F90 Front license plate location dilemma
 

I need to find a way to affix the front plate. MA has become militant about it in recent years and not having one will get you an official written warning. When I had the F80 I had a cop in town make a U-turn and chase me down over it and I got a written warning. So going without one like I did for years on many other cars is no longer an option.

There are many no-drill solutions and I've used them on the F80, 718, etc., but non work well on the F90. The reason is that not only do I have the massive driver assist sensor, but I also have the fancy pants Radenso radar detector sensors. Also, per the comparative image below, the LCI (left) made things worse be reducing the space between the top of the large sensor and the start of the larger grill. As a result, anything centered on the car is out.

https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/J4...rendering.webp

I was sure a tow eye mount would work, but one of the radar sensors would almost certainly be blocked. See below.

http://forums.carmudgeons.com/attach...4&d=1705201968

The way I see it I have a few options and none are great if I want to keep the radar detector and not interfere with it.

1) Tow eye mount plate mount. Find one with a heavy bias or modify it or make a custom one to clear the sensor. This is troublesome and may not cover all of the opening of the tow eye cover, making things look even more stupid.

2) Relocate lateral sensors inward and use a standard tow eye mount.

3) Adapt an under-the-bumper mount to attach under the very bottom of the bumper to either side of the driver assist sensor. I'd hate the look of this and would fear hitting the bracket on inclines.

4) Simply adhere the plate (mounted to a simple frame) to the bumper just past the sensor. I could use 3M VHB and or 3M Dual Lock so I can pull the plate for cleaning, etc. I'm partial to this option but the issue is that the car has PPF. It's not new PPF and I see no reason to un-do this solution, but if I ever find myself trying to do so, it might be a bear and probably will damage the PPF. At that point I may want to put a fresh section of PPF anyway.

Thoughts?

I did number 4 on the X5 and so far it’s been perfect. Bought a $16 plastic frame on Amazon and a roll of VHB. I don’t have PPF, though. Mine is centered on the bumper and I haven’t had any issues with the driver assist sensor, but the G05 bumper probably has more space than your car.

At the same time, the stock mount goes there in the middle and obviously doesn’t cause sensor issues, so why not just replicate that placement with a cheap plastic frame and VHB?

I think the tow hook mounts look awful, but YMMV.

Oh sorry I just noticed the aftermarket sensor in the middle. I thought they were just on the sides.

I can’t run a radar detector in VA so I’ve never relied on one. I’d probably just forgo the detector rather than doing an offset plate mount, but I can see why that’s sort of silly.

Can you put the plate in a frame and then cut the bottom of the plate to accommodate that sensor without it being completely obvious? A plastic frame is probably radar transparent, so if you cut the plate and left the frame intact it would hard to detect and also might not compromise your detection range that much. And if you need LIDAR pass through, you could probably put some dark LiDAR transparent plastic over the cutout in the frame.

Like this stuff:

https://solutions.covestro.com/en/hi...makrofol-st352

Edit: looks like this shop did a custom license plate frame to accommodate a sensor:

https://www.rdforum.org/threads/110957/

Thanks. I did consider just cutting the bottom of a frame that has a section covering the bottom of the plate, in which case the cut portion would not be noticeable. I think that is what you refer to.


The car did not come with the OE front plate mount, so I’d need to get one.

Actually, it looks like the factory bracket clears the whole bottom of the bumper at the expense of covers the bottom end of the grill. Maybe I should just buy that and VHB it to the bumper.

Yeah you might try that; but take a look at the back of a stock mount first, because the one for the x5 didn’t have enough flat surface for mounting tape.

You could buy a cheap Amazon frame and see how much it actually blocks?

You could just move to Georgia. ;)

This is how mine looks on the X5

Might not be popular opinion around here but I’d just install the front plate bracket on the car and be done with it. Never understood the obsession with no holes if your state requires the front plate.