No Drill front license plate holder UPDATED WITH INSTALL and ORDER info

[shawn]

STO N SHO works well and is easy enough. However it's best to remove plate if at a car wash. As in it may well get bent. Had one on a Taycan and that's how I know.

Makes sense but I never go through a touch car wash as I do not trust all the bashing and thrashing and what possible damage to the car or the PPF film might happen. I only hand wash with my own power washer on low pressure

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[themacnut]

the fine is irrelevant to me - but you have to "prove resolution" to get the ticket cleared, and this involves dealing with govt. bureaucratic that will never be able to afford a Porsche and don't seem inclined to value my time in order to inspect my resolution for fixing it…

I have the front plate on the car to avoid any reason for them to involve themselves in my life…over something as trivial as displaying a license plate.

it's not the money-fine I''m avoiding, it's the time wasted when I do get caught to prove I fixed it.

I've twice been written while parked and away from the vehicle - some jurisdictions go on "funding drives" with their meter maids and rather than checking for parking fines, they check for front plate violations and you come back to your car to find a nice shiny "fix it" ticket because you decided to have lunch somewhere…

Dave, you need a friend in law enforcement for sign off.

I’ve been running no front plate on all our vehicles in Northern California for 20 years. 1 ticket in that time for no front plate.

 

[craz8]

Looking to maybe get the Sto N Sho for WA state. There are many cars here without front plates, but this is technically not allowed. I ran my BMW Z8 for 20+ years without one, but that I could explain as being a special car with no place to mount one.

A question I have is the possibility of re-drilling the holes in my plate to raise the bottom up to be level with the bottom of the bracket to improve clearance. Of course this blocks more cooling, but is there also the possibility of more torque on the bracket at speed. I'm unlikely to go much over 100mph with this on though, so maybe I'm overthinking this.

It does look a bit ugly though.

EDIT: During checkout, they upsell a GoPro mount to replace the plate. Now that IS cool

 

[BruceS2]

I tried the Sto N Sho and it lasted a week before it I hit something and it bent badly In the trunk now...just too low. I do set the car to the low level in Sport, which I use mostly.

 

[Sideline]

I'd like to find a no-drill solution but prefer not to mount on the lower lip and ideally centered rather than offset to one side. Has anyone on this forum tried modifying a Carbonio (or similar) mount for their Macan EV? In the example below, a 911 Turbo mount is used with new holes drilled into the plate. Mounting above the camera seems to be the only way to both clear the camera and not block the radar sensor below. I like the idea but the exposed lower bracket arms seem a little clunky. Custom bent shape arms would be ideal. Any fabricators in the crowd? Maybe a 3D printed mount?

 

[CandianPorsche83]

I'd like to find a no-drill solution but prefer not to mount on the lower lip and ideally centered rather than offset to one side. Has anyone on this forum tried modifying a Carbonio (or similar) mount for their Macan EV? In the example below, a 911 Turbo mount is used with new holes drilled into the plate. Mounting above the camera seems to be the only way to both clear the camera and not block the radar sensor below. I like the idea but the exposed lower bracket arms seem a little clunky. Custom bent shape arms would be ideal. Any fabricators in the crowd? Maybe a 3D printed mount?

I’d 100% but in for one if someone can make a 3D printed one that works. Carbonio originally advertised one for Macan EV but took it off their website presumably because it blocked the camera/radar.

 

[shawn]

I’d 100% but in for one if someone can make a 3D printed one that works. Carbonio originally advertised one for Macan EV but took it off their website presumably because it blocked the camera/radar.

Yes it needs to be offset to avoid blocking the camera unless it’s above on top of painted area. a design for which I have not seen

 

[Fun TC Driving]

Sto-n-Sho works well for us; had now had it, though different versions, on four vehicles. Like that it detaches with just one finger when wanted/needed.

 

[Sideline]

Sto-n-Sho works well for us; had now had it, though different versions, on four vehicles. Like that it detaches with just one finger when wanted/needed.

Agreed, this can work for some but I have a steep approach, lots of snow in the winter and from a purely aesthetic standpoint I prefer a centre mount.

 

[CandianPorsche83]

Agreed, this can work for some but I have a steep approach, lots of snow in the winter and from a purely aesthetic standpoint I prefer a centre mount.

Has anybody tried to double sided tape the holder on? I had thought about it but didn’t follow through with the idea

 

[masmole]

Sounds like a terrible terrible idea.

If it really sticks, the tape will ruin the paint when you’ll want to take it off.
If it doesn’t, you risk damaging the car when it falls off, especially if it happens at speed.

Lose-lose kind of situation.

Not true. It's actually a great idea. I've done it on 5 cars and have had no issues. 3M VHB foam tape is incredibly strong and when it comes time to remove (like when I sell the car) it comes off fairly easily with the help of some goo-gone and steady force and no damage to paint. Without the help of goo-gone, it's remains stuck, which speaks for how strong the 3M VHB tape is. It's also very important to apply VHB over a clean surface on both the bracket and the painted/ppf'd surface. So if you had ceramic coating or ppf installed, use some kind of surface prep cleaner and/or alcohol or some solution to strip that ceramic coating off the area where you will tape the plate bracket on.

On my previous Taycan, I used the factory-supplied front plate bracket and layered a whole bunch of VHB tape for a nice flush fit. My concern with the Taycan was that it was the first car I've tried to use VHB tape for the front plate bracket over PPF (had the whole car PPF'd). I made sure to really clean the PPF'd surface with surface prep (CMX) and alcohol, and stuck the front plate bracket on with strategically placed VHB tape, and lots of it. It stayed on for 3 years and 3 Chicago winters and lots of triple digit speeed runs on the highways. I traded it my Taycan a couple of weeks ago and had a heck of a time trying to get it off. With some goo gone and patience, it eventually came off with no damage, and no damage to the PPF even!

I have recently done the same with my Macan Turbo. I just put it on this past weekend, and after almost a week, it's been solid and I've already tested it at high speeds, heavy braking and cornering and even a touchless car wash. No issues. That thing is stuck on there real good. And yes, my Macan Turbo also has PPF on it.

I had to use a ton of 3M VHB tape for the Macan - almost 2 rolls worth! While I only had to put 1 layer of tape for the actual mounting points (where screws would normally go) I had to layer a ton across the middle and lower sections because of the large space between the bracket and the car's surface once mounted. It's definitely a tedious process to layer them just right, but this is very important. In some areas up to 8-10 layers of 3M VHB tape. I remember having to do the same for the Taycan.

This is the exact tape I ordered from amazon:
https://a.co/d/eZ1hTWG

Not a lose-lose situation at all.

 

[twizter]

Can you post a picture of the side profile (or just blur the plate) ? @masmole I was planning on doing something similar, I used the 3M tape for the old model 3 plate (also Chicago winters) ... My 4S is currently about a week or two away from delivery

 

[masmole]

Can you post a picture of the side profile (or just blur the plate) ? @masmole I was planning on doing something similar, I used the 3M tape for the old model 3 plate (also Chicago winters) ... My 4S is currently about a week or two away from delivery

Hope this helps. (seems my iPhone has focused poorly)

Fits nice and flush just as if I had screwed the bracket on, but this is all just held with 3M VHB tape. The plate itself is screwed on to the bracket, but I even took the time to dremel the pointy ends off on the top screws in the event that someone kisses it at a parking lot so the pointy ends of the screws don't dig into the ppf'd surface when pushed in. The bottom screws are fully embedded in plastic.

Because this installation is positioned exactly like a screwed-on installation would've been, it doesn't obscure the front camera at all.

Another thing worth noting is that at least for my Turbo's front bumper cover (not sure if 4S will be all that different) the bracket has a plastic tab that I had to cut off in order to allow it to seat flush against the surface. I'm fairly certain this little tab was meant to be removed because leaving it won't allow the bracket to sit flush and results in obscuring the front camera a bit. As you can see from the photo, even when seated fluish, there is still a gap just below the painted surface. Under this gap are two vertical "pillars" that will abut right against the 90 degree corner between the upper painted surfacer and the lower non-painted part. I had to layer a lot of VHB tape between these pillars to get sufficient thickness to make up for the gap. Basically, I layered enough so that the tape goes flush with the vertical pillars behind the bracket and is able to adhere to the non-painted part as well, while also giving clearance for the central notch where the camera will be. (I should've taken a photo of this before I stuck it on, but too late now). This will be more clear to you when you attempt this yourself.

 

[twizter]

Thanks @masmole , that looks great and pretty much what I had on the model 3 before I sold it ... There's an effort to get rid of front license plates for cost savings in IL (the bill was filed in Jan but I think hasn't made it out of committee) so I don't want to use the permanent mounting option in case that does eventually pass. I've gotten the 3M tape off before easily with some hot water, a bit of goo gone and patience.

 

[CandianPorsche83]

Hope this helps. (seems my iPhone has focused poorly)

Fits nice and flush just as if I had screwed the bracket on, but this is all just held with 3M VHB tape. The plate itself is screwed on to the bracket, but I even took the time to dremel the pointy ends off on the top screws in the event that someone kisses it at a parking lot so the pointy ends of the screws don't dig into the ppf'd surface when pushed in. The bottom screws are fully embedded in plastic.

Because this installation is positioned exactly like a screwed-on installation would've been, it doesn't obscure the front camera at all.

Another thing worth noting is that at least for my Turbo's front bumper cover (not sure if 4S will be all that different) the bracket has a plastic tab that I had to cut off in order to allow it to seat flush against the surface. I'm fairly certain this little tab was meant to be removed because leaving it won't allow the bracket to sit flush and results in obscuring the front camera a bit. As you can see from the photo, even when seated fluish, there is still a gap just below the painted surface. Under this gap are two vertical "pillars" that will abut right against the 90 degree corner between the upper painted surfacer and the lower non-painted part. I had to layer a lot of VHB tape between these pillars to get sufficient thickness to make up for the gap. Basically, I layered enough so that the tape goes flush with the vertical pillars behind the bracket and is able to adhere to the non-painted part as well, while also giving clearance for the central notch where the camera will be. (I should've taken a photo of this before I stuck it on, but too late now). This will be more clear to you when you attempt this yourself.

Looks awesome!

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