Front license plate options?

My car is from Florida, but here in CA we are required to have a front license plate. I had hoped to avoid putting one on, as the previous owner did for a few years. But my wife got pulled over for a fit-it ticket yesterday. So I have to do something about it.

 

I don't like them, so what options do I have for placement? There is a bracket that puts the plate over one side of the lower intake, but will that restrict intake flow?

Yes, I think Grimmspeed makes one that mounts to the tow hook point. See that little panel below the right headlight ? It mounts in there.

 

I also made a hinged plate hanger for the turboed Civic big FMIC. I took a flat piece of Al mounted a hinge ot it hung the plate off the hinge and used sheet metal screws to mount the Al panel up under the bumper cover below the bumper support that is covered by the big poly bumper cover.

 

 

Funny you mention CA, yesterday driving back from VT I passed a Bently with CA plates. When I got in front of him I noticed he didn't have a front plate.

I just moved from CT to FL im so happy I don't need a front license plate! I agree I hate how it looks on our cars

you can build a relocate kit for only a few bucks using the OEM tow hook. looks good, is legal, and doesnt cost of much as the grimspeed

here are the pictures of my building mine

technically tow hook is not legal

 

law says the plate has to be attached to the bumper with screws or something along the lines of that...and the tow hook isn't really attached to the bumper

technically tow hook is not legal

 

law says the plate has to be attached to the bumper with screws or something along the lines of that...and the tow hook isn't really attached to the bumper

 

Can you cite the law?

 

It just needs to be securely fastened at the front of the car with the characters upright and be less than 60" from the ground.

As others have mentioned, a popular option is the Grimmspeed license plate relocation kit. It's a bit pricey for what it is, but works well. There's a few cheap ebay options that are just metal brackets that you screw into either sides of your lower grill, then mount the license plate. You can also go the Rattsl way, which is just placing your license plate into your lower grill, resting it against your rad -- supposedly, the air pressure keeps it in there without issue (although, I personally wouldn't go this route).

Here's Washington's front license plate law, quoted directly from RCW 46.16A.200:

 

(5)(a) Display. License plates must be:

 

(i) Attached conspicuously at the front and rear of each vehicle if two license plates have been issued;

 

(ii) Attached to the rear of the vehicle if one license plate has been issued;

 

(iii) Kept clean and be able to be plainly seen and read at all times; and

 

(iv) Attached in a horizontal position at a distance of not more than four feet from the ground.

 

(b) The Washington state patrol may grant exceptions to this subsection if the body construction of the vehicle makes compliance with this section impossible.

 

In Washington, there's no specifics on HOW you mount the plate, just that it's on the front and conspicuous. I would imagine most states have their laws set up similarly. Then again, it's California. They might have requirements for license plate aerodynamics . I built a home-made relocation kit for my Honda. Got pulled over 2 or 3 times with it and never got any trouble. It's located in the lower grille in the bumper cover. No room for this on an LGT but on my Honda the opening is almost the perfect height.

 

I run a GrimmSpeed kit on my LGT. I was able to pick mine up used for $60, but after doing lots of reading on home-made kits and trying to come up with my own ideas, I gave up and opted for the GrimmSpeed kit and would have bought a new one had I not found the used one.

 

Two reasons for this:

 

1: VERY adjustable, you have a wide range of options for vertical and horizontal adjustment. This allowed me to get it placed so that it does not block my fog light beam.

 

2: If I ever need to tow my car (It's an LGT, it'll happen eventually) I'll need a tow hook, which means I would need to buy a second one if I converted my original into a license plate bracket.

 

It's expensive yes but IMO worth it.

What's the difference in Grimm Speed kits? I mean, I see a WRX kit and it looks the same as the kit for my year specific Legacy which looks the same as the later year kits. Are they all the same thing?

Yeah, to my understanding. The previous owner of mine had his on an 11 WRX.

I bought a plate relocation kit for 12 bucks off Ijdmtoy. Works great

Do you have a picture of that? And is that a member of a company?

I guess my question is more: Is the tow hook receptacle the same width/thread? I can't see a difference between kits. I don't want to spend so much when there is a used option, but I want it to work.

Go on amazon and type in front plate relocate and you will see one from ijdmtoy its like 12 bucks or something. I put it in the lower left it mounted to the bumper on underside in her center cut out. You don't see it

ah, yes, I've seen those. Thanks, but I'm trying to avoid drilling into the bumper.

I found out the difference is the length of the bolt coming out of the tow bar receptacle.

 

Anyone know the size/thread of that bolt? I might pursue the economical route.

Take your tow hook to a hardware store and match it up.

I don't have a tow hook. I have a threaded hole. Is there a tow hook somewhere in the car I should have?

Yep, in the trunk with the spare tire. Not sure how it's set up in sedans if you have a sedan, but in wagons you pull up the trunk board and there's a tray that holds the jack, tire iron, tow hook, etc. Mine sits on top of the spare.

Well there we go! Maybe I'll follow the one guy's lead and build something that connects to that tow hook.

OP, that's weird your wife got a front plate ticket? I haven't been using a front plate for over a year now, never been stopped once. In my experience all the cops stopped caring about the front plate once they took down all the red light cameras. That was really the primary purpose for the strict front plate enforcement in the first place.

 

I drive by cops all the time now with no front plate and they don't seem to do a thing.

Cops typically won't issue just a no plate ticket, usually it is combined with other tickets. For instance, if a cop pulls over a Corvette for speeding, the first thing they do is walk up to the front to check for a plate. Some Corvette owners think they have an exemption, but they don't.

 

Meter Maids will give you a ticket for no plate also.