My Front Plate Solution

[Shizuma]

Originally Posted by Sony

My BRZ came with a really clean front plate mount from the factory for the center of the "mustache" and I'd rather have my plate centered than off-centered. Did no one elses BRZ come with a front plate mount? That seems really weird to me, did Subaru only ship full front plate mounting brackets with cars destined for New England?

Nope, they all get shipped to the dealer without the front plate holder, when I picked up mine today it didn't have the front plate holder installed, they said they weren't sure if I had newer red plates that required the front plate or if I had the older green rear only plate, sadly I do have the newer red plates though.

[Sony]

Originally Posted by Shizuma

Nope, they all get shipped to the dealer without the front plate holder, when I picked up mine today it didn't have the front plate holder installed, they said they weren't sure if I had newer red plates that required the front plate or if I had the older green rear only plate, sadly I do have the newer red plates though.

Really? My dealer must have included the front plate holder at no cost, because I didn't pay for it. The plate holder DOES EXIST! I have one and it fits really well and looks good. Much better than just bumper hanging the plate, I highly recommend it. I have a Green plate on my truck which is good because the Tacoma doesn't have a good plate holder and you just have to bumper hang the front plate which looks awful.

[FitchAlcyone]

Originally Posted by Sony

My BRZ came with a really clean front plate mount from the factory for the center of the "mustache" and I'd rather have my plate centered than off-centered. Did no one elses BRZ come with a front plate mount? That seems really weird to me, did Subaru only ship full front plate mounting brackets with cars destined for New England?

I received the mounting hardware with my car, though it's all in the trunk and I may never use it.

[Shizuma]

Originally Posted by Sony

Really? My dealer must have included the front plate holder at no cost, because I didn't pay for it. The plate holder DOES EXIST! I have one and it fits really well and looks good. Much better than just bumper hanging the plate, I highly recommend it.

I'm pretty certain they are legally required to supply it if a front plate is required, they have my front plate bracket at the dealer and will be installing it when I go in Saturday to get my inspection sticker.

[Sony]

Originally Posted by Shizuma

I'm pretty certain they are legally required to supply it if a front plate is required, they have my front plate bracket at the dealer and will be installing it when I go in Saturday to get my inspection sticker.

They are not required to supply an entire bracket, my Tacoma never came with a bracket, it was just drill holes and screw it directly onto the front bumper. It came with the screws, but not a bracket. I'm so glad the BRZ comes with a full bracket, it looks so much cleaner.

[Roadstercycle]

In California they are pretty lenient except when going to LAX International airport or parking on the street downtown in L.A. Ticket time. But if you put it in the dash at those times, no ticket so far. Although it did cost to learn this I'm still not running a front plate.

[viper_driver]

Originally Posted by Roadstercycle

In California they are pretty lenient except when going to LAX International airport or parking on the street downtown in L.A. Ticket time. But if you put it in the dash at those times, no ticket so far. Although it did cost to learn this I'm still not running a front plate.

Everytime I go to CA I'm amazed at how many cars don't even have plates at all. Near every $50K plus car I see (BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, and the like) has no plates, temp tags, or anything. I researched it once and found you guys get like 2 years to have plates installed so as long as you use short term leases you never even need plates at all.

[M-17]

I'm trying to find out if I can transfer a green plate to my name. Then I don't have to care about this crap. Otherwise I think I'm putting the front plate on the right side where the fog light would be.

[ashtray]

In CA they like to crack down on this when they see impromptu car meets at shopping mall parking lots, or cars driving through the canyons. It's an excuse to either break up an organized crowd or pull over someone who wasn't speeding and check for other stuff.

I ran no front plate on my other car for 2+ years, then did a tow-hook mount. I got the front plate mounting kit with my BRZ in the trunk - I took it out. It's somewhere in my garage. I don't plan on running a front plate any time soon.

[sure74]

Here is my version:



Centered and no plate bending needed. At a quick glance it looks like a stock mount. Installation was a little more involved.

Thread here.

[chulooz]

New idea. But i dont like blocking the rad, and not displaying the entire plate is also grounds for a violation around here.

[Flat Black VW]

Originally Posted by brianbot5000

Yes, looks way better in the center. Off-center doesn't look right - just draws more attention to something you're trying to minimize. The tow hook solution looks like crap.

Go without, or go center. There are no other options.

great thing about zip-ties, I can cut and move the plate if I want.

Originally Posted by Sony

My BRZ came with a really clean front plate mount from the factory for the center of the "mustache" and I'd rather have my plate centered than off-centered. Did no one elses BRZ come with a front plate mount? That seems really weird to me, did Subaru only ship full front plate mounting brackets with cars destined for New England?

You can see it here:

All the BRZs came with those, I called before I picked up the car to make sure they did not mount it because I did not want them drilling holes in my bumper. My bracket is sitting in the trunk, I mounted mine where it was to avoid using that.

[WRXGuy1]

Mine is in my trunk.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Originally Posted by GirlyScions

Why do people that? It looks so much better dead center and your blocking the radiator

I agree, 100%. If you don't want to drill holes into your bumper, you might as well just not have the front plate on at all. If you are going to put the license plate on, then you might as well just put it where it's supposed to go. Who cares about holes -- it's not like you're going to constantly take the plate on and off to the point where you'd be disturbed by holes in the bumper.

It just looks silly when people have plates mounted elsewhere, especially if it's offset slightly, which makes it look unintentionally located off-center. And like other people have said, you're blocking a noticeable amount of airflow to the radiator. Evos have offset license plate frames when mounted, and it looks fine (it doesn't bother me, I've had two Evos that I drove without front plates for close to a year then eventually installed the plate on both), but it looks dumb when people mount it in the same plate but without the frame (or if they do that and just use double-sided tape) or if they attach it to the mesh grill with zip-ties.