Front License Plate Removal - Paint Damage!

[AlphaTango11]

Hi all,

I was taking the front license plate off of my 2016.5 Model S and was just curious if anyone else had this happen to them. Pictures below.

The screws were easy to get, and the border adhesive came off just fine even when cold. But there are two dots of what seem to be almost epoxy in the middle that are giving me a hard time.

The left one actually took a huge chunk of paint with it when I pried it off. I was very disappointed because everyone else made it seem pretty easy, and the outer adhesive was definitely easy like I was expecting.

Has anyone else experienced this? Are these circular spots from the factory or could it have been redone at some point? The outer, rectangular adhesive appeared to be fine/sufficient but maybe it gave the previous owner issues or something?

I haven't taken the other one off yet as I'm still debating what I want to do at this point. I may just put new adhesive and put the plate holder back on instead, even though my state doesn't require them.

 

[DerbyDave]

That is not the adhesive that was used on my June, 2020 build license frame. Looks like someone reattached it with something else. My car's adhesive was clear (as I recall) and one mass. I took the frame off directly by just slowly pulling it off after removing screws. The adhesive was almost entirely remaining on the plate holder after removal. I rolled it off much like the adhesive used to seal junk mail ( a bit stronger bond than that). Good luck.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

That is not the adhesive that was used on my June, 2020 build license frame. Looks like someone reattached it with something else. My car's adhesive was clear (as I recall) and one mass. I took the frame off directly by just slowly pulling it off after removing screws. The adhesive was almost entirely remaining on the plate holder after removal. I rolled it off much like the adhesive used to seal junk mail ( a bit stronger bond than that). Good luck.

Agreed, this one looks to have been removed and re-attached outside of the factory specs. With that big of a paint chunk missing, I think your only options are to put the plate frame back on (buy some 3M VHB tape on Amazon and use that) or repaint the bumper