Faded "W" license plates

[M.alex]

There sure seem to be a crap-load of faded license plates out there that begin with "W" ..... guess somebody tried to figure out a way to cut costs on that batch :rofl:

[killramos]

pics?

csb

[ae92gts]

That funny! My wife's plate starts with a "W" and it is faded to the point where you probably couldn't read it at a distance. haven't been pulled over for it yet, so for now it stays lol

[NoPulp]

When did they get made?
My vanity plate isn't faded but the paint isn't incredible. The red on the "backup" plate is splotchy.

[revelations]

Originally posted by ae92gts
That funny! My wife's plate starts with a "W" and it is faded to the point where you probably couldn't read it at a distance. haven't been pulled over for it yet, so for now it stays lol

Does the TSA have provisions forcing you to get a new plate?

I know it cant be modified/obstructed/blocked .... but due to weathering?

[rage2]

In Ontario, they changed the manufacturing process a couple years ago and they started peeling. They were replacing them for free. If you didn't, you get ticketed. Not sure what the law is for faded plates here.

Haven't heard of any problems with plates in Alberta yet, but if you're seeing a lot of faded W plates, chances are they made the same mistake in Ontario and the quality/durability went down the shitter.

edit - here's the article:

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/06/16/some-ontario-drivers-forced-to-pay-to-replace-defective-plates

5 year warranty in Ontario, then $29 to replace. And holy fuck it's gotta be worse in Ontario. :rofl:

http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2014/04/there-good-reason-ontario-make-licence-plate-that.jpg

[M.alex]

Originally posted by rage2
In Ontario, they changed the manufacturing process a couple years ago and they started peeling. They were replacing them for free. If you didn't, you get ticketed. Not sure what the law is for faded plates here.

Haven't heard of any problems with plates in Alberta yet, but if you're seeing a lot of faded W plates, chances are they made the same mistake in Ontario and the quality/durability went down the shitter.

edit - here's the article:

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/06/16/some-ontario-drivers-forced-to-pay-to-replace-defective-plates

5 year warranty in Ontario, then $29 to replace. And holy fuck it's gotta be worse in Ontario. :rofl:

http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2014/04/there-good-reason-ontario-make-licence-plate-that.jpg

that's hilarious :rofl:

[Darell_n]

They must have outsourced the painting to the Dodge Ram plant in Michigan.

[alien]

That's funny. My plate starts with W and is fading. I thought it was just because it was old. Good to know.

[nykz]

I never really noticed before, but after reading this thread I'll probably be looking at everyone's plate the next couple days while driving

[speedog]

Originally posted by alien
That's funny. My plate starts with W and is fading. I thought it was just because it was old. Good to know.
A 'W' Alberta plate is a maximum of 15 years old - old would be my 'H' plate issued in 1984, now in it's 32nd year of continuous use.

[bjstare]

Originally posted by speedog

A 'W' Alberta plate is a maximum of 15 years old - old would be my 'H' plate issued in 1984, now in it's 32nd year of continuous use.

You're old, we get it.

[jwslam]

Originally posted by speedog
A 'W' Alberta plate is a maximum of 15 years old - old would be my 'H' plate issued in 1984, now in it's 32nd year of continuous use.
Mine is a 'G' plate :poosie:

[ae92gts]

Originally posted by jwslam

Mine is a 'G' plate :poosie:

because I'm too lazy to Google it, I'll ask you guys. How does the begging letter of a plate determine age? Less than 10 years ago I had a 6 digit plate that started with an "E". It has since been destroyed by impound (fuckers) but I remember the lady at the registries let me pick what plate I wanted.

[jwslam]

Originally posted by ae92gts
because I'm too lazy to Google it, I'll ask you guys. How does the begging letter of a plate determine age? Less than 10 years ago I had a 6 digit plate that started with an "E". It has since been destroyed by impound (fuckers) but I remember the lady at the registries let me pick what plate I wanted.
Once upon a time it went A-Z.
Then they got to Y and couldn't figure out what they wanted to do, so they recycled through letter combinations they missed (I beleive they excluded vowels so they decided to introduce them). So that's why I have a G plate, from the recycle. This lasted about 5 years.

Once XXX-### (x=letter) "officially" ran out, they decided to do XXX-####. So all plates are printed like this now, even though you can still only get vanity plates with max 7 char. New vanity plates will have the letters that looked squished. This is supposed to last another 20+ years. It's been 5 years since introduction and they still start with B so I'd say it's working.

Anyways, moral of the story is, because my plate is XXX-###, it is at least 6 years old. And then counting backwards, you can guestimate how much older based on what letter of the alphabet it starts with.

[NoPulp]

^wouldn't it be 5 years? Rather than 6
I still have my first plate which is a ZZJ 6 character from July 2010. Maybe I got a left over plate. I got my second vehicle in the fall 2010 and it was BBS 7 character.

[?????]

There is probably also a batch of "15" registration stickers that fade. My gf has one and all you can see is the numbers at the bottom. The top color/year part is just white.

[suntan]

I saw a W plate yesterday that was faded. :eek:

Also my accountant has a W plate that's faded, but that's because she used a Magic Eraser to clean it. :nut:

[gogreen]

Originally posted by jwslam

Once upon a time it went A-Z.
Then they got to Y and couldn't figure out what they wanted to do, so they recycled through letter combinations they missed (I beleive they excluded vowels so they decided to introduce them). So that's why I have a G plate, from the recycle. This lasted about 5 years.

Once XXX-### (x=letter) "officially" ran out, they decided to do XXX-####. So all plates are printed like this now, even though you can still only get vanity plates with max 7 char. New vanity plates will have the letters that looked squished. This is supposed to last another 20+ years. It's been 5 years since introduction and they still start with B so I'd say it's working.

Anyways, moral of the story is, because my plate is XXX-###, it is at least 6 years old. And then counting backwards, you can guestimate how much older based on what letter of the alphabet it starts with.

Interesting. I've also got a 'G' plate from about '06/07.

[nismodrifter]

Thought about this thread yesterday as I approached a newer Lexus on deerfoot with what looked to be a completely white license plate. Indeed, it was a W plate.

Wonder what happened in the manufacturing process.
:dunno:

[speedog]

Originally posted by jwslam

Once upon a time it went A-Z.
Then they got to Y and couldn't figure out what they wanted to do, so they recycled through letter combinations they missed (I beleive they excluded vowels so they decided to introduce them). So that's why I have a G plate, from the recycle. This lasted about 5 years.

Once XXX-### (x=letter) "officially" ran out, they decided to do XXX-####. So all plates are printed like this now, even though you can still only get vanity plates with max 7 char. New vanity plates will have the letters that looked squished. This is supposed to last another 20+ years. It's been 5 years since introduction and they still start with B so I'd say it's working.

Anyways, moral of the story is, because my plate is XXX-###, it is at least 6 years old. And then counting backwards, you can guestimate how much older based on what letter of the alphabet it starts with.
The first character of an Alberta plate isn't necessarily indicative of it's age - this Wikipedia link explains it, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Alberta

Also, a G plate may be no older than a H plate because plate series are distributed geographically within the province as well - I have an LUE plate that is only 8 years old but was issued well after many M -Z plates. Got this plate in Medicine Hat and it came out of a stack of LUE plates. My H plate has reflective paint and is a very heavy gauge steel compared to my L plate which is non-reflective white paint and quite light steel, the H plate is starting to lose some of it's paint but is still quite readable and yes, I have both a front and rear plate for the H plate - one is on our vehicle and the other is hung up on a wall. Also have a 1984 motorbike plate with the reflective paint that is 6 digit Z series plate, heavy steel and reflective paint and much larger than current motorbike plates.

[codetrap]

.

[jwslam]

Originally posted by codetrap
My plate begins with a P and I got it when I got my first car in 1995. It's still in good shape.
Am I rude for expecting you to be much older than that?

[Cos]

.

[GoChris]

I have a D plate, it's only 10 years old. So definitely not in order of A-Z.

[PaulyBoy]

lol, I have an old “W” plate at home from registering my car in the early 2000’s before my personalized plates came.

I was gonna throw it on the new ride so I wouldn’t be stuck with a uneven 7-digit one, but might reconsider now.

Come to think of it, I have had to touch up my personalized plate as well from fading & it would have been made around the same time… Bad/cheap batch of reflective ink? lol

[dannie]

W plates were at the end of 2000 and finished being dispensed mid 2002. That year, the bid for licence plates was thru a company that chintzed on the paint. That has been rectified... but the problem that is now occurring is that the company that does the licence plate stickers has a subpar product. Lots of the stickers fade or don't stick well or simply aren't there when they should be in the office inventory.