Here's something I've been working on the last couple days.
The front plates look like crap on my car, but I don't want to deal with police. I also didn't want to use zip-ties or those flip up things from the bottom of the car (they'd get in the way when i finally get the balls/money to go moar low).

So the first thing I had to do was get rid of the holes that already exist on the car (the dealer put 4 nice sized holes in there). Instead of playing with bondo and whatnot, I bought one used off a guy in Florida that had never been drilled for a decent price. The grill came plasti-dipped matte black. It looked alright but I figured I'd give it a fresh coat of paint. I ended up using PlastiKote, same thing as plasti-dip pretty much, not really paint but more of a rubbery coating that comes in a can like spray paint. Super easy to apply and its durable.

It came out pretty good, its a daily driver so its never gonna be perfect.

In order to hold the plate frame to the grill I'm going to use magnets. I bought 16 (4 packs of 4) rare earth magnet disks off amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Magcraft-NSN0604-1-Inch-Magnets-4-Count/dp/B000SO4L4E/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=industrial&qid=1278019550&sr=8-7

These things are crazy, they're only 1"x1/8" but each one has the pulling force of 10lb.
A buddy of mine works at a hardware store so he got me this JB Weld stuff, it just finished drying and I can't come close to removing the magnets to the back of the grill.

I also got the magnets lined up on the back of the plate frame, got to make sure they line up and the polarities are in the right direction.


So far, it's coming along pretty well. I'm going to finish in the morning most likely. It should turn out nice, recommended if you'd like to remove your front plates often.

i'd like to see this on the car, i just got my plate in my windsheild, drove by police numerous times and never had trouble haha hope it stays that way

I just got a no front plate ticket 2 days ago gahhhh

Ok, so I finished up today.

I mounted up the magnets on the back of the plate frame. I also gave the back a coat of PlastiKote so the magnets won't scratch the grill as easily when I take the plate on and off.

I than put everything on the car.

Here's legal mode.


And here's no plate mode.


Try it out if you're getting trouble for running no plates. It kinda sucks though that subaru molds that plate mount onto the car. Would look sick with that shaved off though.

Awesome idea! With 10lbs of pulling force I'm guessing the wind doesn't really affect the the license plate right?

I have a hard time taking it off myself, doubt the wind will do much.

As an update though, JB Weld doesn't work so well with the plastic frame. The magnets are breaking off the frame. I got to try it again with some epoxy.

Going to fix it using this stuff instead to hold the magnets in place. Should have much better results.

Great Idea! That's probably the easiest way to add/remove the plate. However, Dust and dirt will love to hide in between the magnets, The plasticoat is a good idea to fight scratches away but keeping it clean will help. Also, make sure to rough up the bracket with some 80 grit sandpaper so the Epoxy takes a nice hold

Great idea dude! I'm definitely gonna consider copying that if you don't mind haha