I have an 06 XKR that has the US license plate holder in the trunk when I bought it. It has no hardware for mounting it and I am not sure how it mounts.

 

I assume you are talking about the front plate? The previous owner of my 2005 XKR never installed the front plate but had a black plastic mount with screws. I believe this is intended to be mounted somewhere smack in the middle of the main grill with the screws going into the vertical "over-riders". I have had the car for about a year and six months now and did not bother mounting the plate but I have been getting increasingly nervous about getting a ticket (here in California they desperately need the revenue and have started getting more aggressive about not having a front plate).

I know that there are some aftermarket companies that offer special lowered plate mounts to avoid spoiling the look of the main grill but these are very pricey ($100 or more) for what they are. So what I ended up doing was taking some zip ties looped through the holes in the plate mount and around the body colored bumper piece that separates the main grill from the lower openings. The effect is similar to the special lowered mounting kits but the cost was just pennies.

Doug

 

Oh PLEASE don't ruin the beautiful sculpture and lines of the front end with a license plate! This will be my 3rd car without one here in CA (since '90). I've had one run in with the law over it - they actually stopped me for having tinted film on the front side windows back in the early '90s - and they cited the front plate at the same time.

No fine - all I had to do was mount one - very temporarily with some wire - take it to a CHP office and show them it was installed - (and the tinting film removed) and it was all signed off and over. No record to insurance, nothing...

Be brave - enjoy the looks and compliments - and drive slower. Dale

 

This is the system I have used to date, maybe I'll just take my chances. I don't like the idea fo being stopped as it is never pleasant but I also hate to ruin the nice look in the front too. Thanks for the comments.

 

The LEOs are hot for cash. Portland city allows the parking ticket WRITERs (for lack of a better word in a public forum) to issue a ticket if there isn't a front plate on your car.

I don't have one on mine and I don't plan on ever putting one on either along with my Vette that doesn't have a front plate either.

I've had several LEOs look at the car as they pass by but none have stopped me in the year and 2 months that I've owned it. I think they were enjoying how sharp the car looks because you don't see a lot of XK8(R)s around. In this 14 month period I put 30,000 miles on this XK8.

 

Not quite so simple and painless as your post suggests, at least not here in SoCal. I have had several cars where I tinted the windows (grey NOT black), including my 1995 Corvette--never had a problem. Also, I had not installed a front plate on the Corvette and NO problems for 13 years since it used to be the case that you would get cited for this nit-picky stuff ONLY if you were stopped for something else. Well that all changed over the last year or so. I was pulled over by a motorcycle cop SOLELY for no front plate, and a friend I work with had his BMW Z4 cited for no front plate while the car was parked overnight in front of his house.

There is a small fine for this "infraction" (I believe it was maybe a total of $25) but the real hassle was wasting a few hours of my time by going to the police station near the local courthouse to verify the plate installation, going into another office to pay for that verification, then going to the court clerk to pay the ticket. All in all a waste of several hours mingling with typical civil service numbskulls.

While I resisted mounting the front plate on the XKR for the last 18 months, I felt myself getting nervous every time I saw a cop or CHP and figured it would just be a matter of time before I was cited. So I bit the bullet and mounted the plate such that at least it does not totally ruin the look in front. I agree that when the plates are mounted on the main grill they look horrible, but the lowered mounting position does not look all that bad.

Doug

 

I specifically removed the damaged 'teeth' that had holes from the plate, stashed it in the garage with the bracket, and replaced with new ones. They'll go to the next owner (if ever I sell her).

Never a problem over here in TX, and i've been stopped several times this last year.

 

I live in OH. Car came from another no front tag state so I am free of the holder upfront.

 

I don't think my car has ever had a front plate on it, and if I have it my way it never will. I did come up with a solution to mount the plate down low without drilling into the bumper, should the fateful date arise that the law no longer stares with longing eyes at my baby and slaps me with a fine for no front plate. If this happens I plan on using industrial velcro that has an adhesive backing that can be removed without damaging paint. This way I can have a quickly removable plate and eventually remove the velcro completely without damage if I ever sell/move to a front plate free state. I sure hope it never has to come to that.

 

When I was at the dealer I would always go to the Sales dept and ask if they wanted the front tag mount installed and they always thanked me for asking. I only installed it if the car was sold and the customer wanted it. I did fit them to cars after the sale when the owners got ticketed (mostly in Arlington, TX) and most were stored in the boot next to the spare wheel. Some guys doing the PDI just installed them and they were frowned on after the sales dept had to take the NEW car to the body shop and replace the 'damaged' front bumper.
h20boy just don't go to Arlington too often!!!!

bob gauff

 

Bob,
Would you mind telling us how the plate mount is installed on an 06 XKR with the mesh grille? I have no fasteners and can't readily see how the thing goes on. The mount has little teeth on it in four mounting locations, I assume they fit into the mesh but don't get how the fasteners work to hold it there. I kind of hate to disturb the cooling air flow, but I assume Jag thought of this in the plate design.

 

I'm not Bob but it sounds like you have the same/similar type of plastic mounting that the original owner passed along to me. In my case, there were several screws and I believe that the larger recessed holes for those screws basically line up with the over-riders. So the intent is to screw into the over-riders.

What I did instead was to locate the plastic mount lower so the "teeth" you are talking about sit just above the solid piece that divides the upper main grill from the lower openings. You will have nothing to screw into in this position but you can thread some of those plastic wire ties through the mounting holes and around the solid bumper piece--this will hole the mount in place. Then you can screw your plate to the mount lining the holes in the plate up with some of the other holes that are cast into the mount.

If I get the chance I will try and take a picture as to how mine ended up. I hate the look of the front plate but at least in the lowered position it is less obtrusive and does not block the main grill.

Doug

 

The plastic mount frame is aligned with the 'teeth' and then holes are supposed to be drilled into the vertical bars. Rivets or sheet metal screws can be used to fasten the frame to the bumper. I like the plastic 'zip-tie' idea better as it doesn't permanantly damage the bumper.

bob gauff

 

I had this problem in a town sticky about front license plates in Texas for my 454 XJS. I just put the front license plate under the driver's side windshield wiper when I drove it, then when out of the city limits tossed it on the backseat floor board.

 

This is lame I know but i cannot bring myself to permenetly mount the front license plate to my XF. THere are several good suggestion about temporary fixes, but i still have not found the best solution. Velcro is good but i am afraid that it may remove paint. WHat about just securing to the lower front grill with bulge cords?

 

Well, if you can bulge cord it (I assume you mean the elastic bungees), then you can zip tie it. It's just as temporary and discreet, but won't move around like the bungee cord could as it isn't as 'taught'.

 

When I first bought mine I had a adjustable mount that bolted underneath, you could adjust it at different heights. I would always hit curbs and parking blocks doing more damage than it was worth. When I had it repainted I left it off and haven't been picked up yet. My neighbor bought for his Vette, a electric plate that folds down with a button. It is pretty neat.
Doug
2001XKR Silverstone

 

I too couldn't stand to drill holes in the verticle bumperettes plus I wanted to minimize the effect as much as possible on the looks. Guess it works since when I got my speeding ticket, the plate and cover were never mentioned.

I bent an aluminum 1/8th sheet that is a bit larger in width than the bolt holes in a plate, into a 'Z' shape. The plate is mounted high enough to not touch on driveway dips yet the dark cover minimizes the effect of having it.

Most laws state that it must be mounted at the frontmost area of the vehicle horizontally and clearly visible. There is usually nothing about it being tilted back a bit (to avoid hitting pavement in this case). Cops have enough to do other than worrying about such trivia. As long as they can see it in the area (general) that it's supposed to be, they're happy and so am I.