How to remove number plate brackets?

[18ME]

Does anyone know how you remove the front number plate brackets please?

I’ve got the main holder off but that was secured by two brackets which look they are attached by a bolt from behind the grill.

[DOC IW]

Yes, they are a hassle, but I got mine off without taking the whole of the front of the car apart. I assume you don’t want to keep them so bending them is OK? I used a curved surgical forceps to reach through one of the adjacent hex-grille holes and grasp the head of the bolt behind and then a pair of pliers to bend the front metal plate to release it from the lugs of the plastic holder and then twisted it off whilst holding the bolt head behind with the surgical forceps. When it is off, take care not to drop the bolt or the plastic retainer piece behind the grille because they will drop to an unreachable place! It was a faff but worked for me.

[DOC IW]

Here is a link to what I used to fit my short number plate to the hex-grille once I had got the big plinth and brackets of the front of the car - they work perfectly:

https://www.bespoke-plates.co.uk/shop/a ... lle-clips/

I use Plates For Cars to make up my plates. They make really good quality plates to your specifications, including fully legal and “show plates” (for display purposes off road of course). The short front plate is legal (as long as the spacing, font, colour, etc, is correct):

https://www.platesforcars.co.uk/

[DOC IW]

Amazon link to the forceps I used to be able to reach in through the adjacent hex-grille hole to grasp the head of the bolt behind:

https://amzn.eu/d/dXMoXEJ

[DOC IW]

Let me know here how you get on! Photos too when you’re done. I think mine looks so much better with short front reg plate without the chunky plinth.

[18ME]

Thank you for your detailed reply, that’s really helpful.

Is it just the one bolt or screw from the other side of the grill that secures it? If so did you try and hold the bolt from the other side with the forceps and then try and turn the thread with grippers from the front?

I’ve already got a short plate with fixings to the back from my R8 which will hopefully fit in the grill. Made it much easier to remove for car shows and I think looked better without the large plinth. Got a video somewhere if I can find it.

[18ME]

This is a video that I took when I was selling the car which shows how easy the front number plate is to fit and remove. I test fitted the plate in one of the other holes in the Jag and it seems to fit ok but should be prefect in the two holes where the brackets are.

[media] [/media]

[WhoKnows]

I've seen threads on this before, maybe on the us site. This one from their site has a couple of people saying how they removed theirs:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f-ty ... et-233303/

[DOC IW]

Thank you for your detailed reply, that’s really helpful.

Is it just the one bolt or screw from the other side of the grill that secures it? If so did you try and hold the bolt from the other side with the forceps and then try and turn the thread with grippers from the front?

I’ve already got a short plate with fixings to the back from my R8 which will hopefully fit in the grill. Made it much easier to remove for car shows and I think looked better without the large plinth. Got a video somewhere if I can find it.

It is one bolt from behind into the metal piece on the front. As far as I remember there is a nut welded to the back of the front metal piece. I found it impossible to unscrew the bolt from behind, so resorted to just grabbing hold of the bolt head as tightly as I could with the curved surgical forceps from behind through the adjacent grille hole and then unscrewing the metal plate off the front (bending the metal plate with pliers and breaking the retaining lugs of the plastic piece holding it was necessary to get it to be able to unscrew off the bolt). Make sure that you carefully keep hold of the bolt and the plastic retainer piece behind and carefully bring them out through the grille hole with the forceps (if you let go, they’ll go clattering down behind the grille out of reach)

I did keep all the parts I removed (after straightening out the metal plate which I’d had to bend to remove it). I could take photos of the bits for you tomorrow if you want, so that you can see what you’re dealing with.

[DOC IW]

This is a video that I took when I was selling the car which shows how easy the front number plate is to fit and remove. I test fitted the plate in one of the other holes in the Jag and it seems to fit ok but should be prefect in the two holes where the brackets are.

[media] [/media]

The R8 was lovely! I’d have been really tempted to keep that and get the F-Type as well! Great plate by the way.