There has been a lot of talk on this board regarding front license plates. I think the consensus is about 100 to 1 that the car looks much better without a front plate. The dilemma that some are having is risk a ticket or drill the front bumper and ruin the looks of the car.
Here is what I am doing:
I keep the license plate in the trunk of the car in the original DMV envelope. If I get pulled over, I will show the officer the plate, point out the front bumper and give him a sob story that this is a new car and the front bumper mount is on order from Germany blah blah blah and as soon as I get the proper mount of course I will put the plates on. Based on the cops dickiness factor, this will probably work maybe 50% of the time. Obviously, this won't work forever.
Phase 2 - If you do get caught: don't drill the bumper! You will usually get a fix it ticket. Some states allow you to pay and be done with it, other states actually require that you fix it and show proof that it has been fixed. Here is the solution:
1. Purchase a cheap black plastic license plate holder (your dealer will probably give you one for free) but it must be plastic!
2. Glue the license plate into the plastic frame.
3. Trim the heads off of some screws and glue them in the pre-drilled holes on the frame. (May not be necessary but it's a nice touch)
4. Get some velcro at Lowe's (not Home Depot, I own stock in Lowe's) and affix two small round pieces to the bumper and the back of the license plate.
You have just created a removable front license plate without ruining the front bumper! Once you are done with your inspection, you can easily remove all traces of velcro from the bumper with a little Goof Off (once again Lowe's).
If you have a black car like me, you can just leave the velcro in place as it would hardly be noticeable. You can keep the plates in your trunk and put them on whenever you don't want to attract undue attention to yourself, for example after having a few drinks, smuggling a trunk full of dope, picking up hookers, etc. hmmm
Just kidding...the drinking thing was obviously a joke! :7:
Interesting, but I won't ever knowingly provide the police with an opportunity for them to pull me over at will. I don't want the delay and hassle. They may find another reason to ticket you besides the obvious. Also, they may be willing to let you off something until they see you don't have a front plate. It is no uglier than a rear plate. It's like red brake lights and yellow turn signals, they are what they are -- required. I personally hate window stickers all over my windshield for memberships, parking permits, inspections, etc. They look horrible inside and out. Not much one can do, though.
Great idea! Not sure if this would work though. The Audi has a removable plate valance which makes it quite easy to mount the receptor magnets to. It would be quite a task to access the appropriate area on the e60 M5 to do this. Maybe there is enough ferrous material behind the plastic bumper for really strong magnets to stick to? The magnets I have around the house don't stick.
How about driving around with a car full of hookers while picking up dope?
Or
Driving around with a trunk full of dope while looking for hookers?
On to cars without dope or hookers. :halo:
The magnetic mount is ingenious. An electromagnet mounted behind the bumper would allow using the plate for as long as necessary. Only problem might be interference with the parking distance sensors.
Of course, if you have enough dope & hookers, will you care about the front plate? (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) :cool_shades:
Tried something similar with my 911 a few summers ago. Cop did not buy it, went to court with a receipt from the body shop showing bracket on order. Got the ticket anyway.
Regardless my new M5 has no plate. Another scnerio went out last Thursday, valet parked the car, came out to see a black on black M5 parked next to me, same selling dealer. The valet guys were sayng the other guy was pissed cause the car looked much better without the plate.
Niknotiq said:
There has been a lot of talk on this board regarding front license plates. I think the consensus is about 100 to 1 that the car looks much better without a front plate. The dilemma that some are having is risk a ticket or drill the front bumper and ruin the looks of the car.
Here is what I am doing:
I keep the license plate in the trunk of the car in the original DMV envelope. If I get pulled over, I will show the officer the plate, point out the front bumper and give him a sob story that this is a new car and the front bumper mount is on order from Germany blah blah blah and as soon as I get the proper mount of course I will put the plates on. Based on the cops dickiness factor, this will probably work maybe 50% of the time. Obviously, this won't work forever.
Phase 2 - If you do get caught: don't drill the bumper! You will usually get a fix it ticket. Some states allow you to pay and be done with it, other states actually require that you fix it and show proof that it has been fixed. Here is the solution:
1. P
urchase a cheap black plastic license plate holder (your dealer will probably give you one for free) but it must be plastic!
2. Glue the license plate into the plastic frame.
3. Trim the heads off of some screws and glue them in the pre-drilled holes on the frame. (May not be necessary but it's a nice touch)
4. Get some velcro at Lowe's (not Home Depot, I own stock in Lowe's) and affix two small round pieces to the bumper and the back of the license plate.
You have just created a removable front license plate without ruining the front bumper! Once you are done with your inspection, you can easily remove all traces of velcro from the bumper with a little Goof Off (once again Lowe's).
If you have a black car like me, you can just leave the velcro in place as it would hardly be noticeable. You can keep the plates in your trunk and put them on whenever you don't want to attract undue attention to yourself, for example after having a few drinks, smuggling a trunk full of dope, picking up hookers, etc. hmmm
Just kidding...the drinking thing was obviously a joke! :7:
Twice now, no front license plate has gotten me in trouble. 1st time got stopped for speeding then no seatbelt then no front plate. In court, had to pay for speeding but, got out of the seatbelt one with a note from my doctor. I then showed the judge a photo of my car with a front plate (just taped on) and got it dismissed.
The second time, not so good. Got stopped for no front plate which for some reason allowed them to search my car. Didn't get a ticket for that but instead, arrested for 1 felony and 5 misdemeanors.
Never had any plates on the cars and it's required here in NJ. Just pay the ticket if you ever get one. If you must put it on for inspection purposes just ziptie it to the the front mesh part of the bumper.
I have always used two long, horizontal strips of velcro. Mind you I only applied it once to a non-clearbra bumper (540/6) for a short time to have a fix-it ticket signed off, but it held very well. and I am currently using it on my clearbra'ed M5 with no issues. After about nine months or so I easily pulled it off in seconds to get back to the clean, plateless look back and it came off without issue but was definitely well stuck on, so there was no detectable degradation of the adhesive. I used some contact cleaner to remove the bit of adhesive from the area. If you want to be cautious if/when removing it you could use a hair dryer to soften the adhesive I suppose.
I have since put it back on because I was pulled over for the absence of the front plate.
Velcro make wide 2" strips but these days I'm just using the 1" strips from a roll. I cut strips almost the full width of the license plate.
i'm working on a motorized version of the front plate. i've already have a bracket, just need an actuator to make it automatic. basically, it will work like this... the plate will be hidden away in the inside of the bumper grill (the opening of between the air scoops on the bumper) when the car is turned off or when a switch is flipped, it will slide out and flip down to be visible. when car is on or switch flipped off, the plate will flip up and slide back into the bumper. won't even be visible. here's a video of a similar mechanism on a different car.
i'm working on a motorized version of the front plate. i've already have a bracket, just need an actuator to make it automatic. basically, it will work like this... the plate will be hidden away in the inside of the bumper grill (the opening of between the air scoops on the bumper) when the car is turned off or when a switch is flipped, it will slide out and flip down to be visible. when car is on or switch flipped off, the plate will flip up and slide back into the bumper. won't even be visible. here's a video of a similar mechanism on a different car.
Nice job. Hope you've patent it. I'm now motivate to buy the motorized one. It won't save me a ticket while driving but it will when I parked.
Cop pulls me over and then I press the button to show the plates.
Cop: "Do you know why I pulled you over?"
Me: ":confused2 Nope."
Cop: "You're driving without front plates."
Me: "What are you talking about? They're there."
Cop takes a look grrrrrrr ...
Cop: "What the hell is that?"
Me: "What the hell is what? :confused3"
Cop writes me the ticket anyway.
Cop: "Have a nice day."
Me: "Thank you. May I have another?"
Every time I come on this board I can find another example of ingenuity and some serious brain power...all to break, I'm sorry avoid, the law. You are all a bunch of evil geniuses! :7: Go cure cancer or something!!
Nice ideas though. :applause: I thought I was slick leaving the thing in the glove box and throwing it on the dash when necessary. :dunno:
I requested no license plate on the front when I bought my car but they gave me the holder anyway. I think the part number is 5111 7895732-04.
Anyway, the plate attaches to this holder and then the holder has 2 clips at the bottom that clip on to the bumper. I put double sided mounting tape on the top part and it stuck right on and looked permanent. Good enough to get my ticket signed off.
Has anyone actually installed either of the two hideaway front plate holders from Swift Motorsports on an E60 M5? I doubt there is enough clearance if it is mounted below the front spoiler.
I bought the motorized hide-away plate and it does not fit below the bumper. There is not enough depth there, even if you cut out the front screen. It looks like it would be possible to fit it below the front spoiler, but as soon as you hit a curb, it will break a large chunk of the fiberglass. I returned it.
Also, Swift is very poor at responding to inquiries after you made the purchase. It's been a a couple weeks after I returned it and I still didn't get a refund yet. It's probably $20 cheaper to get it directly from Altec Products in MN. However they don't respond to inquiries, after the purchase, either.
Driving home in traffic today. Max 40 in a 50 MPH zone. CHP parked with radar on. Drive by him, pulls me over. Double fix it -- no front license plate, front windows tinted. Car is otherwise completely stock. This revenue generation thing is driving me nuts. I've been driving the speed limit for weeks after getting two speeding tickets in a row, but this is just crazy.
Driving home in traffic today. Max 40 in a 50 MPH zone. CHP parked with radar on. Drive by him, pulls me over. Double fix it -- no front license plate, front windows tinted. Car is otherwise completely stock. This revenue generation thing is driving me nuts. I've been driving the speed limit for weeks after getting two speeding tickets in a row, but this is just crazy.
It looks like i'm going to re-hash this old topic, but as a new owner, I was wondering if anyone has tried the above product or found any other good alternatives to mount a front plate without drilling the front?
I have the OEM front plate bracket, but don't want to drill if I can avoid it.
I previously had the Swift Motorsport sliding plate holder on an e92 and that worked well, but as some have indicated, there isn't much clearance and/or it doesn't fit properly for the e60.
Any insight from long term members would be appreciated!
I have a Calif lic plate on the front but also a german plate on my car and the f**ing pigs cited me for that!
Regarding tinting--- (i have been cited many times) I found out that if you have a note from your doctor saying you need tinting for skin condition, you may have front side window tint. I posted the specific Calif law on another post, but if you look up Drivers code and type in tinting you will see the law. Since I have a letter with me, I have not been stopped. Maybe they know I am on to them!
We need to get the word out in Calif. and that will stop these overpaid, underworked cops from hassling us about these bs items.
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