Greetings! I am excited about purchasing a 2018 Prius Three Touring auto (Blizzard Pearl with Moonstone interior), replacing my 3-yr old blue crush metallic Prius (actually, selling that to our daughter, who has been driving my 2008 Prius). The car I'm buying originated in Ohio, and has a front license plate holder in place. I would like to remove this, as we don't require a front plate in my state. I am wondering if someone out there in Prius Land might have an idea about how I can make the holes unobtrusive after removing the front plate holder. Thanks in advance for your help!
good luck finding something - the smooth finish will be hard to match. Maybe finding something else to put in that place is an idea to investigate...
I've never done it on new(er) cars, but small fiberglass patch and bondo should take car of the holes. I used them on my old car's cracked bumper cover and finished it by matching spray paint. But to make the finish look good, you may need professional help. Any body shop would be able to fix them for a small fee. I would think not too expensive.
As @Salamander_King kindly notes, you’d probably need help from a body shop to make the holes completely unnoticeable on close inspection. @krmcg makes a good suggestion to fill the holes with something else: I’d see how they look with the original screws reinstalled, or perhaps replaced with nylon ones, such as Auveco no. 13922, or push-in plastic rivets like these: 30Pcs White Plastic Rivets Splash Guard Fastener Push Type Clips 8 x 6.5mm - Walmart.com I’m not sure the ones I linked above are the right size; there are many sizes and styles available at modest cost.
Here there are mobile firms who do dent and scratch repair. The ones I've seen are a reasonable, sometimes not perfect, but they'd attack something like that, and you'd barely see the repair. A lot of their work is fixing the little scratches on a car before putting it up for sale.
If your a Michigan or Michigan State football, other football team, fan leave the front plate holder on and put a Michigan or MSU, other football team, plate on the front.
Several companies sell factory color-referenced round plastic plugs meant to solve this exact problem. Link to one- I have no business history with them (hint- you're paying for their effort to find the right color)
