so as I was changing the registration sticker....i decided to take off the plate so it would be easier to take off the old sticker and put the new one on.....as I was doing that....it turns out that the screws are held in by a little back piece.....so when i took off the license plate...the back pieces that held the screws in fell down into the bumper area which I can not reach under the car because it is all blocked off....so what do i do now?

 

Take off the rear bumper.



No, really, that's the only option. Even if you wanted to ignore the nut rattling around back there, you need something in it's place to secure the plate. With the same plate for 4 years of daily driving, including the winter, the nuts had rusted to the bolts on mine, and when I changed states I had to cut the bolts off, from the inside. Then used normal m8 bolts and nuts to secure the plate and re-attached the bumper.


At least no one will steal my plate without something to cut it off

 

holy ****.....who came up with this system...so if someones license plate gets stolen they have to remove the whole back bumper??

 

No, there is actually (originally) a pair of plastic nubs that are supposed to hold the metal nut in place while you turn the screw, and have it still there when you remove the screw completely. It is likely that a prior owner of your 8 had the same problem I did, in that with the pair rusted, the rust is stronger than the plastic and it rips the plastic nubs off. Nothing to hold it any more.


It's one of the things that drives me a bit irrational. When a manufacturer uses a piece of plastic to hold a piece of metal in place when it's torqued against, and the metal isn't rust proof. Had to cut them off both of my cars. And cut my 8's radiator off from the AC condenser last week since the same principle is applied there as well.

 

damn...so use some tape for now i guess.....i don't have any tools to remove the bumper myself...

 

The other option is to grab a set of drywall screws of the right size. Think they are drywall screws anyway. Has a screw in a butterfly like set of wings, so as you screw in, it expands the wings to grip from the other side.

 

Go to autozone and get a rare earth magnet tool. It will help you get the nuts back up to the hole but it's going to be a bitch to thread them while trying to maneuver the nuts with a magnet.

 

so this is what it looks like....any ideas on how to mount the license plate on for now without using tape..?

 

but they were plastic...

 

The nuts are metal. They are gripped by plastic nubs.


Get a pair of these:


They butterfly out something like this:




Or a pair of these, you can hold the wings in with your fingers as you insert it through the hold, then it pops out to grip the other side:


Though the 2nd option will require removing the bumper to get the other side back out at a future point if needed.

 

$2.99, autozone

License Plate Fasteners | AutoZone.com

 

Or that.


Good find.

 

thank you, for now I went to home depot and got some industrial strength velcro....tomorrow I will look for those license plate fasteners...