Trunk License Plate plastic holes cracked

[Wes]

The right side of mine cracked and seems like the plates get loosened up slightly whenever I check after I drive somewhere. My friend has the same situation on his where it cracked and now it spins when you try to put the plates back so he needs pliers to hold the it in place to put the screws on. Does anyone else have this? Tried searching a bit but didn't really see a topic on it.

This is ridiculous, it shouldn't even be a part of the car that I would have to worry about an issue occuring. I am currently trying to see if I can somehow adhere the cracks together..

Edit: I uploaded some pics


Here are the screw holes on the inside of the trunk, you can't really see it in picture, but it is cracked, and you can also see a trail of water marks when water got in from washing my car

[chenshuo]

Originally Posted by Wes

The right side of mine cracked and seems like the plates get loosened up slightly whenever I check after I drive somewhere. My friend has the same situation on his where it cracked and now it spins when you try to put the plates back so he needs pliers to hold the it in place to put the screws on. Does anyone else have this? Tried searching a bit but didn't really see a topic on it.

This is ridiculous, it shouldn't even be a part of the car that I would have to worry about an issue occuring. I am currently trying to see if I can somehow adhere the cracks together..

i'm having a hard time picturing exactly what you mean. do you have a pic?

[TemeCal]

These have cracked or stripped in just about every car I've owned. Just drill out the old plastic ones, and replace them with new plastic inserts. I believe they're called license plate (plastic) hold downs or screw grommets???

I'm not near my FR-S now, so I can't check...but you might be able to just use a nut and bolt and not deal with this anymore in the future.

EDIT: I assume THESE are what you're talking about?

[Wes]

Originally Posted by chenshuo

i'm having a hard time picturing exactly what you mean. do you have a pic?

I uploaded some pictures

[finch1750]

Mine are the same way. Pita trying to remove/install your plate. Had to use pliers and hella force down on the screwdriver

[wu_dot_com]

why not take it in to the dealership? its under warrantee anyway

[Wes]

Originally Posted by TemeCal

These have cracked or stripped in just about every car I've owned. Just drill out the old plastic ones, and replace them with new plastic inserts. I believe they're called license plate (plastic) hold downs or screw grommets???

I'm not near my FR-S now, so I can't check...but you might be able to just use a nut and bolt and not deal with this anymore in the future.

EDIT: I assume THESE are what you're talking about?

Ok thanks! I will look into these if these things get worse which I'm sure it will down the line. For now I adhered them together with some krazy glue but I'm thinking about using something to clamp them together to keep it from cracking again.

Originally Posted by finch1750

Mine are the same way. Pita trying to remove/install your plate. Had to use pliers and hella force down on the screwdriver

Seriously, I gotta do this everytime I wash my car, can't screw it in too hard or else it cracks, but at least I don;t need pliers yet when I take it on/off.

Originally Posted by wu_dot_com

why not take it in to the dealership? its under warrantee anyway

Thats true, I will probably bring it by them when I take it in for an oil change soon, but chances are that it will just break again, so if anything I will try and come up with a solution for this.

[Rayme]

If you remove your plate each time you wash your car, well we found the problem.

[EK_Golfer]

Yep these license plate plugs are cheap. My right one isn't even flush to the trunk (whoever installed it did a horrible job) and there's no way for me to force it down to make it flush. When it rained, I realized water actually got in through the right plug that was sticking out just like your picture shows. So what I ended up doing was use plumbers putty to wrap the plug from inside the trunk, and so far it's doing a good job keeping out water. I'm definitely debating if I should remove the plate for each car wash.

[Wes]

Originally Posted by ottopilot

If you remove your plate each time you wash your car, well we found the problem.

True, just thought these things would last longer, and I hardly even tighten them, just til they're bearly snug since tightening it more makes the plates scrape my trunk, such dilemma lol.

Originally Posted by EK_Golfer

Yep these license plate plugs are cheap. My right one isn't even flush to the trunk (whoever installed it did a horrible job) and there's no way for me to force it down to make it flush. When it rained, I realized water actually got in through the right plug that was sticking out just like your picture shows. So what I ended up doing was use plumbers putty to wrap the plug from inside the trunk, and so far it's doing a good job keeping out water. I'm definitely debating if I should remove the plate for each car wash.

Yeah if you see my pic, there is a trail of water marks leading down. I will look into that putty for keeping the water out. I take off my plates because it makes it easier to clean behind it and all so dirt doesn't get trapped in. I'm super careful each time I put it back on now, not that I wasn't to begin with.