Oppopinions requested: front plate location.

"wagon guy now drives a boostang" (wagonguy)
11/22/2016 at 03:22 • Filed to: None

In Texas a front plate is required and where I work is really close to a police station, so I want to be legal, though I hate the front plate. I don’t want to drill holes in my front bumper cover in order to mount the stock plate bracket, so I got a no-drill relocation kit. The kit I got indicates that they recommend putting the plate in the center, where the stock one would appear, but I remain unconvinced. Since I just picked up the plates today I figure I have a little time to get the front one mounted. So the question Oppopeople, do I put it on the left, right, or centered?

DISCUSSION (36)

bob and john > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 03:26

tow hook location?

wagon guy now drives a boostang > bob and john
11/22/2016 at 03:27

I wish. For some reason the Mustang doesn’t have a tow hook spot up front. I don’t know why not though...

My bird IS the word > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 03:50

I say off-center, drivers side.

pip bip - choose Corrour > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 04:55

i know this may seem strange but can you get replicated onto a sticker then put that onto the front?

Cé hé sin > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 04:58

The car didn’t come with plates?

Interestingly this one has a towing eye.

Kinja'd!!!

Birddog > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 05:03

Tell them to hold it between their knees!

Or just get the Ford kit. It sucks but es la ley.

bingham123 > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 06:06

zip tie it to the grill? or a sticker

Probenja > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 06:07

Drivers side just like an evo or Alfa.

Kinja'd!!!

duurtlang > Cé hé sin
11/22/2016 at 06:38

This is the only acceptable answer. Off-center looks bad all the time. The only exception is when the design of the car won’t let you mount it in the middle, like on some Alfas, but that’s not the case for the Mustang.

Putting it off center on a Mustang makes you look like a ricer or whatever you’d call something like that for a Mustang driver.

Bourbon&JellyBeans > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 06:56

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/252518218837?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

I know it’s $80, but it’s removable. It won’t make you punch any holes in the plastic and it won’t sacrifice very much airflow. Honestly, when I see an off-center license plate, it almost never looks good unless the manufacturer put it there.

Exhibit A***:

Kinja'd!!!

***Not my car.

404 - User No Longer Available > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 07:08

How about this?

http://www.americanmuscle.com/flipdown-licenseplate-manual.html

JKER > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 07:56

Don’t put it on and hope you don’t get a ticket.

wagon guy now drives a boostang > Cé hé sin
11/22/2016 at 08:05

It came with a plate bracket that requires holes be drilled in the bumper cover. The tow hook location is only there on Euro market mustangs.

wagon guy now drives a boostang > Bourbon&JellyBeans
11/22/2016 at 08:11

This is the bracket I bought.

http://ccmustangbrackets.com/product/2015-mustang-bracket/

It mounts to the bottom of the bumper and could go anywhere along the front...

wagon guy now drives a boostang > 404 - User No Longer Available
11/22/2016 at 08:15

yeah, I got one of those and returned it. The mounting part on the bottom requires holes be drilled under the front splitter and it runs into the lower air dam. I mocked it up and didn’t like where it sat at all, so I got this one...

http://ccmustangbrackets.com/product/2015-mustang-bracket/

Echo51 > duurtlang
11/22/2016 at 08:16

I still want to buy an alfa and center mount the plate, over the grille, just to spite them silly italians. But yes, keep it center.

wagon guy now drives a boostang > JKER
11/22/2016 at 08:16

I’ve done that in the past. Then I was talking to a friend who was telling me about his wife getting ticketed for it several times in a row by a cop who decided it was his business to make sure her plate was mounted... I’ve also gotten stopped myself in the past for it so just don’t want to deal with it on this car.

JKER > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 08:20

Probably a good idea. Luckily I live in Michigan where i don’t have to deal with such nonsense like front plates and inspections.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 08:21

Front tow hook? People have made front plate brackets for those for years. But you may be at Ford’s whim as to if they put one on your front bumper.

Cé hé sin > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 08:37

That’s odd. I suppose having to have a towing eye is a regulation in some jurisdictions.

If I was to buy a new car (ha!) it would come with plates, which the dealer has to arrange. You’re not allowed to drive an unregistered car.

wagon guy now drives a boostang > Cé hé sin
11/22/2016 at 08:47

The dealer does arrange registration on the car, but they give you a temporary tag to drive on until the state sends out the regular plates. The lazy or disinterested would then ask the dealer to install them, resulting in holes in the front bumper with a plate hanging there and dumb dealer plate frames advertising that you’re too lazy to get something that actually looks good on the car.

for Michigan > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 08:50

I’d stick with center. It just works better with the design of the car.

TysMagic > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 09:05

center. simple and as the website for the product states, where it’s intended to be

Cé hé sin > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 09:07

Ah, that’s the difference. Where I am plates aren’t supplied by a central authority. The dealer registers the car and gets the number, then buys plates from a supplier who makes them up on the spot And yes, you’ll quite often get the dealer’s name either on the plate itself or on a mounting.

TheNeonDriver - Now with More BMW! > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 09:09

Kinja'd!!!

Get a image on a wrap, and put it anywhere on the front. You can scale it (check local laws) to fit if you want.

wagon guy now drives a boostang > TheNeonDriver - Now with More BMW!
11/22/2016 at 09:20

I like that.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 09:41

Centered. It’s clearly only my opinion, but I don’t think anything looks as tacky as a corner mounted plate as a result of every dudebro hellflushed STI and FRS running their plates that way.

E90M3 > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 10:06

Lived in Texas and never ran front plates on my M3 or my 128i, never got pulled over. I was going to put one on the M3, even bought the holder, just needed to get it painted, and I never got around to do that. Had it in my windshield for a while, but then I took it out cause it was rattling. I think it all depends on where you are, but the police in Corpus Christi and San Antonio didn’t seem to mind.

wagon guy now drives a boostang > E90M3
11/22/2016 at 10:27

When I drove Datsuns (280zx and 510s) I never ran a front plate, and only once did I get stopped for it, but they never made a deal out of it, because here’s a guy driving around in vintage cars “keeping Austin weird”. When I got my 240sx I got stopped several times, just because they saw the lack of the plate up front... I think it depends on a lot of factors and the policies of the chief in whatever town you find yourself in...

jasmits > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 10:31

I just kept the front plate for my Alfa 164 in the windshield on the passenger side because there was no where on the front that didn’t make the car look stupid or toolish or both. Never got bothered about it but I never drove it that much because it was usually broken. Also the Alfa had a good dash for it that kind of steeply sloped down right by the windshield.

wagon guy now drives a boostang > jasmits
11/22/2016 at 10:42

I can just picture trying that in the boostang and ending up with a gushing head wound when I took a corner too fast...

Bourbon&JellyBeans > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 10:55

Oh okay! My vote is dead center then. Lol

E90M3 > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 11:04

I think it does matter where you are. I would’ve mounted them on my cars if I had gotten pulled over for it.

jasmits > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 11:44

Fair.. the Alfa also had a very broken electronic suspension that I never got around to addressing so fast corners weren’t really a thing I did in it.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 11:47

Kinja'd!!!

If only we could do stick-on plates like in the UK.

wiffleballtony > wagon guy now drives a boostang
11/22/2016 at 12:54

http://www.americanmuscle.com/flipdown-licenseplate-manual.html