So I was putting my new "Let's Motor" license plate frame on yesterday when I came across this potential problem that did not make me very happy. My license plate mounting bracket had warped and put two 2-3-inch scratches/wear marks in the boot of my MINI

Some adheasive foam took care of the warped mouting bracket, so it should not happen again, but I just thought others might want to be awawre of this issue...check their own MINI's out, and make sure it wasn't happening to them.

Here is the post on my weblog...
http://cooperchronicle.com/comments.php?id=P66_0_1_0

 

Egad...I think I may have this, too, but I've had no cause to remove my rear plate. Got a peek in there the other day while drying off my MINI. Sounds just as you've described. Thanks for the warning!!

 

A variation on this warning is as follows:

My dealership attached my rear license plate with bolts that were much to long for the license plate bracket. The first time I removed the bracket, I found three circular scratches were the license plate bolts had protruded through the rubber backing pads (now missing). YIKES!

I buffed down the scratches and touched then up with paint and clear-coat. New rubber pads were fitted to the back side of the bracket and I cut down the bolts using my handy Dremmel tool. It's been 5,000 miles and all is well!

FWIW,

Theo 8^)

 

Ouch. was that a plastic license plate trim? Ive seen a couple of those

warp due to weather. I only use metal trims for that reason.

 

I think sdiver8 was refering to the plactic bracket that is attached to the hatch and to which the license plate is bolted.

Theo 8^)

 

From sdiver8's page:



Yea, this looks exactly like mine when I removed the plate mount for the first time since delivery 8 months ago. I didn't spend too much time 'cuz I was in a time crunch, but I'm not all that bothered either, mostly because it's not visible. The clear coat is so soft anyway, the paint scratches when I fart ...ok, not literally

 

Question: Are our mounting brackets installed by dealers, or are they installed at the VPC/factory?

My mounting bracket screws were stripped ever since delivery, and my plate rattled around (good thing it didn't fall off). Yeah, I'm also afraid to look under my plate mounting bracket.

Interestingly, the plate screws my dealer gave me was so short that my salesman couldn't even put their "advertising" plastic frame on. I had to go buy my own screws. There doesn't seem to be any consistency from dealer to dealer....