Fixing of Number plates

Just bought my first Beamer. 523i SE = lovely

Bought her from an independant who as gone to great lengths to ensure that his garages name is on as many surfaces as possible on my car.

Whipped of the back window sticker, got a replacement tax disc holder and now want to get rid of those hideous number plates he has fitted.  He has taken off the plates that would have had the original BMW garages name on it.

£26 from Halfords will get me new plates but how do they fix on?  The dealer has used double sided sticky stuff to stick on the new number plates so there are no screw holes in the plates.  I'm thinking about puting a private plate on her so I want to be able to take them on and off easily i.e. screwed on not stuck on.

Is there a recess in the body work for a screw to screw into?  If so is it a special screw from BMW of is it just a self tapper into a plastic block?

I haven't be able to get a close look at another E39 to see how the plates are fixed.

Andrew

Damn...no replies in two months!

If you haven't got the plates made up yet...remember to take your V5 to Halfords, they wont do it without it. They sell the double sided stickey pads in there to affix your new plates...if you want to use screws you will have to drill the holes yourself. Just remember to drill from the back of the plate to the front to avoid cracking.

But I bet you've already figured it out yourself...!

Neil

Hi Andrew,

I always use double sided pads.

Looks much neater with no holes drilled through plates.

If you fit a private plate and you want to remove it at a latter date, still use double sided pads, but remove with a length of dental floss and slice through the pad like a piece of cheese wire.

They can then be used again. 

How much is a set of plates from a dealer.. I always think the manf. plates look a lot nicer than aftermarket.

If you got some from the supplying dealer, it would add to the authenticity of the car when you come to re-sell it, as aftermarket plates can sometimes be a tell-tale sign that its had a bump.

Bit of positive psychology goes a long way when your selling a car. Bit like the never-used cig. lighter test.

Thanks for the tips guys.

I was quoted £25 for BMW plates which is less than Halfrauds.

I know what you guys mean about the original dealer name on the plate.  I deliberately kept the Vx dealer name on my Senator even though it was 14 yrs old. 

I just like a plain number plate with no writing at all on the plates.  Defo not the awful dealer plates I have on it still.

Andrew