Roadster Foundry License Plate Bracket
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One last follow up. The Foundry bracket showed up at my door today, even though I got my refund. I e-mailed them and got an immediate response. He said he went ahead and sent it anyway since it was such a long wait. That was very nice of him.
Does anyone know if these are still available? I'm moving in a month to a state that requires a front license plate.
If you can't find the foundry bracket, I'd be happy to forward along the contact info of someone that did custom work for me.
Tesla License Bracket
S-2000 Roadster
#1244
- Apr 10, 2009
- 702
- 41
S-2000 Roadster
#1244
- Apr 10, 2009
- 702
- 41
There are city police, Highway Patrol, and city parking enforcement. Each has different rules and motivations.
As a fellow Seattleite, I can tell you that I've been pulled over on I-5 North, during a road trip from Seattle to Vancouver, BC, and the only reason was for driving a nice car without a front plate. I did not get a ticket (I explained that I had removed the plate to wash the car and 'forgot' to replace it), but he said that I should put it back on because they want to make sure that people are not sharing their front plates with car thieves who need something to put on their hot cars.
I have also been ticketed in Seattle by parking enforcement without even being over time. I once got a triple ticket: Expired plates, no front plate, and a clear cover on my rear plates. Apparently, you do not even have to be operating a vehicle in Seattle for parking enforcement to give you tickets related to plates. I thought that you had to actually be caught driving the vehicle to get a citation related to license tabs. I also thought that a completely transparent cover for the rear plate would not be a violation since it does not obstruct visibility in any way. Why do they even sell these things in Washington State if they're not legal here? Anyway, these were very expensive lessons, yet I'm still going to run my Roadster 2.5 as long as I can without a front plate.
Anyway, I'm sure that Seattle Police officers may not ever pull you over for lack of a front plate. I hope the same is true in Bellevue. But I can vouch for the Highway Patrol and Seattle Parking Enforcement as folks who will be glad to pull you over or write a ticket.
Doug_G
Lead Moderator
Doug_G
Lead Moderator
They're illegal here in Ontario. Canadian Tire sells them. Half the cars on the road have them. Including mine.
I do know there was some concern on the part of the authorities about the 407 ETR toll highway in Toronto, where it photographs the plates as you go through and they send you a bill in the mail. Early on some people tried to find ways to keep the camera from getting the picture. But I don't think that's actually the reason for the rule.
Pricing was $89.95 plus $10 priority shipping. I'm not affiliated with the manufacturer. I've just been pleased with the work.
Mower Deck Site: Mower Deck Axles,Carrera,Cayman,John Deere,Kubota
There is a star locking washer that has kept it in place.
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slcasner
Active Member
I have not been a regular reader of this forum until recently, so I had not seen this thread before. I have a comments regarding several of the posts.
That is my car and my photo. I designed this bracket through a couple of revisions based on good feedback from other owners in the owners' forum on the Tesla Motors web site, back when it actually worked. I had a couple of batches made by a local sheet metal shop, ARVI Manufacturing, and sold them to other interested owners. I gave the design to James at EV Components, following the lead of Martin Eberhard with his Roadster Foundry Mobile Charger, because I did not have the time or interest to make a business of it. James titled this thread Roadster Foundry License Plate Bracket, but the name "Roadster Foundry" belongs to Martin who was not involved with the development of this bracket.
I chose stainless steel so that the bracket would be strong enough and coating would not be required, but I can understand that some people might prefer the bracket to be black like the grille.
For the brackets that I sold directly myself, I included instructions with pictures plus the M10 (10mm) socket-head bolt, split-ring lock washer to fit M10 bolt, 8mm hex key (Allen wrench) to fit M10 bolt, and a 4mm hex key to fit M6 bolts supplied by Tesla Motors to mount the license plate. (Tesla really should have supplied that 4mm hex key along with the M6 bolts.)
I included the wrenches even though some car enthusiasts would already have them precisely because carrying them in the car is a good idea. Alan wrenches are compact and not that heavy.
My initial design positioned the plate up higher, exactly in the same position as the original plastic mounting bracket that Tesla supplied for the 2008 cars. One reason was to not affect the airflow. However, I got feedback on the owners' forum asking if an impact even at very low speed might push the bracket back against the bumper and perhaps cause a puncture from the bolts holding the plate to the bracket. So I redesigned it down lower such that the bracket and plate would clear the lower lip if bent backwards and such that the lip would not hit the bracket or bolts if pushed upward by scraping bottom in a driveway dip. I considered the airflow difference but decided that it was not a problem.
My guess is that those instructions are the ones I wrote. I provided the .pdf file of the instructions to both James and Dave with the expectation that they would produce their own instructions from my input, but I guess that was not done. I also urged them to include the same extra components that I did. By the way, I got my bolts and wrenches from Ohlander Company here in Silicon Valley, a great source for fasteners of all kinds.
The plate lies in the same plane as it would with Tesla's original plastic mounting bracket for the 2008. As I mentioned above, an important design constraint was to avoid contact in minor collision scenarios.
Since Tesla was originally supplying the socket-head M6 bolts to mount the license plate, I decided to make the pressed-in nuts on the bracket fit those rather than using English-measure philips-head bolts that would be more common. One thought was that a bolt that needed a metric Allen wrench instead of a screwdriver might act as a slight deterrent for the plate being stolen.
I'd like to see what that looks like. I tried to get Tesla to take my design and offer it as an option, but I couldn't raise any interest.
Yes, my design was for a socket-head bolt, and I included an Allen wrench to be kept with the car. Using the Allen wrench, the bracket can be removed and re-installed without removing the license plate from the bracket.
I became aware of the Mower Deck brackets for other cars about the time that I was looking for somebody to take over selling my design. I thought about contacting them to make a Tesla variant, which I see has now been done.
The reason I designed my bracket from formed sheet metal rather than lathe-turned parts is because that is the kind of manufacturing that ARVI does, and I had used them for a couple of unrelated projects earlier. Also, with the sheet metal approach, I was able to add on the tongue to straddle the vertical support on the tow-hook mounting socket to keep the bracket from rotating. I was concerned that the lock washer might not be secure enough with the heavy vibration in a car. I could have skipped the PEM inserts and just used loose nuts instead, but I think having the fixed nuts in place makes the bracket easier to use. In the design by Mower Deck with a thicker aluminum plate behind the license, they can tap the holes in the plate instead.
To all those who have one of the brackets I designed and like it, I'm glad it works for you. If the Mower Deck design works well, too, that's great.
Designed by Tesla Roadster owner Stephen Casner and made available through EV Components.
That is my car and my photo. I designed this bracket through a couple of revisions based on good feedback from other owners in the owners' forum on the Tesla Motors web site, back when it actually worked. I had a couple of batches made by a local sheet metal shop, ARVI Manufacturing, and sold them to other interested owners. I gave the design to James at EV Components, following the lead of Martin Eberhard with his Roadster Foundry Mobile Charger, because I did not have the time or interest to make a business of it. James titled this thread Roadster Foundry License Plate Bracket, but the name "Roadster Foundry" belongs to Martin who was not involved with the development of this bracket.
I chose stainless steel so that the bracket would be strong enough and coating would not be required, but I can understand that some people might prefer the bracket to be black like the grille.
For the brackets that I sold directly myself, I included instructions with pictures plus the M10 (10mm) socket-head bolt, split-ring lock washer to fit M10 bolt, 8mm hex key (Allen wrench) to fit M10 bolt, and a 4mm hex key to fit M6 bolts supplied by Tesla Motors to mount the license plate. (Tesla really should have supplied that 4mm hex key along with the M6 bolts.)
I included the wrenches even though some car enthusiasts would already have them precisely because carrying them in the car is a good idea. Alan wrenches are compact and not that heavy.
My initial design positioned the plate up higher, exactly in the same position as the original plastic mounting bracket that Tesla supplied for the 2008 cars. One reason was to not affect the airflow. However, I got feedback on the owners' forum asking if an impact even at very low speed might push the bracket back against the bumper and perhaps cause a puncture from the bolts holding the plate to the bracket. So I redesigned it down lower such that the bracket and plate would clear the lower lip if bent backwards and such that the lip would not hit the bracket or bolts if pushed upward by scraping bottom in a driveway dip. I considered the airflow difference but decided that it was not a problem.
My guess is that those instructions are the ones I wrote. I provided the .pdf file of the instructions to both James and Dave with the expectation that they would produce their own instructions from my input, but I guess that was not done. I also urged them to include the same extra components that I did. By the way, I got my bolts and wrenches from Ohlander Company here in Silicon Valley, a great source for fasteners of all kinds.
The plate lies in the same plane as it would with Tesla's original plastic mounting bracket for the 2008. As I mentioned above, an important design constraint was to avoid contact in minor collision scenarios.
Since Tesla was originally supplying the socket-head M6 bolts to mount the license plate, I decided to make the pressed-in nuts on the bracket fit those rather than using English-measure philips-head bolts that would be more common. One thought was that a bolt that needed a metric Allen wrench instead of a screwdriver might act as a slight deterrent for the plate being stolen.
I'd like to see what that looks like. I tried to get Tesla to take my design and offer it as an option, but I couldn't raise any interest.
Yes, my design was for a socket-head bolt, and I included an Allen wrench to be kept with the car. Using the Allen wrench, the bracket can be removed and re-installed without removing the license plate from the bracket.
I became aware of the Mower Deck brackets for other cars about the time that I was looking for somebody to take over selling my design. I thought about contacting them to make a Tesla variant, which I see has now been done.
The reason I designed my bracket from formed sheet metal rather than lathe-turned parts is because that is the kind of manufacturing that ARVI does, and I had used them for a couple of unrelated projects earlier. Also, with the sheet metal approach, I was able to add on the tongue to straddle the vertical support on the tow-hook mounting socket to keep the bracket from rotating. I was concerned that the lock washer might not be secure enough with the heavy vibration in a car. I could have skipped the PEM inserts and just used loose nuts instead, but I think having the fixed nuts in place makes the bracket easier to use. In the design by Mower Deck with a thicker aluminum plate behind the license, they can tap the holes in the plate instead.
To all those who have one of the brackets I designed and like it, I'm glad it works for you. If the Mower Deck design works well, too, that's great.
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smorgasbord
Active Member
Last month when I picked up my car in Menlo Park, I asked about front license plate alternatives. They said they had heard of something that mounts in the tow hook socket, but didn't know where to get it from or how much it cost. They gave me a plastic thing that requires tapping two holes in the front of the roadster and asked if I wanted them to do that. I said no, and so they made me sign a waiver absolving them of lack of front license plate responsibility (they actually had it already filled out, expecting my answer).
I just ordered the Mower Deck bracket. I'll report back after I install it.
Thanks. Actually that $327 bracket was something the first Tesla Ranger talked about when he came out once. I had since followed up and someone more senior said that didn't exist. Not sure where the first guy got that information. I've got a Foundry bracket now so will probably try that out but the Mower Deck bracket looks good too.
SByer
'08 #383
I have one of Steve's original brackets. It has worked out extremely well for me - the allen wrench is tucked in with the tool kit, and I found a nice real carbon fiber plate frame (I had to really hunt for it - I think there are more options now). I had originally thought about coating the bracket in black, but after the plate and frame are installed on it, it's really in shadow all the time so I never bothered. The bracket sits the plate just far enough away from everything that I haven't had to remove it even for cleaning.
I still can't imagine drilling holes in a carbon fiber bumper... -cringe-
I also still have the iPod bracket Steve did for the '08s - I adapted it to a ProClip quick change mount and still use it occasionally when I want navigation in the car - with my Android phone, of course, silly!
I hope that the Mower Deck bracket works for the '10s.
I still can't imagine drilling holes in a carbon fiber bumper... -cringe-
I also still have the iPod bracket Steve did for the '08s - I adapted it to a ProClip quick change mount and still use it occasionally when I want navigation in the car - with my Android phone, of course, silly!
I hope that the Mower Deck bracket works for the '10s.
DrComputer
Active Member
The bumper is just plastic... but I still agree that drilling into it isn't good. I have Steve's original bracket and it works great (even after two years).
rolosrevenge
Dr. EVS
- Feb 7, 2009
- 1,864
- 120
My friend was parked in the University District in Seattle for less than an hour and got a ticket for not having the front plate on his Roadster. With all of the budget problems these municipalities are facing they seem to be squeezing you every way they can.
S-2000 Roadster
#1244
- Apr 10, 2009
- 702
- 41
Seattle has long been notorious for issuing tickets to parked cars. Way back in 2006, I got a triple ticket for "no front plate" "expired plates" and "disallowed plate cover" (even though the cover was 100% transparent, not frosted or tinted). Only the "expired plates" ticket seemed remotely valid, but even then I don't see how they could prove that I was driving with expired plates. Apparently it is against the law to even park a vehicle with expired plates. The other two tickets were even more insulting, especially since I wasn't guilty of any normal parking violation.
Somehow, Seattle manages to fund a fleet of Segway units so that their parking staff can spend all day issuing tickets for every possible violation. I don't think it has anything to do with recent budget problems, at least not anything more recent than the last 5 years.
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rolosrevenge
Dr. EVS
- Feb 7, 2009
- 1,864
- 120
I told him that they probably thought that someone who could afford a $100,000 sports car wouldn't go to fight it in court. His response "They thought wrong!"
S-2000 Roadster
#1244
- Apr 10, 2009
- 702
- 41
Please tell us how that works out.
I fought a parking ticket where the mechanical timer on the meter counted down my last 6 minutes of paid parking much faster than that. I walked around the corner for a coffee and saw the meter maid drive by. Sure enough, I had a ticket. Here's the kicker, though, I wasn't allowed to protest the accuracy of the meter at the hearing because the meter has a plaque on it saying that any problems should be reported to the listed phone number. I still don't understand how they can get by without putting that same text on the ticket, when the ticket only explains how to protest the ticket itself - not the meter. Anyway, I'd like to see whether your friend is able to successfully navigate the Seattle Municipal Court system.
W.Petefish
Active Member
- Apr 29, 2011
- 1,060
- 11
Here the only police that'll ticket for no front plate is Dallworthington Gardens, but they ticket for every little thing.
On that note I've had a vinyl decal made from my front plate. Gonna install it today and post pictures in the Roadster Thread.
On that note I've had a vinyl decal made from my front plate. Gonna install it today and post pictures in the Roadster Thread.
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