Mounting Front license plate
01-18-2020, 10:32 AM
#1
AudiWorld Junior Member
Thread Starter
Mounting Front license plate
Bought a new 2020 Audi Q5 yesterday. Have the Audi front panel on the car that provides for front license plate mounting. I was surprised today when I went to mount a plate that the holes are in the wrong place for a standard size American license plate. If you look through the holes where the American plate holes should be you can see black dots on the plate. I'm assuming that this would be for one to put the plate on using self tapping screws or similar. Is this the proper way to do this? Seems as if that would make it harder to swap out the front plate over time. Is there any kind of adapter to convert from this larger plate size to standard size? (I haven't been able to figure out what size plate this bracket supports, as the proportionality is similar to the U.S. plate size as opposed to the German size plate.)
01-18-2020, 11:05 AM
#3
AudiWorld Junior Member
Thread Starter
So I've done more research and thought I'd post it here in case it helps anyone else in the future. Apparently the standard front plate piece has holes based on the Japanese license plate size. I've found that there are adapter kits for JDM-to-USDM license plate sizes. I'll report back once this comes in and I have installed it. It's a bit crazy that the standard part doesn't just have the threaded holes for both size plates.
The following users liked this post:
synergize (02-11-2020)
01-18-2020, 12:09 PM
#4
AudiWorld Senior Member
My Stealership also used self-tapping screws into the plastic. It's holding my stealership placard. Personally, I don't like the front plate look.
02-11-2020, 07:45 PM
#5
AudiWorld Super User
So I've done more research and thought I'd post it here in case it helps anyone else in the future. Apparently the standard front plate piece has holes based on the Japanese license plate size. I've found that there are adapter kits for JDM-to-USDM license plate sizes. I'll report back once this comes in and I have installed it. It's a bit crazy that the standard part doesn't just have the threaded holes for both size plates.
license plate then with self tapping screws. This will not last and is a huge disappointment on a $70k car. Have you found anymore info on the Japanese to US adapter? Thank you for any info you can offer, I attached a pic of what my
S5 came with? I also have the same problem on the rear of the car. What a mess!
02-11-2020, 07:49 PM
#6
AudiWorld Super User
I know the feeling, my car came the same way. Self tapping screws into a thin plastic license plate mount is a total joke.
02-12-2020, 01:35 AM
#7
AudiWorld Junior Member
Thread Starter
Synergize, my plate looks a bit different from yours. There are four screws that hold the “mounting plate” to the car. It looks like yours has two. Where you have two square holes at the top, my mounting plate had holes that shape which had a metal piece with threads in it. Those two holes were wider than my standard license plate. I bought the product linked below
https://jhpusa.com/products/blox-lic...cfd1eda3&_ss=r
This whole thing was a bit crazy to me. It looks like the expectation is that we’d just use self tapping screws, but I didn’t think that made sense if I had to change out the plate a couple of times over the life of the car. I thought for sure that someone would have made a license plate frame that would solve this problem. Searched high and low but could not find one.
On mine with the product above I used the screws that came with the adapter. They were longer than the thread depth of the square holes. I wound up adding some washers and using loctite as well. So the adapter plate sits probably 1/4 inch away from the black plastic. Then the license plate also uses spacers that put it about 1/4 inch away from the adapter plate. I can take pictures if anyone wants to see them. It looks different than most front plates I see, but not in a bad way. Before I discovered this whole issue, I assumed that the license plate would cover the whole black mounting piece.
if your square holes don’t have threads you might have to take the piece off the car and put bolts behind the square holes. That might be better than mine since it would remove one of the 1/4 inch separations.
The only odd thing I’ve noted is that since there’s a front center camera that is above the plate, in the overhead camera view, it looks like I have a small battering ram on the front of the car if you look closely. Really only noticeable to me since I remember what it looked like before adding the front plate.
The dealer put the rear plate on for me. I’m curious as to how that was done, but I haven’t taken it off to look.
i find it crazy that Audi doesn’t switch this piece out for the US market. Or at least sell their own US sized replacement mounting plate.
https://jhpusa.com/products/blox-lic...cfd1eda3&_ss=r
This whole thing was a bit crazy to me. It looks like the expectation is that we’d just use self tapping screws, but I didn’t think that made sense if I had to change out the plate a couple of times over the life of the car. I thought for sure that someone would have made a license plate frame that would solve this problem. Searched high and low but could not find one.
On mine with the product above I used the screws that came with the adapter. They were longer than the thread depth of the square holes. I wound up adding some washers and using loctite as well. So the adapter plate sits probably 1/4 inch away from the black plastic. Then the license plate also uses spacers that put it about 1/4 inch away from the adapter plate. I can take pictures if anyone wants to see them. It looks different than most front plates I see, but not in a bad way. Before I discovered this whole issue, I assumed that the license plate would cover the whole black mounting piece.
if your square holes don’t have threads you might have to take the piece off the car and put bolts behind the square holes. That might be better than mine since it would remove one of the 1/4 inch separations.
The only odd thing I’ve noted is that since there’s a front center camera that is above the plate, in the overhead camera view, it looks like I have a small battering ram on the front of the car if you look closely. Really only noticeable to me since I remember what it looked like before adding the front plate.
The dealer put the rear plate on for me. I’m curious as to how that was done, but I haven’t taken it off to look.
i find it crazy that Audi doesn’t switch this piece out for the US market. Or at least sell their own US sized replacement mounting plate.
The following users liked this post:
synergize (02-12-2020)
Trending Topics
02-12-2020, 05:40 AM
#8
I always tell the dealer when I buy the car to NOT INSTALL the front plate holder.....and I warn them that IF they do drill the front for the plate I will not accept the car! 35 years worth of owning cars I've never had a issue driving w/o a front plate even though my state requires one. I just keep it in the trunk. Unfortunately, many dealers install plate holders as soon as the cars come off the truck. But no matter I still warn them, have them write it on the sales agreement and have also been at the dealership when the car is on the truck. Just the way "I roll".....lol.....I never liked the "look".
02-12-2020, 06:43 AM
#9
AudiWorld Super User
Synergize, my plate looks a bit different from yours. There are four screws that hold the “mounting plate” to the car. It looks like yours has two. Where you have two square holes at the top, my mounting plate had holes that shape which had a metal piece with threads in it. Those two holes were wider than my standard license plate. I bought the product linked below
https://jhpusa.com/products/blox-lic...cfd1eda3&_ss=r
This whole thing was a bit crazy to me. It looks like the expectation is that we’d just use self tapping screws, but I didn’t think that made sense if I had to change out the plate a couple of times over the life of the car. I thought for sure that someone would have made a license plate frame that would solve this problem. Searched high and low but could not find one.
On mine with the product above I used the screws that came with the adapter. They were longer than the thread depth of the square holes. I wound up adding some washers and using loctite as well. So the adapter plate sits probably 1/4 inch away from the black plastic. Then the license plate also uses spacers that put it about 1/4 inch away from the adapter plate. I can take pictures if anyone wants to see them. It looks different than most front plates I see, but not in a bad way. Before I discovered this whole issue, I assumed that the license plate would cover the whole black mounting piece.
if your square holes don’t have threads you might have to take the piece off the car and put bolts behind the square holes. That might be better than mine since it would remove one of the 1/4 inch separations.
The only odd thing I’ve noted is that since there’s a front center camera that is above the plate, in the overhead camera view, it looks like I have a small battering ram on the front of the car if you look closely. Really only noticeable to me since I remember what it looked like before adding the front plate.
The dealer put the rear plate on for me. I’m curious as to how that was done, but I haven’t taken it off to look.
i find it crazy that Audi doesn’t switch this piece out for the US market. Or at least sell their own US sized replacement mounting plate.
https://jhpusa.com/products/blox-lic...cfd1eda3&_ss=r
This whole thing was a bit crazy to me. It looks like the expectation is that we’d just use self tapping screws, but I didn’t think that made sense if I had to change out the plate a couple of times over the life of the car. I thought for sure that someone would have made a license plate frame that would solve this problem. Searched high and low but could not find one.
On mine with the product above I used the screws that came with the adapter. They were longer than the thread depth of the square holes. I wound up adding some washers and using loctite as well. So the adapter plate sits probably 1/4 inch away from the black plastic. Then the license plate also uses spacers that put it about 1/4 inch away from the adapter plate. I can take pictures if anyone wants to see them. It looks different than most front plates I see, but not in a bad way. Before I discovered this whole issue, I assumed that the license plate would cover the whole black mounting piece.
if your square holes don’t have threads you might have to take the piece off the car and put bolts behind the square holes. That might be better than mine since it would remove one of the 1/4 inch separations.
The only odd thing I’ve noted is that since there’s a front center camera that is above the plate, in the overhead camera view, it looks like I have a small battering ram on the front of the car if you look closely. Really only noticeable to me since I remember what it looked like before adding the front plate.
The dealer put the rear plate on for me. I’m curious as to how that was done, but I haven’t taken it off to look.
i find it crazy that Audi doesn’t switch this piece out for the US market. Or at least sell their own US sized replacement mounting plate.
Thanks for helping out and good luck with your plates.
Last edited by synergize; 02-12-2020 at 06:52 AM.
02-12-2020, 07:02 AM
#10
AudiWorld Super User
I always tell the dealer when I buy the car to NOT INSTALL the front plate holder.....and I warn them that IF they do drill the front for the plate I will not accept the car! 35 years worth of owning cars I've never had a issue driving w/o a front plate even though my state requires one. I just keep it in the trunk. Unfortunately, many dealers install plate holders as soon as the cars come off the truck. But no matter I still warn them, have them write it on the sales agreement and have also been at the dealership when the car is on the truck. Just the way "I roll".....lol.....I never liked the "look".