I recently bought a new 2008 Crossfire and was really pleased until I got my new plates in the mail Saturday and installed them on the car. The front went normal--a bracket was attached to the sheetmetal and two screws mounted it okay. When I removed the dealers license frame on the rear I found there was no mount bracket! Someone had drilled two holes in the sheetmetal below the trunk access and used 2 #8 sheetmetal screws to secure the plate.

I simply cannot believe that is how Chrysler/Mercedes intended the rear plate to be mounted. Please tell me if yours is attached in the same crude way.

In case you are wondering about the cheap ride name: The Air Force and the VA owed me some unexpected money and the dealership heavily discounted the price of the new Crossfire. We paid only $22,290 for a new 2008 model. Until I found the license plate issue I was unable to find even one scratch or ding on the car, even though it had been on their lot since 12/2007.

 

Welcome to the forum.. On both of my crossfires thr rear plate was just bolted into the body with self taping screws, no bracket.

 

First, nobody drilled into your sheetmetal, they drilled into your plastic front and rear fascias...

Second, this is the normal way the rear plate is mounted. The same rear fascia is used in all countries the vehicle was sold in so the plate area had to be large enough to fit both US and European liscense plates. If there had been a dedicated mounting location for the US plate the Europeans would have gotten ignored and vice-versa.

 

First off, welcome to the forum Cheap Ride. Isn't it great getting what essentially is a better looking Mercedes for the price of a Hyundai?
As for the plate issue, (as mentioned) that's the way all of them come from the dealer. Just consider yourself fortunate if they took the time to center the screw holes, and got them level.
You may want to put something behind your rear plate to act as a "cushion", or "spacer" between your plate and the surface of the car. It will help to keep it from rattling, and scratching your paint. I just used a 1/2" piece of styrofoam and double sided tape to hold it onto the back side of the plate.
Enjoy your new ride, and the forum.

 

I have two responses that would indicate Chrysler DID intend to fasten the rear plate onto the fascia using self-tapping screws. While I'm sure that given an hour and fifty dollars any one of us could have fabricated some universal receptacle for all plates, Chrysler did nothing.

Mine has apparently been over-tightened as the fascia "material" is pulled outward and the right screw does not tighten properly so I'll have to go oversize. Both certainly have the look and feel of metal--sharp edges where pulled out by overtightening.

Please send no more unless you have something other than the first two respondents have to say.

Thanks, Jim

 

The people who responded were only trying to help....and they were correct. Both of my Crossfires came exactly the same way and had pulled out of the material as you described. To fix this, I went to AutoZone and purchased a pack of square plastic inserts. They have a square head with a round hole in the center for the screw. I drilled the holes out a bit and pressed the inserts into the material. These inserts are used on the majority of license plates from the factory. Chrysler should have supplied these for the dealer to install.

 

Welcome to the forum I can tell you a going to be a great asset to this forum. Thanks in advance.

I've had Xfires now, and the plates are identical to yours. Should I have not posted this useless info?? Sorry for breaking your rules.

 

Great price! Is your car a male (stick) or female (slushbox) ?

 

Thanks for responding guys. It wasn't a rule that you should not write more unless you had contrary info, it was just a thought to keep you from spending time on answering me again. Sorry it sounded that way! I welcome the info but it was all of you I was thinking about.

My car is a male version, we proudly stand! I have not driven a stick since 1996 so I'm a little rusty but am getting better. I have been embarrassed by killing the engine at least once in traffic where I got the "horn". You know what my response was! I'm not in love with the anti-theft device that causes you to turn the key to OFF, then ON again, if you kill the engine. Maybe I'll get quicker? So far we cannot come up with a great name for our car.

I do have 1/2" double back tape around the back side of the rear plate so it cannot rattle. I also plan on trying to locate the plastic inserts that blacklimitedcoupe referred to. Anything has to be better and less damaging than what we currently have.

My wife and I are very satisfied with our new car--even if we had to work hard to clear the 3rd bay of our garage to house it. It is still close-quarters so I bought some plastic door-edge clips and installed them where the door meets the car on each side of it and on the right and left doors of the cars on each side of it.

I ordered a Bra from Summit for it but before I installed it my wife reminded me of a clear plastic material we had installed on her new Diamante in 2001. It still has not "lifted" anywhere and looks as good as the first day. I called a shop in Boise that the dealership uses and have an appointment to get it done this coming Friday. It's a bit pricey--$750 to cover half of the hood, the entire front end, the backs of the mirrors and the light covers with a different material.

For those of you that have thoughts of a K & N air filter and have not seen where they reside--they are in pairs! I did not know this when I placed my order for one, then had to order another after the first one arrived. There is one aft of each air tube housed in the right and left sides of the engine cover. I'm saving the original air filters to use while I'm cleaning the K & N's. The originals are a high quality pleated paper unit from Mercedes.

I have only 200 miles on the car but all of it is in town and was getting 17.3 mpg. I am not a lead-foot. I once was and lived through it but might not be so lucky this time.

All of you know everything I know now!

 

Here's an old thread giving some ideas on how to fix your stripped out hole, I had the same problem and give a detailed explanation: https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ighlight=plate

 

PARTSnSTUFF: LICENSE PLATE BOLTS 'SHEET METAL/PLASTIC INSERTS' in PrestoMart

These are the inserts that I used and they worked great. I purchased mine at the local AutoZone or Advance Auto for around $2.