I just did this on my 2017 BRZ without removing the bumper. It's a bit cramped for working but quite do-able from under the car by removing the two plastic pieces from underneath and gently pushing the foam up out of the way.
Bumper sag kept at Bay just a little longer!
I got a photo of the inside with the covers off but will have to wait to upload too I can resize it...

Wife lost the front plate and bracket in a brush style car wash. Luckily the car wash place held onto it and we got it back. I know most avoid these types of washes,but thought a wird of caution would be in order anyway.


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I have a 17 BRZ also and was gonna attempt to do this without removing the bumper.

Did you have to use any special tools to get the magnet squeezed on the other side?
Can you also please upload the the pic with the covers off?

No special tools. I probably should have done a better job with pictures, but I'll upload the one soon as I'm actually able to fire up the computer. Crazy week, my only free time was used by the install.

Alright - only photo I got, hopefully this proves helpful. This is on my 2017, easy access to the inside with the lower covers removed. May also apply to the older model since not that much has changed, but I can not verify.
https://greendragonracing.org/wp-con...structions.jpg

Sweet! Appreciate the photo! :) Glad to know it's possible to do without removing the bumper.
Will try to do this next weekend and will report back!

Did you use anything on the front bumper to prevent scratching/marring from plate movement ? just curious.

The glue is squishy and comes out the back. I smoothed that flat with a bit of thickness. That's all the extra protection I have, beyond making sure the screws don't hit the cover.


C

Finally got around to doing this!

Thanks for letting me know it was possible without removing the bumper!

I'm testing something similar with my FR-S though I screwed up the angle a bit and am afraid the magnets I used weren't large enough -_-...

Don't feel like taking the bumper off again to redo it, so it'll probably be back to no license plate for now.

i have a odd question. i have the oem bracket like on the first page. it was drilled in by the dealer. i was trying to remove it and all it does is spin but not freely. is there something on the back holding it in? thanks

Try this thread. Looks like different ways to do it. Planning to do it myself pretty soon. Just waiting for some warmer weather!

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...+license+plate

Few notes from my install:


The 2017+ mounting bracket comes with square cutouts with rounded corners. _Don't_ buy square magnets, stick to what OP recommends. For reference, to make a 7/8" square magnet fit, I had to grind down the bracket with a dremel. That said, a 1/4" thickness fit well.


The 2017+ bumper isn't that prone to scratches, and has a cutout to fit the bracket perfectly.



Double sided tape will increase the space between the magnets enough that the pull force is definitely less.



I personally used just gorilla tape on the inside of my bumper because I'm planning to have the license plate on for daily driving, so the magnets should hold each other on most of the time.



You can also ziptie to the bottom holes as a little bit of insurance until you feel confident the magnets will stick.


Overall happy with the result. Thanks for the idea and posting!

Thank you for this solution! I did it on my BRZ but I decided to go through under the plastic bumper as @cjd did.

I knocked out this DIY last week, and it worked great. Thanks.