[Llarry]

Mama raised a good boy who follows the law (mostly) and wants to run a front license plate since it's the law.

I examine the layout with BMW's license plate base and am unimpressed. I don't want to drill the bumper/grille.

Option #2: Stow N Show. I pay the man a hundred bucks and install it. But I do not intend to stow it; I want to run the plate all the time. It sure is low and, sure enough, the plate holder and the plate itself get beat up pretty bad despite being careful when parking, entering/exiting driveways, etc. I put the holder in recycling and for just $35 get a new license plate. Now I'm back to square one.

Option #3: Carbonio. Sounds like a winner -- great flexibility to mount the plate at various heights and it's no-drill. I pay the man TWO hundred bucks. The directions turn out to be pretty generic -- designed for any vehicle with horizontal grille bars -- and not G8X M3/M4-specific. I have fiddled and fiddled with the damn thing and can't figure out how to mount it on my 2022 M3. I haven't yet contacted Carbonio.

In the meantime, I have no front plate on the car and it sure looks nice.

Anybody here who has mounted a front plate using Carbonio and can give me some backup here?

Thank you in advance!

[Needsdecaf]

Option 4: 3M double sided automotive trim tape.

<<disclaimer>> my G80 is still yet to be built so I haven't tested this. HOWEVER it looks like you might be able to adhere the plate to the central grille bar area using said 3M tape. See pics below (in Aventurine Red because you know, it's the best color ). I would think a few strips of tape mounted on the central rib might work. Again, i'm not sure since I haven't played with the grille in person to verify.

The tape does work. It's what Porsche uses to adhere the temporary plates on when you do Euro Delivery. I used it to mount the plate on my F10 (i took it into DC and street parked a lot and they were nasty about tickets) and also have used it on my wife's old Cayenne. That plate has been on there for 10 years and 122k miles and is only now in need of some replacement tape.

[Misterleeman]

I'm interested as well. I've had poor success in the past getting by Texas DPS without a front plate. They love pulling me over.

[chris3g]

Carbonio just clamps on to one of the slats, held in place by pressure from the springs. I have it also but only for temporary use, not sure I would trust that mechanism for permanent attachment at high speeds.

[Misterleeman]

Found this:

[Custom Install]

Here (in the UK) you can buy 3mm 3M double sided foam sticky pads for fitting number plates. I used 3 of these stuck together on each side of the plate top and bottom (horizontally so they miss the raised line in the middle) enough so the plate does not touch the body.
Easy to remove if required, more importantly zero holes in the bumper.

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by Custom Install

Here (in the UK) you can buy 3mm 3M double sided foam sticky pads for fitting number plates. I used 3 of these stuck together on each side of the plate top and bottom (horizontally so they miss the raised line in the middle) enough so the plate does not touch the body.
Easy to remove if required, more importantly zero holes in the bumper.

Bingo, thats what I posted above, but more generically. Thanks for confirming that it works.

You could conceivably buy a whole roll of the tape and just "shim it" with layers as needed for the US plates. To those of you who haven't used it, this stuff is strong. It's the same tape used to hold on wings, side skirts, etc.

[Custom Install]

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

Bingo, thats what I posted above, but more generically. Thanks for confirming that it works.

Just noticed that. Thanks

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by Custom Install

Just noticed that. Thanks

Thank you for confirming that it actually works on this car! As I noted above, I wasn't sure it would with the vertical differences in that central piece; makes sense that you would "shim" the pads so that they sit proud of the thin strip on that central bar.

[colo3Kid]

Originally Posted by Misterleeman

I'm interested as well. I've had poor success in the past getting by Texas DPS without a front plate. They love pulling me over.

Fellow Texan here. Just read an article this morning about the City of Austin getting help from the DPS to patrol and make stops. The article spoke about a guy getting stopped by DPS for not having a front plate.
Anyway I use a rho.

(Anyway there apparently was a dust up in Austin about a trooper drawing his weapon on a father and ~10 yr old son during a stop but didn't point the weapon. at the boy. City wanted to cease the DPS support but Gov Abbott added more troopers instead. Some in Austin like the drop in crime others find it too heavy handed.)

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by Misterleeman

Found this:

Yeah, that carbonio unit not only looks weak, but it also has weak looks in that the plate is floating 1-2" in front of your grille. Even worse than the stock mount, IMO.

[Misterleeman]

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

Yeah, that carbonio unit not only looks weak, but it also has weak looks in that the plate is floating 1-2" in front of your grille. Even worse than the stock mount, IMO.

Looks like you can adjust how far it sticks out.

[Misterleeman]

Originally Posted by colo3Kid

Fellow Texan here. Just read an article this morning about the City of Austin getting help from the DPS to patrol and make stops. The article spoke about a guy getting stopped by DPS for not having a front plate.
Anyway I use a rho.

(Anyway there apparently was a dust up in Austin about a trooper drawing his weapon on a father and ~10 yr old son during a stop but didn't point the weapon. at the boy. City wanted to cease the DPS support but Gov Abbott added more troopers instead. Some in Austin like the drop in crime others find it too heavy handed.)

The plate doesn't block any of the sensors ? On my RS3, I could never to get any of those to work without tripping the parking sensors.

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by Misterleeman

Looks like you can adjust how far it sticks out.

Still won't be all the way flush.

The nice thing about the tape method is you can bend the plate to match the curve of the grille, and it lays nice and flat.

[colo3Kid]

Originally Posted by Misterleeman

The plate doesn't block any of the sensors ? On my RS3, I could never to get any of those to work without tripping the parking sensors.

The rho I use on my 22 M4CX doesn't block any sensors the carbino will block the sensor used for adaptive cruise control, and their site says that. Also my wife has a carbino on her 23 X3 and it is hard to get it to lay flat against the bumper - it doesn't block any sensors - but she did go thru a car wash and didn't take off her plate and I am still working on getting the carbino back to its original position I had it at.

[Misterleeman]

Originally Posted by colo3Kid

The rho I use on my 22 M4CX doesn't block any sensors the carbino will block the sensor used for adaptive cruise control, and their site says that. Also my wife has a carbino on her 23 X3 and it is hard to get it to lay flat against the bumper - it doesn't block any sensors - but she did go thru a car wash and didn't take off her plate and I am still working on getting the carbino back to its original position I had it at.

Guess I will try the rho - its half the cost.

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by Misterleeman

Guess I will try the rho - its half the cost.

Start with tape...it's like $7, lol.

[GladiatorOwner]

I use stow n go. Once in a while that is. Easy on and off. Most of the time it’s off but can be put on in 30 seconds.

[Chapter2099]

Has anyone heard of this one?

https://www.slybrackets.com/store/


There’s a grille assessment/meansurement section on the site but I can’t figure out if this would work on our grilles or not. I’ve been eyeing it, but I’m not convinced it’s different than the Rho or Carbonio.

I have the Adaptive Cruise Control sensor on my grille so my options are limited (like some of you.)

Tape is tempting…

[MrSmileyDC]

I have a rho plate holder. It’s not as high quality as USMillworks was for the f80/82, but they don’t have one for the g80 yet. Main difference is the toe hook bar length is longer for the g80.

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by Misterleeman

Found this:

Much appreciated -- that video did the trick.

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

Yeah, that carbonio unit not only looks weak, but it also has weak looks in that the plate is floating 1-2" in front of your grille. Even worse than the stock mount, IMO.

Yes, that is the case for my plate when I finished -- further in front than I would like and the hardware is exposed. As far as strength, my guess is it will be OK.