# What glue is used on licence plate stickers?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-glue-is-used-on-licence-plate-stickers/644079>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 15, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-glue-is-used-on-licence-plate-stickers/644079 "2012-12-15T01:49:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-glue-is-used-on-licence-plate-stickers/644079/1 "2012-12-15T01:49:02Z")

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That stuff is awesome. I want some.

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**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-glue-is-used-on-licence-plate-stickers/644079/2 "2012-12-15T01:59:06Z")

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No answer here. But damn you are right. That IS some good sticky shit for sure.

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-glue-is-used-on-licence-plate-stickers/644079/3 "2012-12-15T04:34:18Z")

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From a 3M patent application, it’s an acrylic adhesive.

“It is known in the art to make license plates comprising precleared license plate sheetings by securing the precleared sheeting to a license plate blank through an adhesive composition comprising a copolymer of isooctyl acrylate and acrylic acid, present in a weight ratio of about 90:10, and a bisamide crosslinker.”

If you want to make your own stickers, find some 3M 5330 material. I don’t think they sell the adhesive separately.

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**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-glue-is-used-on-licence-plate-stickers/644079/4 "2012-12-15T10:52:04Z")

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Hah, thanks, no I glue various things together at times. I was thinking of the stickers adhesion and I said to myself, “That’s a glue I could use.”

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**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-glue-is-used-on-licence-plate-stickers/644079/5 "2012-12-15T21:51:07Z")

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Relevant [photo](http://imgur.com/gallery/IITT4).

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**Author:** ![pwmeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@pwmeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pwmeek)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-glue-is-used-on-licence-plate-stickers/644079/6 "2012-12-16T16:34:14Z")

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They belong to the general class of cold flow adhesives. The longer it is in contact with a surface, the more time it has to creep into the irregularities of that surface, eventually making a very strong bond.