Today I was in my local motor factors behind a guy buying a new number plate.
His rear plate had been stolen overnight - hence the replacement.
His original was held on by a chrome strip at each side. This appears to be quite vulnerable to a "no tools required" snatch.
Are plates with double sided sticky pads easy to remove or are the plates likely to break?
I guess thise held on with a couple of self tapping screws are the next most vulnerable.
There seems no real total answer to this problem.
IIRC there are special plates that break up if an attempt is made to remove them.
At least this would avoid " fill up and flee" using my car reg.
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well, heres a funny story ?
was in a scrapyard today , stood next to a car stacked on top of another car, and the top cars rear number plate fell off ? ! ? . Being of a suspicous mind , i picked up the plate and noticed it was well worn , and was held by double sided tape, i compared it to the front one, which was very worn and been on a long time .
so why did it suddenly fall off ?
i put it down to todays heat ? weird though ........
if you are worried that your plates may be stolen and theyre held by crosshead screws just drill the crosshead top out, use a good drill though or your plate melts lol.
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If you use quite a lot of double sided cushion tape or use quite a few of the big proper sticky pads then it will make your number plates very difficult to get off quickly. So much so that a potential thief may just move onto an easier target instead.
I always try to stick any number plates on rather than screw them on when I replace them, not because I am worried about theft, just because they look a lot better without having ugly screws protruding through them.
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anyway, why not just get a piece of cardboard and write your number plate on it ? i think its quite legal on caravans and plant hire trailers? ive seen plenty so it must be?
oh and dont forget when your writing it, to run out of space near end and put the figures very close to each other ! lol .
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they look a lot better withouthaving ugly screws protruding through them.
They may look better, but then they can't be modified by putting a big black screw in such a place that the number turns into a rude word or a version of your girlfriend's name... :o)
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if you are worried that your plates may be stolen and theyre held by crosshead screws just drill the crosshead top out use a good drill though or your plate melts lol.
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Or.....
www.westyorkshire.police.uk/section-item.asp?sid=1...6
"offering the free replacement service "
".......the standard number-plate screws on their vehicles replaced with special security screws that reduce the chances of their plates being stolen"
"in the car park of Morrisons, in Rushton Avenue, Thornbury, on Wednesday, May 2, between the same times.
Kent and Trafford police have done similar exercises.
Canberra, Aus police are doing the same so it is not just a UK problem.
It is even a problem in Wodonga. So you have been warned
www.bordermail.com.au/news/bm/local/745867.html
BBC London TV covered this lunchtime ( and probably again tonight)
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>> At least this would avoid " fill up and flee" using my car reg.
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How so?
There is a Thursday market, Henry, less than a million miles from where you and I live, that does number plates without too much formality - if you know what I mean!
I have just copied your no. plate and this weekend I will be engaged in a seies of 'drive off without paying' (what do they call it in the petrol retailing trade?)
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There is a Thursday market, Henry, less than a million miles from where you and I live that does number plates ....
Yes I know where you mean but a visit there takes time, petrol, cash and more effort than ripping off the number plate near at hand. :-(
I am certainly seeing more ( non demo) cars with plates missing than I recall in past years.
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French law requires number plates to be fixed with rivets - difficult to get a plate off without drilling them out or breaking it.
I once came across a Brit who had been fined about 30 euros on the spot for having his (French) plate 'secured' with self-tappers.
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The number plate on my scenic was off within a short time after new ,it was held on by bodge tape I was going to screw it in place bur embosed into the plastic under the number plate were the words "DO NOT DRILL HERE" .It seems that there was the electric motor / wiring for the tail gate in close proximity so be warned if you intend to screw your number plate on.The only thing I found that kept that number plate on was half a tube of no nails.
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rustbucket (the original)
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Good idea Rustbucket. Just been cleaning my old 330 today (left here by Sis. - BiL away somehwere...)
I always tought that front and rear plates had 4 screws holding each plate in, turns out the rear plate has only two and is crooked ! It's always been like that which is a poor show.
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It annoys me to see so many new cars, with plates just, apparently, screwed on, with no consideration to the positionimg being level. So uncaring of the dealer.
As for sticky tape/pads, use the proper stuff & you'll break the plate, before it comes off. Looks much neater without screwheads on display.
& regarding 'drive offs', we used to do a good business in new plate sales, every weekend, due to this. Only second to the towbar crunching damage, from supermarket car parks!!
VB
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It annoys me to see so many new cars, with plates just, apparently, screwed on, with no consideration to the positionimg being level. So uncaring of the dealer.
Front plate of my C-Max is like that. Shows how sloppy the dealers are, I suppose.
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Unless you have a ready made template for the model you are affixing the new plate to ,then its very easy to fit the plate squiy iffy.
The point about drilling through tailgate motors or even air conditioners is also a good one.
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TWO sides to this story, henry...
First - should this happen to any HJ members, it would be a good idea to report the theft to Plod.
Cloning is becoming very worrisome, and the last thing you need is to have some vermin driving about picking up fines and penalties on YOUR plates.
This happened to me, and a registered letter to the local authorities (and one to me, never opened, in case they say 'we never got it') is a good idea.
Take a pic of the car, also take a pic of any 'special' sticker - Liverpool, Man Utd, company parking disk etc on windscreen/rear window, and include in registered letter.
That way, should there be photographic evidence against 'you' (ie the scrote), then you can say:
"Hold on, where's my 'Man Utd' sticker - which WAS there on 10/4/07 as per my registered letter and is STILL there today. midway through 2008, as per this pic taken with a copy of Today's Sun?"
Second, as far as fixing goes, locally it is law that metal screws may not be used for fixing plates on to car - only plastic screws OR specific plate holders are allowed.
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So what sticky products do Backroomers recommend for holding on plates?
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brown brothers -
bodyline range--
bdpbdst25 is the code--
or a nice dollop of silicone if you run out--
i mentioned on here about 16 months ago about having number plates stolen ,but they werent interested i think they even suggested i got in touch with vosa,they still werent interested in seeing if i had any video of the thieves when they were used in a blagging a few days later
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And don't forget to use an alcohol wipe on the adhesive fixing area.
Clk Sec
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So what sticky products do Backroomers recommend for holding on plates?
Try Sellotape self adhesive Fixer Strip
Wipe over plate back & area to stick it too firstly, with petrol/spirit
VB
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>> So what sticky products do Backroomers recommend for holding on plates?
3M make a tape called Automotive Acrylic Plus Attachment Tape, # 051131 06383.
This is made for body side mouldings and exterior trim.
I've used it for a few jobs and it *really* sticks well. I used a one inch square to attach a remote control for my CD player onto the steering column surround a few years ago and it's still holding firm.
On the matter of number plates, we have pressed aluminium ones here in New Zealand, and personalised ones (real personalised ones, not the semi-personal ones in the UK) are sometimes stolen for use in crime or for trophies.
My wife's name is Mitzi, so MITZIS as a plate is obviously attractive for someone who is fond of Mitsubishi cars. Indeed one front plate was stolen a couple of years ago, just before I traded the car in, which at that time, wasn't even a Mitsubishi.
I wouldn't have minded replacing the plate which was quite cheap, but the number plate plinth that they broke in the process was quite expensive. After that I secured the plates with security 'snake-eye' screws which need a special driver, and used loctite on them.
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Our first A2 came with plates stuck on - when she got some personalised plates (the text under the number - the number was already personalised) they were very difficult to get off. Replaced with stickies from Halfords and stayed on fine.
Second A2 came from a different dealer and were asked to use stickies - the car came with screwed on plates (plastic screws into captive nuts on the car) when I complained they said that plates fell off when they used the sticky pads. A month later one of the fxings was missing! ! ! ! !
Eos came with plates stuck on. After four months one edge of the front plate was coming off and they re-fixed it. A month later it was coming off again! On investigation (having bought some more Halfords stickies) the reason it had not stuck (either time) was that they had not cleaned the surfaces before fastening it, second time they had not even removed the remains of the original pads. The second Audi dealer almost certainly had them come off for the same reason.
As with any adhesive- clean the mating surfaces first. Done properly now and without tools the plate would almost certainly break on removal.
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Use no nails they will never come off in one piece.
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Use no nails they will never come off in one piece.
It had never ocurred to me to nail the number plate on, even when I had a car with a wooden frame.
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