Our state has decided to liven up their plates with a desert and ocean theme. (Which seems really weird to me since it's Missouri)

But this means I have to remove the rear license plate. The bolts on the old one are so corroded they won't come out - if I force it, it appears to tear up the bracket itself.

Before I make a huge mess - some sites are saying this bracket is glued onto the car with rubber feet. Some say it's bolted to the car with two bolts.

Before I go to the trouble of grinding off the four bolts that hold the license to the bracket - how is this thing held onto the car?

 

2 x 5mm machine screws.

 

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=41_1589

 

I had a similar experience ...

when I had to change the plate the screws holding the plate on were frozen .... but not completely ....

the frame is plastic so you can play around with it and flex it a bit .... and the old plate can be destroyed since what you are trying to do is replace it anyway

I found I could flex the frame enuf to get access to the back side of the bottom screws holding the tag and here there were 'nuts' in the plastic that were spinning when I tried to undo the plate ... I was able to 'grab' the nut with pliers while turning the screw and everything came apart normally. With the bottom two off by doing this I just bent the tag up to get access to the mounting bolts and removed the frame for additional work.

You could also just use some good snips (FISKARS) and cut the tag across the middle and bend the two pieces away fro the mounting bolts and remove the frame that way then attach the screws holding the tag on a bench, away from the car!

 

Mine was rusted into place on those screws. Had to do the same thing and try to reach around to grabe the set in nut. Flexing the frame, the salt did a number on those.

51187000548

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-uro-part...188238061~uro/

 

I have a spare bracket sitting on my workbench. I believe threads for all four plate screws were good.