My husband recently traded in the Z for his new toy.
He picked up his plates last Saturday. Despite my warnings, he has been dragging his feet about attaching the front plate, as he hates the thought of drilling into the bumper. Today, I got the call - he was pulled over for it. (He was let off without a ticket using the excuse that the bracket was in the mail.)
The poor guy is so sad, I can’t even do the traditional “told you so”.
Is there a way to attach the plates without damaging the bumper? He’s been researching, but says that they don’t make a non-drill bracket for the Challenger yet. I thought that I would appeal to the experts of the SDMB nonetheless.
Has he checked with a Dodge dealer? In my experience, every car manufacturer offers some way to attach a front license plate, and usually it doesn’t involve modifying any part that has cosmetic appeal.
If there is indeed no suitable bracket offered, it will be necessary to engineer one. A “true mechanic” (in the general sense - may or may not be an auto mechanic, but knows how to figure stuff out) could find a way. As far as telling you exactly how to do it, that would only be possible after the fact.
I agree with GaryT that there pretty much has to be some factory-designed way to attach a front plate - plenty of states require this.
If for some reasone there isn’t, I once had good luck attaching a plate with 3m UHB double-sticky tape. The downside is that getting this stuff off is a bitch (though with enough persistence it can be done).
How much is a ticket for not having the front license plate in your jurisdiction? Are there points attached? Are you required to provide proof of correction to close the case?
Neodymium magnets in small sizes will easily hold the front plate on if the bumper cover has a steel backing plate. Google will find dozens of suppliers with the specifications for each size.
Place magnets (I use six with a 66lb pull each) on the back of the plate then against the bumper cover. Never shown movement even at Autostrada speeds (typically 90-100 mph/160kph) when I was back in Italy. Been in place since January 2006 with no problems. I have the one inch diameter by about 1/4" thick size.
Don’t vibrations end up scratching the bumper cover where the magnets are in contact with it? After a while, I would expect to see one-inch marks that might be more unattractive than a couple of small holes.
I bought the magnets with the coating (vinyl-like). Haven’t seen any movement of the plate or magnet. I’d look but the car is in Italy and I’m in Iraq. It’s been through the automatic car wash with the rotating thingies and using a pressure washer at the car wash. No noticeable event happened - the first couple of times were a mistake (I meant to remove); now I don’t pay it any interest.
I expect to see some discoloration of the cover both where the plate has been and the magnets touch the cover but you’d get the same with a front plate mount too.
I have the European plate which is shorter in height but wider. I went with the 6 magnets to space out under the plate. There is a small fraction of an inch between the plate edges and the bumper cover. IANA aeronautical engineer but I believe the boundary layer at speed keeps the airflow from under the plate.
The price of the ticket is most likely not that bad. The problem is you’re giving any law enforcement officer in your State a valid probable cause to stop you any time they want. Sometimes this happens at the worse possible time.
Most States track the disposition of every traffic stop in their computers. If you’re stopped, and the officer runs your drivers license, the computer information will tell how many times you’ve been warned or given a warning ticket. After a while the officer will think you’re not getting the message, and start looking for other violations.
Sorry to have disappeared from my own thread - it’s been a hell of a day at work (I ended up working 6:30 am to 8:00 pm today).
Thanks for all of the suggestions! At least one’s bound to work - I’ll pass this thread along to the husband to decide which he’s going to go for.
Like others in the thread mentioned, the bracket they gave him required drilling, and they don’t have another version available yet. On the upside, the dealership didn’t install it automatically.
I did some minor googling (as most as I could manage with the current squishy state of my brain), and couldn’t find anything official. Various people quoted ticket prices ranging from $54 to $220. Definitely no points, though. Several people said that they had been pulled over multiple times, and were given a number of other tickets (doing 27 in a 25, for instance) when they didn’t seem to be getting the message. I think I’ll veto the “just ignore it” option.
A 2003 350Z, in that nice rare-ish blue. His entire family was startled to learn that he was willing to trade it in - he loved that car, and we had done a number of after-market upgrades over the years. We were especially startled that he was willing to do it for an American muscle car with an automatic. He’s always been a Japanese import guy.
As for why, I enforce a strict “one sports car at a time” rule, otherwise we would have gone bankrupt years ago supporting his habit.
You and me both. I LOVE my Mustang. I loved every Mustang I ever owned. But my current infatuation is the Dodge Challenger (the 8 cylinder , not the pussy V-6 one). I’m absolutely ga-ga over that car. Retro done right!!!:)
