Options on removal of Japanese plate brackets?

[Deek9000 5]

Hi there,

First time BMW owner and it’s a Japanese import so has plate brackets fitted accordingly. 
 

I’m keen to replace the standard plates with black slims or euros but am curious to hear from anyone who’s done the same and what you’d recommend. 
 

Prefer a clean look without the Japanese brackets. If I remove them, what are the options to fit new ones?

It looks like there’s an indent at the rear for where the plate should go (without the bracket). Is this the Euro size?

And for the front, there will be holes from where the bracket was fitted but could I get these patched up/filled and then attach any size plate (black slim, ideally) to the front?

Or should I instead be looking for a replacement bracket that fits the pre drilled holes front and back and then source plate sizes to fit those?

Apologies if this has been asked before, I couldn’t find a definitive guide on this topic.

Thanks in advance

 

 

[Eagle 1664]

3M VBH tape

[balancerider 764]

Good on you for getting rid of the Japanese plate frames!

If you are going to run a full sized europlate on the front you can buy the plinth that comes on the euro market cars (see below image). If you're going to pick the mini plates then I wouldn't bother and just drill holes in the plate to match the existing ones in bumper front and rear (you may need to fill the lower pair of holes)

[KwS 2425]

An alternative is to get a plate frame for your sized plate and attach that to the car (they usually have multiple screw hole options) and then fit the plate into it. A bit tidier than just sticking it to the bumper without the plinth.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2960]

As above Euro plinth or full plate frame to mount it properly to the bumper. Bolting or taping it straight to the plastic bumper just looks huckery imho.

The front radar under the plate, which I see you’ve got from your photo, is also very temperamental with where the plate is positioned so worth doing properly.

[Deek9000 5]

11 hours ago, balancerider said:

Good on you for getting rid of the Japanese plate frames!

If you are going to run a full sized europlate on the front you can buy the plinth that comes on the euro market cars (see below image). If you're going to pick the mini plates then I wouldn't bother and just drill holes in the plate to match the existing ones in bumper front and rear (you may need to fill the lower pair of holes)

Thank you. Do you know of any retailers that sell the plinths in NZ? All I can find are “plate surrounds” which add a frame around the plate. 
 

like this https://www.autographics.co.nz/product/european-number-plate-holder/

[Deek9000 5]

40 minutes ago, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

As above Euro plinth or full plate frame to mount it properly to the bumper. Bolting or taping it straight to the plastic bumper just looks huckery imho.

The front radar under the plate, which I see you’ve got from your photo, is also very temperamental with where the plate is positioned so worth doing properly.

Thank you. Yes, was thinking of putting the plate over the top two holes and fill in the lower ones at the front. 
 

Should keep the plate well away from the radar. 
 

Do you know of any retailers that sell the plinths in NZ? All I can find are “plate surrounds” which add a frame around the plate. 
 

like this https://www.autographics.co.nz/product/european-number-plate-holder/

[Olaf 3328]

11 hours ago, Eagle said:

3M VBH tape

This - 100%

[Vass 834]

Just ordered black slim plates for mine. Planning to just trim the jap brackets to size and go with that. Luckily I don't have the issue of any screw holes remaining visible on the E46.

[Deek9000 5]

9 minutes ago, Olaf said:

This - 100%

If it’s strong enough to hold the plates securely, isn’t it going to be a nightmare to remove when you (or future owner) decide to change the plates?

genuinely curious, have you changed the plates since and how did you get the tape off?

[Deek9000 5]

4 minutes ago, Vass said:

Just ordered black slim plates for mine. Planning to just trim the jap brackets to size and go with that. Luckily I don't have the issue of any screw holes remaining visible on the E46.

Hadn’t thought of that! I’d be keen to see the results after you’re done!

[Vass 834]

1 hour ago, Deek9000 said:

Hadn’t thought of that! I’d be keen to see the results after you’re done!

Yeah I'll post it up once done. I've already trimmed the front one once as the Japanese plinth was protruding beyond the standard plate as well. Moved the plate up to line up with a protruding edge, added a couple of rivet nuts to hold in the new position and trimmed off the plastic protruding beyond the bottom edge of the plate.

Before

After

The rear bracket will be a bit trickier as the bracket doesn't seem to have enough thickness to add in new rivnuts where I would want them but will figure something out. Double sided tape option doesn't really appeal to me.

[charles28 137]

I went with double sided 3m tape.

 

[KwS 2425]

May i present a counter argument though? Plate frames 😄

[Eagle 1664]

10 hours ago, Deek9000 said:

If it’s strong enough to hold the plates securely, isn’t it going to be a nightmare to remove when you (or future owner) decide to change the plates?

genuinely curious, have you changed the plates since and how did you get the tape off?

Its the same process as removing car emblems, you use dental floss to cut it behind the tape and solvent, caramel wheel etc to remove the reminder. Changing plates isnt very common once everything is tidy looking.

[balancerider 764]

12 hours ago, Deek9000 said:

Thank you. Do you know of any retailers that sell the plinths in NZ? All I can find are “plate surrounds” which add a frame around the plate. 
 

like this https://www.autographics.co.nz/product/european-number-plate-holder/

RealOEM is a great asset for BMW part numbers. https://spareto.com/oe/51138054576
 

[Deek9000 5]

11 hours ago, Vass said:

Yeah I'll post it up once done. I've already trimmed the front one once as the Japanese plinth was protruding beyond the standard plate as well. Moved the plate up to line up with a protruding edge, added a couple of rivet nuts to hold in the new position and trimmed off the plastic protruding beyond the bottom edge of the plate.

Before

After

The rear bracket will be a bit trickier as the bracket doesn't seem to have enough thickness to add in new rivnuts where I would want them but will figure something out. Double sided tape option doesn't really appeal to me.

Very tidy. Looks like the bracket in your case forms part of the bumper panel, looks great after the trim! Is the rear same as mine with two bolts in the bracket?

[Deek9000 5]

11 hours ago, charles28 said:

I went with double sided 3m tape.

 

Same on the back, and do you have a pic? 

[Deek9000 5]

9 hours ago, KwS said:

May i present a counter argument though? Plate frames 😄

Looks good! Did you use existing drill holes to attach the frame? And did you go for euros front and back?

[Deek9000 5]

3 hours ago, Eagle said:

It’s the same process as removing car emblems, you use dental floss to cut it behind the tape and solvent, caramel wheel etc to remove the reminder. Changing plates isnt very common once everything is tidy looking.

Makes sense. I’ll trust bolts over tape, but can see why tape’s a good route for some. 

[Deek9000 5]

1 hour ago, balancerider said:

RealOEM is a great asset for BMW part numbers. https://spareto.com/oe/51138054576
 

That’s really helpful, cheers! The mount is for front only or front and back?

[m325i 709]

On 8/20/2024 at 7:50 AM, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

As above Euro plinth or full plate frame to mount it properly to the bumper. Bolting or taping it straight to the plastic bumper just looks huckery imho.

Depends on the model of car, but generally disagree. (E46 M3 has a nice plinth I admit). 

While I have used tape in the past with success, I found the curved front of F80 doesn't stick the corners well, (I tried like 3 types of tape). 

I found good success with these.

[balancerider 764]

12 hours ago, Deek9000 said:

That’s really helpful, cheers! The mount is for front only or front and back?

Plinth only needed for the front - the rear plate recess is nice and flat. I personally think the black small plates are a bit 'scene' (although YMMV and apparently they are hard for the fixed speed cameras to see!) and they don't have plate surrounds available due to the small size. Europlates + plate surround is the cleanest option for me.

[Vass 834]

16 hours ago, Deek9000 said:

Very tidy. Looks like the bracket in your case forms part of the bumper panel, looks great after the trim! Is the rear same as mine with two bolts in the bracket?

Yeah the rear is exactly the same as yours. So far I've trimmed off the bit that was protruding beyond the top edge of the plate. Once the slim plate arrives I'll trim off whatever is protruding beyond the bottom, or try to move it up somehow. Unfortunately it seems to only have a thickening where the existing rivnuts are and the rest of the plinth is a very thin slab of plastic so probably not possible to add extra rivnuts where I would want them.

[Eagle 1664]

20 hours ago, Deek9000 said:

Makes sense. I’ll trust bolts over tape, but can see why tape’s a good route for some. 

As long as tidy its a mostly the same tidy result. Tape just easy and i use it for a lot of other things. My Jap E36 Ti had the rear plate bracket rivetted into the boot from the inside so tape was the natural choice after cutting it out and filling the holes.