After moving from New York to New Mexico I found that six New York winters had made the screws and fasteners for the rear license plate a big ball of rust at each attachment point. The car (a 2006 Honda Accord) had two integrated clip/nut assemblies for the bottom two screws and what looked like a locking nut of some kind for the top two screws, presumably spot-welded to the trunk. I wound up taking everything off as combined pieces, as two hours of trying different methods to just get screws out failed. So now I have four holes that won’t hold a screw. I was thinking of getting at least two and possibly four locking nuts, probably nylock, and seeing if I can get them to hold with JB Weld using the holes as reference points. Then install the plate using bolts and maybe locking washers on the outside of the plate between the plate and the head. Am I on the right track or is there a better way?
Sorry, but you totally put my mind in the gutter with your thread title… 
OK – so it wasn’t just me. I was about to suggest ------------- hey! Look at those butterflies!
I had a broken front holder once and got around it with some larger plastic pop-rivets. Easy to drill out when things needed changed and solid as anything else available to me. Plus they never rust.
From the front, obviously… Hey, nice bandwagon… 
Another possibility is to get some larger tinnerman cage nuts.
My Odyssey had two nuts that were sort of screw-locked to the sheet metal with little barbs, then welded. Both broke off, one at a time. In replacing the first one, I found that a screw-in drywall anchor fit snugly. I just replaced the second today, nearly a year later, with the same thing, and the first is still tight and solid (and rust-proof).
#8 helical drywall anchors. Home Depot. You might want to splurge on some #10 x 1-inch stainless steel screws.
Two should hold it well enough.
Your mileage will certainly vary with something like this, but be aware that some states (like NY) specifically have it on the books that a car’s license plate MUST be bolted on. It cannot be wired, clipped, screwed, welded, tied, taped etc. it must be fastened with bolts…
I haven’t paid attention to whether or not they’re made for cars, but many motorcycle shops (at least around Ventura County) sell nylon bolts & nuts specifically for mounting license plates. They call them Nylon License Plate Bolts. Maybe your local biker shoppe has 'em? Maybe BikeBandit, Dennis Kirk, Cycle Gear, Motorcycle Superstore, or one of those on-line places (maybe even Amazon?) carries them?
–G!
[Maybe the icy chill of a New York winter would make them too brittle?] :smack:
In California, license plates are mounted on the rear.
With a cardboard tube?
Just be glad you don’t live in Soviet Russia.
Ouch.
As an aside, I am glad my new Subaru had plastic holes for the bolts. I too could not get my old plates off the car I was trading in. I had to snip off the plates and leave the rusty clumps of bolts in place. The happy ending (heh) is that I could never remember the number of the old plates and the new ones I was forced to get are a lot more memorable. (NH switched to seven numbers and I find them hard to remember without a letter/number pattern.)
If you have through holes, it’s hard to beat stainless steel bolts and stainless steel nylock nuts. Won’t rust, corrode or get grotty, and they’re impossible to take off with fingers, so there’s a fair measure of theft resistance.