Rear License Plate Mount

[rrrucke]

When I checked out my smart yesterday which is still sitting on the showroom floor, I noticed the rear plate holder is center perfectly. However I was disappointed that the front plate holder hags low and partially covers the lower grill piece. Something I don't particullary like but I'll get over it.

[jediknight36]

Take it off. Keep it in the car in case you get pulled over.

[StevenM1TX]

Originally Posted by jediknight36

Take it off. Keep it in the car in case you get pulled over.

Might work, but I prefer not to give the police a good reason to pull me over.

[jediknight36]

No I totally understand, but I have a tendency to get too close to that curb and I dont want to break government property. I was pulled over once for that reason. We just promised to put it on. The dealership dosnt have them on, so go fig.

[HGB]

My dealer has no solution at this time, so I made a temporary mount using the plastic front plate mount in the rear. The holes of the black front mount piece are a match to the rear concave dimples on the car. I drilled two small 3/32 holes into the body of the car. Then I followed up with screwing the mount to the car using 2 3/4 long sheet metal screws with washers.
Now the plate can be mounted on the mount with four 10-32 x 3/4 long screws. Again I used washers with the screws because the slotted holes of the plate are too large. The 4 screws easily self tap themselves into the plastic of the mount. Too much torque can strip the plastic though. Please note that what I did is is a temporary fix. It looks good yet two issues abound. 1) the license plate light at night hardly lights up the plate because of its thickness 2) you got to open the rear hatch with the key because the plastic mount prevents finger access to the switch. This is a temporary measure and can't be used when a front plate is needed. It looks better than a temporary plate scotch taped in a window

[riversidesmart]

My local dealer has been issued screws to attach the rear plate. I had mine drilled yesterday, I asked them to do it for all all four holes (to eliminate rattles and to match most frames). Screws are a bit smaller and shorter than I had expected, but enough to secure plate and reasonably thin frame.

They have nothing yet for the front, I have ordered the after-market front mount I found in the vendor section of this site. It attaches to the receptacle for the front towing hook, needs no drilling.

[FWOIII]

A front mount comes inside each car.

[eqwalker]

My dealer drilled two holes for the back mounting bracket. It has two bolts with nuts on the back of the panel. The bracket has four threaded lugs to attach the license plate. I am picky, so I took apart the back tailgate to get to the nuts so I could perfectly center the bracket. It was a little lower on one side than the other. Other than that, the bracket seems to be of good quality and I only have to have two holes in the panel.

[riversidesmart]

Originally Posted by FWOIII

A front mount comes inside each car.

In concept, perhaps.

This distribution network has been in operation just a few weeks, I guess they are entitled to a few minor digressions. No front mount to be found in my car, the after-market thing should be fine, will report back!

[riversidesmart]

RE: front plate mount:

Oops! I just realized that there is a shallow storage compartment in the lower tail gate. There is indeed a rectangular black plastic front plate mount in this compartment. Sales staff apparently oblivious to this. I doubt I will use it. Earlier this morning I installed the "no holes" front plate mount from Gominigo site in the vendors section. The advantage is mounting (or removing) at will the front plate without drilling; the mount uses the front tow hook receptacle. The disadvantage? Fifty bucks, but seems to be quality stuff. The $6.95 charged for shipping is exactly the cost of priority mail postage and insurance on the box, arrived with good instructions in a couple of days.

Thinking of getting a similar front mount for a Porsche Boxster, in case I have a law enforcement "event" and need a quick (if only temporary) remedy.