Living in Missouri i am required to have a front license plate. I'd rather not drill holes in the front of the vehicle and I don't like the idea of mounting a bracket with adhesive. I know there are a few manufacturers that offer license plate brackets that screw into the tow hook receptacle and that is probably the route I'll go. Does anyone have experience with such a bracket or have a recommendation as to which one to buy?

Admin - If my request for this information on the forum runs afoul of the forum guidelines I apologize and will not be offended if the thread is removed.

Thanks.

 

I am looking for this solution as well. I actually used this solution with my Mini Cooper and have a plate holder for the Mini. I will let you know if that plate set up works on the XF. On first blush it looks like the towing eye is much longer on the XF than the Mini.

 

Here's a place that makes a license plate bracket that fits into the tow eye hook:

Carrera,Cayman,BMW,Tow Hook License Plate,John Deere,Kubota

You should also run a search of "license plate bracket" on the following Porsche forums:

www.rennlist.com

www.6speenonline.com.

This topic comes up a lot on Porsche forums.

 

California requires front plates, too, and they're getting really tight on enforcement, probably due to red light cameras and increasing use of laser speed detection (front plate provides a nice "target" for the officer to zero the laser beam on).


So, I put one of these on, today in fact. I've had the bracket in the box for some time and finally got around to the install. Took just a few minutes, mostly because I wanted to take my time and make sure the plate was in the right position (centered, etc.).

This bracket by Skene Design is about as minimalist as you can get. You drill two small holes after affixing it with double-sided tape, but the holes are under the bumper lip and not visible from the front if you ever remove the plate. In the last pic below, the holes are drilled between the two pieces of double-sided tape from the underside. Skene Design License Plate Mount

I also have one that fits the tow-eye socket, but I don't really like it as it detracts from the symmetry of the front end, since the tow-eye socket is not centered. Also, with the tow-eye model, it's hard to get the license plate to line up straight, as it seems every time you thread it into the socket (probably due to temperature variation), it winds up in a different place (e.g. "clocked" at 11:00 or 1:00 o'clock rather than straight at 12:00 o'clock). Because of the leverage from the plate itself, it's also very easy for someone (a vandal) to come along and unscrew it, either to take it or to have it come loose. I suggest the Skene Design instead if you're going to run it all the time. The tow-eye model, however, is less permanent, so if you don't run it all the time and just put it on when parking on the street in the city to avoid a front plate ticket, it may be better for that use.

The pics below are not of my car, btw; they're stock photos from the Skene Design site.

 

For those of you looking for a hide-away motorized version, see this: Swift Motorsports

My experience is that I never get pulled over for a lack of a plate, but that I am starting to get tix while parked for not having one. I just got one while parked at the airport (O'hare) for $50. If this saved 3 tix it would pay for itself and keeps a clean front-end intact.

Still, not cheap.

 

That's pretty cool, especially the motorized version, although on the XF/XFR, you would need to run it under the lower lip of the bumper, quite low to the ground. OK for parking, but may not be ideal for driving, as when it is up in display position, it may block radiator inlet more than stock bracket. When in stored position, down that low, it will be subject to rock chips and other debris. You may or may not care about that.

While most of the time you are exposed to a front plate ticket only when parking, someone told me that there was an officer out here in Califonia standing by an off ramp and pulling over every car without a front plate.

BTW, clicking on the Swift Motorsports link above redirected me to a "your computer's been infected" site. Beware not to take that bait. Here's a YouTube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1zIG...yer_detailpage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=W4d1qeAZILc

 

Here is the one I settled on:

https://paytrace.com/secretlink.pay?...507310&count=0

I installed it over the weekend. It is a sturdy setup. I do agree that it takes away from the looks of the front end. Frankly, I think it looks a little better with the plate mounted than in the pic in the link above. I may add a black license plate holder just to see if that improves the appearance.

I'm not that concerned with getting tickets while parked. But, I don't like giving law enforcement officers another reason to pull me over. Also, I've been pulled over several times for speeding and have been let go with a warning. Without a front plate, my concern is that I'm just giving the officer another reason to give me a ticket vs. let me off with a warning. So, until my state's legislature changes the law, I'll begrudgingly try to keep it legal.

 

As I understand it, the threads and diameter of the tow hooks are often different from one auto manufacturer to another. Also, the XF has reverse threads. If anyone confirms that a tow hook style plate holder for another make/model works with the XF, please post as that would give us more options. Just thought I'd throw that bit of info out there.

 

Does anybody have one of these motorized ones on their XF? I would love to see it in action. Does it work? Well built? Is it solid? Etc.