One of the license plate holes in my rear bumper is stripped (and only the two top ones are drilled), causing the screw in the stripped hole to regularly loosen up and the plate to dip and scratch the bumper. What is the best solution? Going to the dealership and getting the other two holes drilled? Is there something I can do to repair the stripped hole?

 

I had this exact same problem with mine. One option was getting bigger screws, that won't work because the holes in the plate itself are only so big. Another option was to use one of the lower holes in the plate, bit then things aren't symmetrical and you have a useless hole where the screw was stripped out.

What I ended up doing was going to Home Depot and picking up some Hollow Wall Anchors, Medium Duty. The manufacturer is Crown Bolt. I got this size: #6-32 x 1". You just drill out the stripped hole large enough to put the wall anchor through and then crank it down. I put a small washer on the head of the screw because the screw itself is a little small for the liscence plate. The hardware is stainless so you don't have to worry about rust and what-not. The solution worked so well on the stripped out side that I decided to do it to the other hole as well.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Or you could still go to the next size larger screw, and simply enlarge the the hole on the licence plate to accomodate it.

 

another thing you could look into are PopNuts or Riv-Nuts You put them in, tighten them up and are good to go. http://www.emhart.com/products/pop/popnut.asp

 

^ The wall anchors I used are very similar to those.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

 

Do a search on the forum -- I posted a while ago about installing some threaded metal inserts to fix that problem.

 

I am certain there are plastic bushings that will go in the hole and then accept the proper size screw - the last set of covers I bought for a car license plate had some - I've seem them both where they spread out by the screw, and where they are square fitting into the bumper...I'm pretty sure you could find them at an auto parts store.

 

go to the auto parts store and pick up some license plates nuts and screws. you need 1/4 inch by 3/4 inch size. drill out the holes so the plastic square piece snaps into place and just use the screws provided. no mess, no new holes.