License plate Headache!

[Talies R]

Friend purchased a used car yesterday and when the previous owner tried to take his plate off it ripped the old bolts straight out of the holes. I guess it was a plastic screw with a metal bolt over to screen in the plate.

Now left with two holes where the screws to go into to hold the license plate but nothing for the screws to go into! What are some options to get this fixed or at least put the plate up temporarily?

[Thaco]

you can get plastic threaded inserts, probably from autovalue or partsource.

[mr2mike]

Yup seen them at Autovalue and Crappy tire too.

[2.2vtec]

Do they come in diffrent sizes to fill various whole widths? Anyone have a picture of what they look like?

[n1zm0]

for stripped threaded holes which you dont care about you just need to find a nylon anchor that will fit and a screw with a head large enough to hold the plate down

OR

if the rear of the plate holder is accessible through trunk hatch lining, a skinny bolt and a wingnut, a skinny bolt and a nylok nut, a skinny bolt and a nut and lock washer... etc

[imhungry]

This happened to me a few times.

Permanent fix:

On the bottom two license plate holes, use a drill and drill into the car, then insert two new bolts.

A alternative to using two bolts is to use screws inserted into nuts. I can post a picture if you want =P

[roll_over]

Only option is this
http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/2242/761/5602880079_large.jpg

[imhungry]

^ LOL wtf looks photo shopped

[CMW403]

Originally posted by imhungry
^ LOL wtf looks photo shopped

Nope. Believe it or not, there are people that actually do this. Don't worry, I was as shocked as you when I saw it for the first time.

[adam c]

there used to be a guy down in midnapore who did that to his prelude

[swak]

hahaha... these a guy down my street who has that done to his car.
I'll take pics when i pass by next time.

[blitz]

I drive by a black civic with that license plate setup everyday on my way to work.

So horrible...

[roll_over]

can you use a tap to re thread the hole?
http://www.northerntool.com/images/product/images/1504000_lg.jpg

is this disneyland are we going to mickey mouse everthing

[9oInTeGrA]

use screw washer

[dj_rice]

Or find a place with self tapping licence plate screws

[sillysod]

I wouldn't start drilling etc. since you posted this up here I am not going to start guessing about your mechanical skills. Regardless in your situation this is what I would do:

1) Go to a body shop, get double sided tape they use for mouldings. (you can get it at auto value, napa, cdn tire etc.)

2) Clean where license plate goes well and apply to back of plate.

3) Stick plate on car.

It will never come off unless you rip it off.

I had to do this on the range rover because it had British Standard Whitworth threads for some reason and I had to wait for the bolts to come in.

[Kona9]

Come on guys. I can't believe you are giving him the run around. Just go to pick your part and get a new trunk.

[lison]

The trunk material is metal therefore you can weld!

[Mar]

Ya that's what I was thinking, bring it to revhard and have him weld in a piece of metal with a nut attached to it.

[lison]

problem solved? :thumbsup: