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Anyone use the OEM front license plate holder?
- Thread starter Owner4523
- Start date
Actually... with a 2018 M3 from 2018 to 2023, a 2023 M3 to now, and a 2021 MY to now: All three cars have made vaguely regular trips to a "flapper" car wash and that front stock holder has never shown a sign of falling off.
That's one heck of a glue strip Tesla's got there.
I just installed a cheap holder from Amazon, though I don't have plates from DMV yet.
It blocks a small portion of the grill, but it won't cause any overheating problems, I'm confident. Cooling systems are always over-engineered to account for the guy pulling a 3,000 lb trailer up a hill at 80 MPH in Death Valley.
I'm skeptical about it holding up in a car wash, as it's made of the flimsiest metal. I'll probably either take it to a touchless wash, or hand wash... I really only wash a car about once a year anyhow. Frequent rain here means cars aren't ever clean, but they also aren't that dirty.
Amazon.com
It blocks a small portion of the grill, but it won't cause any overheating problems, I'm confident. Cooling systems are always over-engineered to account for the guy pulling a 3,000 lb trailer up a hill at 80 MPH in Death Valley.
I'm skeptical about it holding up in a car wash, as it's made of the flimsiest metal. I'll probably either take it to a touchless wash, or hand wash... I really only wash a car about once a year anyhow. Frequent rain here means cars aren't ever clean, but they also aren't that dirty.
Amazon.com
I think the “danger” with that holder is that if force applied to it, that force would then be transmitted to the plastic grill which would break; that part, like all Tesla parts, is pricey.
carpendj
Member
I use the OEM one without any issues. Super sticky. I live in Texas and drove without a front plate for about 6 months before the local police stopped me and gave me a warning. I see the same guys every day and so I had to fit the plate. I've seen neighbors being stopped for the same thing. I guess its luck of the draw sometimes. I had a Camaro that I owned for 2 years without a plate and never got stopped, though I put the plate on the dashboard. When I lived in LA I actually got a ticket for a missing front plate while parked at LAX. I could not believe I could get one while parked at LAX. Looking back I probably should have fought it but just a waste of my time.
I got a ticket for expired plates while parked in San Diego. It was a Turo rental, so I didn't personally care, but I was surprised it's not legal to have expired plates on a car not being driven.
Not that surprised though, because I got a ticket for not having insurance on a car registered to me that wasn't being driven in Oregon. I had a court date via phone call, and the judge asked me why I didn't have insurance, and I said the car wasn't being driven. She dismissed the ticket on my testimony that the car wasn't being driven. Don't know why such lunacy has to occur when there's actual crimes being committed. 1 out of 5 drivers are uninsured; bust those scoundrels.
There should be no laws with an assumption of guilt. Nobody should be proving their innocence, the system needs to establish guilt.
My front plate was stuck on my MY with very strong double sided tape when I got it......Not strong enough to survive an unfortunate wildlife encounter, so I had to replace my plates. I got a front plate holder from Amazon and it's working well. Yes, it blocks a bit of the airflow, but not enough to make a difference in routine driving https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0CF8BYPPH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
Seems that the car being on a public road (versus private property) may matter for these kinds of citations.
Yup.
My family in San Diego has this huge Toyota Sequoia that they don’t often drive. It’s parked in the driveway, but it also requires informing the DMV, since we’re not using it, we should suspend the registration until we use it. Plus you don’t pay for registration while it’s suspended.
Both instances @redpoint5 mentioned are faults of the owners, not instances of them “assuming guilt.” Car on public road is subject to rules of the road.
Exactly backwards. If the state accuses someone of something, it's incumbent on the state to provide evidence. It's perfectly legal to not have insurance in Oregon for a car not driven on public roads. They're the ones the suck, and they suck hard.
Mine fell off my Model Y 6 months after I purchased it. It was a hot summer day and it was hanging when I came out to my driveway.
It was installed in winter though, so maybe adhesion wasn’t as good as it could have been if it were above 15 degrees.
I know - it's an older thread. But it's related, so...
I bought my M3P gently-used from a non-Tesla dealer, and the salesman who affixed the plates really f-ed up the mounting.
The rear uses 2 coarse-thread screws to attach the frame to the car...and 4 M5 x 0.8 screws to attach the plate to the frame. The frame-to-body mechanism depends upon just two microscopic plastic inserts (similar to drywall anchors)
Unbeknownst to me, the salesman used over-sized screws to affix the frame, so those 2 inserts are badly split. Worse - he just grabbed 4 random screws to affix the plate to the frame, and 3 of them twisted the threaded sleeves out of the frame. Hopeless.
The front is just as bad. In the front, the plate is secured to the frame with 4 coarse-threaded screws. But the screws that were used on my car wee over-sized, and all four of the "towers" (stand-offs?) are split.
I do not want one of the clamps-to-the-grille style mounts on the front. But neither am I willing to pay over $30 for a same-as-or-very-close-to OE replacement. Any ideas?
And at the rear...I'm gonna need to replace the plastic inserts before worrying about anything else. I'm sure they're nothing special--and most likely about 4 cents each--but has anyone done this? And/or does anyone have any ideas that are superior to the OE design?
Many thanks!
I bought my M3P gently-used from a non-Tesla dealer, and the salesman who affixed the plates really f-ed up the mounting.
The rear uses 2 coarse-thread screws to attach the frame to the car...and 4 M5 x 0.8 screws to attach the plate to the frame. The frame-to-body mechanism depends upon just two microscopic plastic inserts (similar to drywall anchors)Unbeknownst to me, the salesman used over-sized screws to affix the frame, so those 2 inserts are badly split. Worse - he just grabbed 4 random screws to affix the plate to the frame, and 3 of them twisted the threaded sleeves out of the frame. Hopeless.
The front is just as bad. In the front, the plate is secured to the frame with 4 coarse-threaded screws. But the screws that were used on my car wee over-sized, and all four of the "towers" (stand-offs?) are split.
I do not want one of the clamps-to-the-grille style mounts on the front. But neither am I willing to pay over $30 for a same-as-or-very-close-to OE replacement. Any ideas?
And at the rear...I'm gonna need to replace the plastic inserts before worrying about anything else. I'm sure they're nothing special--and most likely about 4 cents each--but has anyone done this? And/or does anyone have any ideas that are superior to the OE design?
Many thanks!
On a whim, I decided to actually see this thread... but WOW, this post so idiotic.
Proving someone has insurance or not might be difficult. But that wasn't what I was responding to.
But in most states it's easy to "prove" a car isn't properly registered, since it has to have visible expiration dated stickers on the plates. Sometimes, a person does properly register, but due to neglect or whatever, "forgets" to apply the sticker, meaning only the expired sticker shows. In that case, traffic enforcement is still allowed, because the law INCLUDES the fact it's supposed to be on the plates, not hidden somewhere in a purse or desk drawer.
Which is what I was talking about, in response to another poster that responded to you mention expired plates, not insurance.
It seems like every time someone says something, you want to go off about something else.
I'd use a thin strong wire to slice through the foam in the VHB tape. Done that often to VHB tape. Once it is cut that way, one can roll up the portion still stuck to the bumper.
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