Rees

Now, admittedly I'm not the handiest guy around but I do know how to screw in a bolt...

So happy day, I've received my AudiWorld plate frames for my '01 A4.

I remove my front license plate to realize that it was held in with screws that were cut directly into the the plastic face plate. No neatly machined nut and bolt arrangement- just sharp screws into raw plastic. While reattaching the front plate I managed to strip one of the four holes.

Ok. The rear plate looks better with two top bolts. I remove them and examine the thick plastic backing plate. The back plate looks to have very shallow nuts (1/4") set into the plastic. The bolts seem to be easily three times longer (3/4")than the backing plate depth. I re-mount my license plate and screw in the bolts. They stop turning easily at about half way in- I continue with a fair bit more torque and realize that I've torn the nut out of the plastic and its just rotating freely.

Tomorrow I plan on locating shorter bolts for the rear plate and re-affixing the nuts in the plastic with some epoxy. The front plate is fine as long as I never have to remove it.

Argh. Did my dealer 'screw' me over with the wrong parts for mounting my plates or did I apply to much 'brute force'? Help- what am I missing?

Thanks,
Bruce (in Toronto)
'01 A4 1.8TQ tip Santorin Blue (yum!)

Anand@4Induktion.com

<p>- <a href="mailto:adhand@san.rr.com">Anand Dhanda</a>
'00 A4 1.8TQMSx Silver/Onyx
<a href=" http://sdaoc.sixmillion.com/aas/" target="_blank"><img src=" http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/adhandasigpic.gif" border=0></a>

Rees

This morning I pulled off the rear backing plate. It was screwed in with two big bolts and stuck to the surface with a black rubbery goop. The stripped nuts basically popped out of the plastic leaving raw holes. I located two sets of nut/bolt/washers and put them through the inside of the backing plate and remounted it on my trunk. My license plate was placed onto the exposed bolts and held down with a nut and washer. Fairly simple.

I've basically concluded that my dealership used the wrong bolts for the rear plate. When I examine them close the threads are pretty different.

~Bruce
'01 A4 1.8T tip Santorin Blue