sure, Tesla is the one manufacturer I can think of whose front plate installation process actually avoids use of screws. Here are the automaker’s instructions for front plate bracket installation:
Check out the Toyota Prius below, whose front end has a strange plate provision that looks bizarre if you’re in a no-plate state. Jason Torchinsky pointed this out a while ago, writing:
Why, Toyota? For the roughly half of U.S. states that don’t require a front plate, do they really have to have a bumper that looks like someone jammed a brick in there and then painted over it? Perhaps this is the Euro/Asia bumper skin and the U.S.-market one will have something that works with or without a front plate? That’s possible, I suppose, and at least they considered the front plate at all, which some cars just don’t at all. But still.
Instead of designing the car’s shape around a flat license plate, Tesla has created license plate brackets that conform to the vehicle’s shape, and instead of installing the bracket with screws, one installs it using adhesive.
Image: ToyotaThis might make you think that removing the plates will destroy the car’s paint; looks like taking a Tesla’s bracket off involves simply using a plastic trim tool, though some owners say a hairdryer and some fishing line helps, too:
Reading around the web, while some report stains from dirt entrapment, it seems most who have tried removing their front plate bracket have managed to do so without damaging the paint (especially if they used heat and fishing line), so this seems like a good solution from Tesla. Props to the company for not requiring drilling into that front bumper to mount the factory bracket.
The Aftermarket Is Still The Answer
There are often adhesive-plate-bracket options in the aftermarket as well, and as shown above, I can buy an i3 front plate mount that hooks to the threaded tow-hook hole under the little square plug in the front bumper. What’s more, California actually allows a front license plat vinyl wrap, which I find rather clever:
I may go this route on my car. If I keep it.
Anyway, thank you for reading my random rant about an industry norm that bothers me to no end.
I agree. First off, front plates are ugly and stupid.
But it actually is insane that auto manufacturers obsess over how a car looks, then provide no front plate provisions. They leave it to some Ryobi armed teenager at the dealership to permanently damage their product before their consumer even makes a purchase.
Local constabulary needs the front plate for automated camera writing infractions….$$$
The camera takes the picture of the front plate only? So anybody from a non-front plate state gets away scott free?
Forget the front plate. Every state needs a back plate but there still are cars being sold here that require the dealership employees to drill the back bumper on a brand new car.
This is my biggest pet peeve in automotive design. The fact that BMW designed the most hateful front grill of modern times and then failed to allow for a front plate is probably the most egregious lack of form follows function I’ve seen. Alfa is also pretty guilty here too. As far as I know, the EU all require front plates so they know there are going to be front plates on these grilles, even if they are shaped differently than the american ones.
I ride without a front plate. Last new car I bought did not have the front bracket installed. They gave me the bracket and said I can install myself or bring it in and they would do it for me. I got out my drill, sat in front of the brand new car, and couldn’t bring myself to do it, nor did I want anyone else to do it! I’ll keep my bumper drill hole free unless the fuzz starts hassling me about it or something.
My first ever brand new car was a red 2014 Fiesta, which I thought was very handsome with the (then new) corporate facelift. I bought it in PA while living in PA, which is (was? haven’t been there in a while) a state that does not require front plates. But the dealership was near the PA / Maryland border. I test drove the car right off the transporter, bought it, but was told they had to keep it a day to finish pre-sale prep. When I got back to pick it up the next day, the dealership had used huge lag bolts screwed directly into the plastic front facia of the car to affix a front license plate holder (dealer advertising front plate thoughtfully included). I lost my entire shit.
I know the plate is required, but I have not been able to bring myself to care for, I think, the past three vehicles I’ve driven. I currently have a FJ Cruiser and just rock the rear plate. Thankfully, I live in Los Angeles, where the LAPD is essentially useless – unless you want your dog shot in front of you – and refuses to do even the bare minimum of their job, so things are fine here!
Most places, front plates are an add-on fine not a stoppable infraction. I have been pulled over and hassled about a plate cover on the rear while running no front plate and the officer did not say a damn thing about the front plate.
Death to front plates. You wanna ticket me? Send a human.
Ga! I hate front plates. I’ve lived in a front plate state for 30 years after growing up in a state that abandoned them in the early 80s. I had obscene amounts of trouble with my A5 trying to get a front plate on that didn’t sit lower than the front edge of the lip spoiler.
There are 2 factory option screw holes that insert into the grille on the A5. Dealer installed with the top of plate aligning to screw holes, which just looked terrible and would have meant bent plate about an hour after leaving the lot. Aligning to the bottom holes of the plate made the top unstable. Finally found a custom aftermarket solution that made the front plate adjust height along a slot and therefore kinda sorta not terrible, but tempted still to just leave it off and accept the ticket if pulled over. Some debate whether it’s a primary or secondary offense around these parts and I just don’t want to deal with being pulled over only for not having a front plate.
What will it take to eliminate the front plate in the remaining states? Not sure I’ve seen any studies saying it helps the police, which I assume it the reason we have it? Toll and speed cameras are aimed at back plates anyway, so … what’s the point of the front plate? I suppose nobody cares but car owners and we don’t have a great lobbying apparatus compared to vehicle manufacturers (who stopped caring decades ago) or law enforcement.
I don’t think you want to sell the yellow i3s.
I think you are missing the thrill of the hunt. The thrill of hunting down a new holy grail, a combo of options and specifications that finally, this time, will make you happy. And it won’t make you happy because the hunt is over, and now you have to hunt once more. This time it won’t be an i3, it will be a different car that has a different combo of options that will finally make you happy.
And then that car won’t make you happy. Because you don’t love the car, you love the chase.
I ran “dirty” in California for many years. Initially, in an old MG, then later in a Tesla. Plenty of police saw them and I never got a ticket. A colleague got a ticket for no front plate on her MINI.
Even if you are ticketed for no front plate, it’s mostly an inconvenience — you have to get the vehicle signed-off as having the plate.
I did buy a quick-release plate holder for my Tesla. In the event that I did get a ticket, I would put it on, get the documentation, then immediately take it off again.
We ordered our 2011 Volvo C30 from the factory in Sweden. As soon as it got there the dealer drilled holes in the front bumper to mount their dealer ad mounting bracket.
I live in a state that does not require front plates. I was so damn mad at that point I should have cancelled the whole thing.
I always liked the C4? C5? Corvettes that came with a Corvette-branded filler plug for the front plate area which could be removed if you needed a front plate.
The last Pontiac Bonneville had the same!
My 2014 TSX had the best design. Bracket for the factory plate reached UNDER the lip to bolt in. Genus.
Most of the civilized world requires front plates.
That’s about all that needs saying on this topic.
PistonBones made the Tesla sticker as a one-off. They then put in a minimum order quantity because a bunch of small orders were unprofitable.
I can coordinate an Autopian group buy if you want.
Let me get this straight… you’ve got a car, your gold i3. It’s meant to be driven. It’s meant to do the car-related things a person does in life with work and family. You’re thinking about selling it because its condition is too good? Instead of scratching it yourself, or doing the whole baby vomit cleanup, and building a story of your lives together, you want to sell it and get someone’s else’s discarded stories? Louisiana Maine LAME
What’s that stain? The lamest answer is “I have no idea”. Wouldn’t you rather say “When Delmar was 8 months he suddenly puked, and we were on our way to blah blah blah, and all this stuff happened.” And let out a healthy gut laugh?
Buy 6-8 niobium magnets. 3d print a license plate holder that matches the contour of your bumper (use a contour gauge, doesn’t need to be exact). Glue or epoxy 6 – 8 small metal plates to the back of the holder. Take off the bumper cover glue the magnets inside the bumper cover. Put bumper cover back on. Attach plate holder.
To pass inspection, I hot glue mine on. It’s used temporarily, but would probably work permanently with occasional checks. After a cop told me I couldn’t have fake machine guns protruding from my grille because of something about “pedestrian safety”, I hollowed out the center and glued styrene teeth behind the frame of the grille on my old Subaru. They were several inches long only secured at the base, and contended with snow, rain, etc. without a problem.
I’m sure you can rig some sort of hidden mount that screws into the black grille area from underneath. That would also allow the plate stand away from the painted surface a bit – reducing the abrasion risk. Or just 2 sided foam tape.