Rear License Plate Installation, Gen III

Nicely done.

 

Don't know that I could bring myself to put holes in my new Prius, but that does look slick! I'm thinking of putting a couple rubber bumpers along the bottom back side of the license plate to stop it from bouncing and possibly scratching the paint.

 

The dealership, when putting on my plates the night I bought my car, well, let’s be generous and say the shop tech was not the brightest bulb in the room. He put my plates on with regular, 10-24 or such screws, cross threading the metric plate nut in the rear hatch of the car. In fact, the one on the right was snapped off of the aluminum panel the hatch is made of. See, the reason I know all this is the plate was loose and rattling and when I went to tighten it up, the one screw was just spinning. I had to remove the inner plastic hatch panel to get my vise grips up in there to grasp the broken off plate nut before I could remove the bolt. I just used a plastic plate nut from Autozone to resecure the plate.
The stock “nut†is just a round, threaded piece of steel broached to a short strip of aluminum which is then spot welded to the hatch panel. It holds up well when the correct bolts are used, but trying to jam in the wrong bolts (probably with an air tool) snapped it right off the hatch panel. Of course, the guy that did it is NOT going to come forward and say “Duh, I broke your plate nut off the hatch because I jammed in the wrong sized bolts with the air driver wrench and there is NO WAY TO RESECURE IT. Sorry, we should replace the rear hatch for you, but because I’m an ignorant slob and you’re just a customer, you lose, sucker!â€
He also left a large smear of greenish axle grease on the dash when he stuck the inspection and registration stickers on the windshield. That has never come out; it left a nice stain on the dash.
Dealers suck!

 

I put 3 layers of electrical tape on the back of the plate, on the 2 lower corners--works great.

 

I used plastic bolts on the bottom with a plastic nut. It will not scratch the paint.



If you do not seal the front and back of that rivet the metal from the car will rust.

 

awesome job!

 

Is that a clear plastic cover over the plate? I can't quite tell from the pic. I think that may be a state-by-state option; in California that's illegal. I've thought about a cover to protect my 'ham radio' plate though...

 

Yes it is a clear plastic cover. It does not have a boarder. I taped of the section I wanted clear and spray painted the area that is black from the inside. The front does not have the boxes cut out for the stickers.

 

Impressive job, thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks much. I'll try that soon. Appreciate it.

 

I prefer the cleaner design of leaving the bottom holes alone. Better (thin) license plate frames have notches against which the bottom of the plate can rest. I threw away my screw covers as they're way too big and stick out like a sore thumb.

 

Lmao. Why?

 

Just the white plate would look better than all that black, which sticks out like an eyesore.

 

The plates are not white. There is yellow, red and blue under the black.