Front plate @ delivery?

Mayhem said:

Curious... As I've now seen two different setups locally at dealerships..

For those of you in places that require front plates... Are your cars arriving at the dealership with the plate bracket pre installed? Or are your dealers installing them?

Are your rivets into the bumper itself, or into the black mesh grille?

Anyone in a front plate location, who's car came without a front bracket attached already?

One dealership had the bracket riveted into the black mesh area, and on had it riveted through the painted bumper area itself.

I have requested nothing to be attached to mine, but.... nobody has been able to tell me if they are coming pre attached from the factory or if it's being done in the dealership.

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i work at a ford dealership in mississauga, and when we do our PDI is when WE install the plate bracket... i have never seen a vehicle delivered with it except for like f150s and stuff... but all cars, they are installed by us in the shop.. so im almost 100% sure if you tell the dealer not to have it riveted in during the pdi.... you will have no front plate bracket

on the other site, someone posted the "option" code for installing the front plate. i wish i would have saved it. i'll be mad if they drill holes in my bumper!

I ordered mine without the front plate, and it still came with one. Riveted on at the factory.

ziggyst said:

i work at a ford dealership in mississauga, and when we do our PDI is when WE install the plate bracket... i have never seen a vehicle delivered with it except for like f150s and stuff... but all cars, they are installed by us in the shop.. so im almost 100% sure if you tell the dealer not to have it riveted in during the pdi.... you will have no front plate bracket

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I hope that's the case!

When I ordered.. There was an option on the order sheet to include a Front Plate...
I had them leave that unchecked so... hopefully that helps.

cinderbike said:

I ordered mine without the front plate, and it still came with one. Riveted on at the factory.

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Did you see the car arrive that way? Or the dealer told you it did?

Also, did you order from scratch and.... select no plate? Or did they swap options on an existing order for yours? Or pull it in from another dealership?

Sorry for all the questions, lol... I was able to get my Camaro, without the plate on.. Bracket Came in the trunk... (When I selected no front plate option @ order). Fresh factory order.

Not sure how Ford works though, my Raptor was bought off the lot, so it was already PDI'd.

I just took delivery today of mine. It had the bracket installed already. I saw it the day it came off the truck and it already had the bracket on then too. I'm on Ontario just north of Toronto. Front plate is required in Ontario so I didn't really care.

mrtn said:

I just took delivery today of mine. It had the bracket installed already. I saw it the day it came off the truck and it already had the bracket on then too. I'm on Ontario just north of Toronto. Front plate is required in Ontario so I didn't really care.

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Thanks,
Did you factory order without one? Or not specify?

Congrats on picking up the car

The are riveted on at the Factory. Not at the dealership. I ordered mine without it (not dealer stock) but that didn't matter - if the state it's shipped to requires front plates they won't honor the delete code, or at least that's what FoMoCo customer service said. Too many complaints from law enforcement, apparently.

Mayhem said:

Thanks,
Did you factory order without one? Or not specify?

Congrats on picking up the car

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No I didn't specify for the exact reason cinderbike said. Cops are all over you if they don't see a front plate here. I knew I needed it might as well not fight it. And I'm not a fan of the license plate to the side look.

Part of what made me question whether it was done @ dealer or factory was that they seem to be done in different spots.

Were yours riveted through the mesh grille or through the painted surface of the bumper? I have seen both.. And to make things even more confusing, I have seen both on vehicles at the same dealership.

The off to the side plate is usually more to do with tow hooks than people wanting it off set that way... Some cars come with the tow hook on one side.. So people mount a tow hook bracket for the plate.. FiST doesn't come with that in the US (Does in the UK from what I've seen). So I was going to attach an aftermarket bracket from underneath (still centered) or through the grille but not drilled.

Although I don't mind the off center look... I would like having the UK style tow hook put on the front. And then I'd just use he tow hook bracket too.

I of course wanted NOT to have the front plate bracket installed as I was to have clear bra applied immediately after delivery.
I even filled out forms to release the dealer of liability for not installing it.
However it did arrive from the factory pre-installed.
So I had to drill the rivets out right there in the dealer's parking lot.

Dave

D1JL said:

I of course wanted NOT to have the front plate bracket installed as I was to have clear bra applied immediately after delivery.
I even filled out forms to release the dealer of liability for not installing it.
However it did arrive from the factory pre-installed.
So I had to drill the rivets out right there in the dealer's parking lot.

Dave

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Bumper, or grille?

Mayhem said:

Bumper, or grille?

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Sorry,
Directly through the paint in the bumper.

Dave

Thanks, I am just trying to figure out what dictates the rivet location at this point... Seems more than likely I'll end up with a bracket either way by the sounds of it...

You are comparing pics with a licence plate installed vs one without. The pics without are how the licence plate bracket is installed, riveted through the bumper. Once a licence plate is installed it is bolted on at the top of the bracket and is only attached to the bracket.
I don't know if I'm explaining it well.... But the top bolts to not touch the grill at all they are simply attached to the bracket itself. The bracket itself it attached to the bumper at the bottom.

mrtn said:

You are comparing pics with a licence plate installed vs one without. The pics without are how the licence plate bracket is installed, riveted through the bumper. Once a licence plate is installed it is bolted on at the top of the bracket and is only attached to the bracket.
I don't know if I'm explaining it well.... But the top bolts to not touch the grill at all they are simply attached to the bracket itself. The bracket itself it attached to the bumper at the bottom.

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Ah, yeah I think you are right...My mistake. In that case I don't have a photo handy. I didn't really pay attention to that, but what you described makes sense. I just assumed based on the front bolt location that it was attached through the grille plugs. Wasn't paying attention to the fact that the bracket and plate are attached individually. I have seen the grille attachment bare without any plate on it... but I'm having trouble digging up a photo online.

I'll see if I can snap a photo if I am by the dealership again.

I think some of the Focus's had the grille plugs too, but I think also some of them are just a plate behind the grille that has holes drilled into it, to attach the bracket?

new delivery at my work... we will be installing the plate bracket during pdi, same as my sales managers st.....