Opinions needed; SA front plate mounting
 

Which do you like better?

Original Recipe (stock plate holder)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P9120044.jpg

Extra Crispy (Relocated to lower mount)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0905001757.jpg

The SA doesn't provide many good choices for front plate mounting; I've used the stock mount for a long time (at least when I was actually using the front plate) but it really looks like an engineering afterthought, sort of a "Oh, crap; what do we do for US front plates??"

The bumper holes aren't spaced for US plates, either.

I decided to try out the low mount today, but I honestly am not sure which looks better.

The advantage of the low mount is that it can be angled back to make the plate less obvious/obstructive, and also allows for a plate frame. The stock mount was never designed for plate frames; you have to hack the frame up quite a bit to make it fit at all. My old front plate is seriously beat up, so a frame makes it look a lot better; also, a dark frame makes the plate look smaller.

If I go with "Extra Crispy," I'll probably get a plain black frame to match the one I have on the rear; the Mazdatrix plate was just what-was-on-hand.

I thought abour relocating it over to the driver's side, but that felt just a bit too ricey to me. I'm still trying to rock the modified-stock look.

Anyway, vote for your favorite.

Ideally I would not rock the front plate at all. The origanal mount looks just as like you described, an after thought. I think extra crisp is the way to go if you must have the plate on.

^ but unfortunately some states do run both front and rear plates.

A significant number of people I know have all been pulled over and ticketed by cops for not sporting the required front plates. Fast no hassle ticket to issue and easy money for the local governments here in debt laden California, so this is a timely subject Glen. My immediate inclination was original, but after pondering I think the extra crispy advantages you list are enough for me to consider dropping mine down, angling it a bit and adding a Mazdatrix frame to make it appear smaller.

Thanks!

i vote original but bend the plate back a bit if you need more airflow. though if you are not having any cooling issues or anything the other way does look better.

Obv no proper Lic plate bracket Glen?
I'd say the Extra Crispy is lesser of 2 Evils...

Being the handy guy I know you are, any thought to maybe a bracket that sits under-and-back towards the rear under-edge of the bumper. Sort of "hidden in the shadow"?

(been sneaking around w/o plate for years...)
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

One more reason to not live in California.

If I had to choose I would stay with the original mount, the screw holes are already
there for it. Also the extra crispy blocks even more air into the radiator opening.

i think OEM... not an easy choice though

Most of this car's life it ran about with no front plate on it. My daily driver I've never mounted a front plate to... bumper remains undrilled by my insistance when picking it up from the dealer.

My previous car (91 Camaro) likewise went plateless out front.

I've never gotten a ticket for it, including the couple times over the years when I did get stopped for speeding.

But that was before California went broke and now has the police, CHP, and sheriffs ticketing for about any damned thing they can find.

My wife got a ticket in her 02 Maxima a few months ago... for having a clear license plate cover on her rear plate. Not tinted, not reflective... just clear. Just because they could. We'd put it on back when she bought the car, because we'd had the registration stickers stolen off her plate once. nearly 8 years, no cop said "boo;" then one day a county sheriff sees an income and quota opportunity, and she gets pulled for it. Finding nothing else ticketable (lic, reg, ins all OK of course) she gets stuck with a $20 fix-it ticket and having to wait a couple hours at the cop shop to get it signed off.

That, coupled with Spry Beastie hanging out at car meets that have routinely been prowled by the local sheriffs, has made me cautious. I don't intend to donate any more of my cash to the government clowns than I absolutely have to.

The "extra crispy" mount could have been mounted further back, and can be angled up if desired until parallel to the gound and invisible... but both would be pushing my luck with the rolling tax collectors, in a state where you can be forced to submit to a smog check any time the local mounty decides your car smells funny.

So, I'm trying to find a happy medium. And the stock plate holder has always annoyed me.

Pictures don't show everything, but my first impression of the extra crispy was that it looked a little like bugs bunny with the big overbite. You Rascuwee Rwotwee!

LOL yeah not the best photo work. Shot with my cell phone which has a very wide lens; kinda give the car that super-exaggerated-nose look they like to use in pet food advertisements.

Shot from a low squat, too; at standing height the plate more or less vanishes once you're within 5 or 6 feet of the car.

I fiddled with the plate angle (mount I used is very adjustable) and switched to a simple narrow black frame; looks pretty good to my eyes now. I'll try to get another pic up tonight, with the car on the ground instead of up on the garage skates.

Luckily, airflow is not a problem for me. Car tends to run on the cool side, even on hot days.

hmmm have you looked it up, here in Nevada we have front plates, vehicles are required to use it unless if there is no mount and it is no longer available ie: 32 year old Rx7's. :wink:

Yeah, Cali makes no such exception. Fascists running this state these days, I tell ya. They wouldn't care if you had to bore 1/4" holes in the front & use carriage bolts.

dayum, guess it's good that I plan on rolling the SA on to the trailer when we head out to sevenstock huh

(by no means a trailer queen but 4 people don't fit in it lol)

They can't get hostile with out-of-state registered cars in that regard; if NV doesn't require it, they can't bust your chops for visiting.

i agree completely. it didn't used to be a problem here, and in fact if they pulled you over for speeding, it gave them a way to bargain down, to just a no front plate ticket.

but now all bets are off, CA is BROKE.

Here's how it looks from standing height:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/100_0457.jpg

I like how it doesn't disrupt the lines of the bumper, side not I like you driving light how big are they and to the help much?

I like the original. The lowing hanging extra just doesn't appeal to me. I am wanting to run a front plate on my SA too, only on occassion, but I have the same issues. IIRC, wasn't there some form of a factory mounting bracket that would fold back at speed for air flow?

I'd answer your question but I honestly can't firgure out what it is.

Thanks. That was sort of what I was going for; less disruption of body lines. I tried rotating it back far enough that it matched the outline of the grille, but then you couldn't see the plate at all.

I'll measure them for you when I get home, but they're not large. less than 1x2" at a guess.

I've only driven in fog one time since I put them on. They do seem to help some, and they throw a very wide pattern from down low, so you seem to get less 'blowback' of light. You still need to go slow in fog.

They're 2.5" wide, 1" tall, 13x.