mounting California Plates on 01' S Class
 

Hey everyone, just recieved my california license plates, and i ran into a lil problem mounting them on the front... turns out the lil plastic thing that i screw the plate into is designed for a german license plate, so when i went on mercedes website, i decides to buy a frame with only two holes on the bottom... well now i recieved a frame with 4 holes, because they don't make 2 holes anymore, and i'm inclined to try and get a new "plastic thing" that is designed for american plates. it looks like it would be cheap, sense it's plastic and jsut pops into the front bumper and then screwed in... i need to know what i'm asking for, and where to find it, and how much it might cost... shouldn't the dealership offer this for free?? thanx for any help you can provide.
-Alex

My 01 s600, had standard US plate mountings. Go complain at the dealer.

ok trhanx alot, i will contact the dealer

OK, I think I know the problem, done lots of these by doing pre-delivery inspections. The plate bracket (which is what it's called BTW) just goes below the bumper, has the 2 screw holes in the botton corners for the lower plate holes. Then what I do, although I've seen nothing official, is to mark and drill the holes for the top holes in the plate, right into the bumper itself, then put the top screws in. They hold really well, I always use the MB screws that the dealer should be able to supply you with. Sometimes the bracket comes with the screws.
I can see why you think it's for a European plate, it's actually the right width, but the plate extends up over the bracket when installed. It looks really bad without those top screws, the plate starts pulling out away from the bumper.

Gilly

Alex:
I, too live in California. I've never installed front plates on the 2 MBZs I've owned (1984 "true" 190E AMG; current 1986 16V). I do, however, carry the plates in my car along with hardware and a screwdriver. If I ever get pulled over, my excuse would be that I'm waiting for the front plate frame.

Brian16V

In Alberta, we don't have front plates. Cars look better, LIDAR has one less target surface, and guess what...

...it saved millions in plate manufacturing costs.

Call your government reps...