Front License Plate Mounting On Rx300 - How?

[TrippKnightly]

I live in California and have gone for a few years now w/ no tix for lack of front plate / tag.

But now have received 2 (parking) tickets in the last month.

So I'm starting to see past the aesthetic liability of the front plate for the financial liability of not having one.

Anyway, has anybody mounted a plate w/o getting the Lexus bracket?

I can see the bumper has two insets for where the bracket / plate holes should be. I can also see how the bumper has a bit of a wedge shape, so I may need to use washers to build up so that the plate will mount flush - that, or I just bend the plate. I also may not center mount the thing.

2 different dealers wanted $40 and $70 for the thing (!!!) and I just don't see why I should have to pay that much. Installation is free though. (Woo hoo)

It seems very difficult to reach behind the bumper so any clever self-mounting will need to use some kind of spring-loaded retention clip or a toggle anchor or something.

Would welcome any tips - thanks.

[TrippKnightly]

I will answer my own question(s) for posterity. Right behind the bumper cover are in fact screw holes - visible once you drill say a 1/4" hole in the bumper cover (alas my precious) on the indicated locations.

Also, my car actually had a unused license mount already in the boot (was tough to see as it and the boot are black but it was there), so buying the mount was not necessary. I still can't believe what Lexus Parts was going to charge. So check your boot you might already have one after all!

Even if you don't have the mounting bracket you could easily fashion something using perhaps plastic washers to build up a flush mount to deal w/ the wedge of the bumper cover.

One other thing that will help - the screw holes are metric - 6mm, and I'd say the screws that came w/ the mounting bracket were about 1 1/4" long.

Good luck.

[wiredinla]

OK this happened to me with my 2001 300RX. First time I had the dealer install the front plate directly onto

the bumper during a routine service. If they charged me it was really minimal, like $10.

They screwed the plate directly to the bumper, with no mounting bracket. After about a year

the plate started to fall off because it was not that well secured. The plate was literally screwed onto the bumper.

I asked them to put it back on, more securely, during another routine service. Well, this time they put it

on with one of their own "dealer" licenseplate brackets that displays the name of the dealer. They did

not charge me for this. However I noticed that they also replaced my regular rear dealer bracket with one

of their own as well. I originally bought the car on the east coast and had been driving it around with a rear east coast

dealer bracket, while in southern CA. Now I have two matching "santa monica lexus" dealer brackets.

I assumed they did it for free because it was free advertising for the santa monica dealer. I did not ask

them to replace the rear bracket but lo and behold it was replaced when I went and picked up the car.

So far the front plate is fine, it seems to be stuck on the front bumper OK since they reattached it with the bracket.

I'm not sure where you are having your car serviced, but that sounds they are trying to rip you off by charging

you so much to fix this.

Bottom line - the dealer should fix this and they should not be charging you so much for it. I believe my service

dept has done well by me in this regard and I really did not care what dealer name was displayed around the plate.

p.s. I was already having other work done when I brought it in. Not sure how much it would have cost if I just brought it in for the plate.

p.p.s. I too got a ticket and the police said to take it to the dealer and have it fixed.

[wwest]

I live in California and have gone for a few years now w/ no tix for lack of front plate / tag.

But now have received 2 (parking) tickets in the last month.

So I'm starting to see past the aesthetic liability of the front plate for the financial liability of not having one.

Anyway, has anybody mounted a plate w/o getting the Lexus bracket?

I can see the bumper has two insets for where the bracket / plate holes should be. I can also see how the bumper has a bit of a wedge shape, so I may need to use washers to build up so that the plate will mount flush - that, or I just bend the plate. I also may not center mount the thing.

2 different dealers wanted $40 and $70 for the thing (!!!) and I just don't see why I should have to pay that much. Installation is free though. (Woo hoo)

It seems very difficult to reach behind the bumper so any clever self-mounting will need to use some kind of spring-loaded retention clip or a toggle anchor or something.

Would welcome any tips - thanks.

I purchased strips of velcro at Home Depot. Did not want to drill holes in the front bumper. Bolts/nuts used so it looks firmly attached.

You can avoid those tickets by getting a personal plate, losing the front plate, "Officer, I think it was stolen" and always having an order sheet handy to indicate you have a new replacement one ($13, WA) on order.

Takes forever for WA to send a new one, and even then they apparently often, seemingly, send it to the wrong address.

[rmk9785e]

We just moved to California and need to install the front plate on our 1999 RX300. We have the mounting bracket and there are two holes in the front bumber where it was previously installed. What size screws should we buy for installing this mount and plate?

[lenore]

I believe he said 6mm screws...above...

[rmk9785e]

Sorry. I should have mentioned that I tried the 6mm screws mentioned above but they did not seem to even catch the threads which means I either need a longer screw or size larger than 6mm.

I believe he said 6mm screws...above...