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      07-21-2018, 11:21 PM   #1
Nezil
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Magnetic Front License Plate Mount

I've wanted to do this for a while...

Since moving to the US (California), I've never been a fan of front license plates. In my part of the state, you can pretty much get away with no front plate, but in San Francisco, you can get a ticket if you're parked. Down in Southern California I've also heard that the police will sometimes give you a ticket as well.

My goal therefore, isn't to have a front plate without drilling holes, it's to have no front plate 95% of the time, and a very quick and easy to fit front plate for that 5% of the time that I might need it. I also want a solution that looks stock so that if I get a fix it ticket, I can show a cop, and they'll be easily satisfied.

So with my first car in the US, I came up with a solution - Magnetic plate mount.

My first car here was a 2012 Jaguar XF, I've also done my wife's 2016 Honda Pilot, which was by far the easiest, and now my M2. Details below:

The basic plan is mount 4 or 5 rare earth magnets to the inside of the front bumper, and affix 5 corresponding rare earth magnets to the factory front license plate that match up.

The biggest challenge is that you usually have to remove the front bumper to get the magnets in place. In my wife's Pilot that wasn't necessary, but it was in the M2:


I really love how easily these cars come apart. The bumper came off very easily, but as you can see I put some masking tape around the areas where I thought I might be in danger of scratching adjacent panels. In actual fact it was so easy that the masking tape may not have been necessary, but better safe that sorry.

One interesting thing I found under the bumper cover, was that the foam support is specific to the US model:


This is because there are moulded indentations for the location of the screws that would be used to mount the factory front license plate. This was actually a bit of a relief for me, because sometimes the support foam is so close to the bumper cover that magnets installed there might cause the bumper cover to not fit correctly... no issues on the M2 though!

As you'll see later, my plan was to use Loctite Plastic Epoxy to stick the magnets to the license plate frame, but to get the alignment correct and allow me to put my car back together while the epoxy sets, I used double sided foam tape temporarily:


Using just two of the 5 magnets initially, I lined up the plate mount carefully. I found it easier to move the bumper cover away from the car a bit at this point, which required pulling some of the headlight washer piping out of its clips:


Once aligned, I peeled off the release and stuck each magnet in place. Ignore the 3M tape on the back of the magnets, I actually used 3M high strength foam tape on the other side:


Before putting the bumper cover back on, I put some spare magnets on the outside to keep pressure on the foam tape holding the internal magnets in place. This probably wasn't necessary, but I had some spare magnets so decided to do this while I put the bumper cover back on and glued up the plate mount:


So here is the plate mount with magnets glued in the location of the 5 screws that would normally be used. The glue isn't pretty but it's very strong. I also put some rubber circles over the magnets to protect the paint when it's installed. I have PPF on the front bumper anyway, so again, probably not necessary, but I like to go the extra mile to be safe:




And here is the end result, which should, of course, look factory!



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      07-21-2018, 11:29 PM   #2
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Wow to0o much work, how come you didnt buy a tow plate ?
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      07-21-2018, 11:33 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Orange fever View Post
Wow to0o much work, how come you didnt buy a tow plate ?
Doesn't look stock, and I've seen a few on cars that are at odd angles etc.

If I was going to leave the plate on, then I'd probably do for a tow hook mount, but I wanted something stealth.

Actually, to answer your question honestly... I love working on the car, and this was just another excuse to spend a few hours doing that. I'm happy with the end result of course, but the fun was in the doing!
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      07-22-2018, 12:18 AM   #4
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Excellent job!

I'm in Los Angeles, and also don't want to get a front plate. I've gone without it so far (4 months), but at some point I'll get a Carbonio Front License Plate mount... they look great, and supposedly only take a few seconds to remove and reinstall, after the first setup!

License plate can be mounted low or high, and no drilling required! Also, they're perfectly centered!
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      07-24-2018, 12:14 AM   #5
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Here's a Carbonio plate mount installed, in the upper orientation... It's super sturdy, and is pretty easy to remove or install at will.



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      07-24-2018, 12:24 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ZPrime View Post
Here's a Carbonio plate mount installed, in the upper orientation... It's super sturdy, and is pretty easy to remove or install at will.
Looks good - I got the same, mounted in the same spot, as high as it would go. Was thinking it wasn't worth all that extra effort just for Nezil to take his plate off in one second (vs about 10 seconds for us) but I figured he enjoyed the work even before he explicitly said so (was posted elsewhere earlier).

Nice work, Nezil - looks great and worth the effort since you enjoyed doing it.
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      07-24-2018, 03:36 AM   #7
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I also saved some money... Magnets cost about $20, and glue was $6.
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      07-24-2018, 08:15 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ShelJW View Post
Excellent job!

I'm in Los Angeles, and also don't want to get a front plate. I've gone without it so far (4 months), but at some point I'll get a Carbonio Front License Plate mount... they look great, and supposedly only take a few seconds to remove and reinstall, after the first setup!

License plate can be mounted low or high, and no drilling required! Also, they're perfectly centered!
Correct. I have one and take it on and off all the time in under 30 seconds
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      07-25-2018, 08:33 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nezil View Post
I also saved some money... Magnets cost about $20, and glue was $6.
Valid point.
I personally don't like screwing around with removing a front bumper just to setup for the "magic plate," but I get it.

My time is worth enough that the Carbonio mount was worth the cost not to mess around.
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      07-27-2018, 08:27 AM   #10
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Front mounts like this look like they would block or at least deflect a not entirely insignificant amount of airflow. Anybody able to instrument this?
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      07-27-2018, 10:01 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by boostm3 View Post
Front mounts like this look like they would block or at least deflect a not entirely insignificant amount of airflow. Anybody able to instrument this?
Another reason I didn't want to run with the front plate permanently attached.

The stock FMIC is complete junk. In high ambient, timing is significantly pulled even on the stock map. The bodywork was designed for a European long thin plate rather than a square us style one. I'm sure these mounts do affect air flow, and therefore IATs and therefore timing and therefore power.
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      07-27-2018, 10:13 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nezil View Post
Another reason I didn't want to run with the front plate permanently attached.

The stock FMIC is complete junk. In high ambient, timing is significantly pulled even on the stock map. The bodywork was designed for a European long thin plate rather than a square us style one. I'm sure these mounts do affect air flow, and therefore IATs and therefore timing and therefore power.
That's why Ive been running front-plateless for a decade. Here in Ct, Ive been lucky so far. I dont doubt, however, that making the argument about compromised airflow to officer Joe would fall on deaf ears, unless he's a car guy, and probably even then. Still, its a calculated risk Im willing to take. Should it come to it, Id probably go with a tow hook mount so as to leave the airflow undisturbed.
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      08-03-2018, 06:18 PM   #13
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Front plates are just ugly
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      08-03-2018, 07:29 PM   #14
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Nezil This is an interesting idea. I bought the Carbonio mount but don't really like it (happy to sell if someone wants it). Currently using a tow hook mount but don't like it all that much either.

Is your magnet mount strong enough to leave the tag on while running at speed? Now that you have had it for a while, any down side?

TIA!
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      08-04-2018, 08:24 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by randyt View Post
Nezil This is an interesting idea. I bought the Carbonio mount but don't really like it (happy to sell if someone wants it). Currently using a tow hook mount but don't like it all that much either.

Is your magnet mount strong enough to leave the tag on while running at speed? Now that you have had it for a while, any down side?

TIA!
I used this approach in my first car in the US, and my wife's car now as well. I've not found any downsides, but I've also not used it yet.

Since I did this, I've only gone to San Francisco once, and that time I parked in a private garage so didn't need it.

My next door neighbour bought my last car, and has been driving around with the front plate held on with this magnet solution since he bought it from me nearly a year ago. I did show him that it was removable, but he decided to just leave it on. I think that's pretty convincing evidence that it works for driving as well.

Just make sure you get rare Earth magnets, and you'll have no issues.
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