Volvo rear license plate bracket

This is something I've added to my last four cars as its a great bracket to use. This bracket has rubber feet on the back to keep it from vibrating and keeps the plate from touching/scratching the body. It comes with four plate bolts and is easy to remove if you want for cleaning or whatever. The pics below will explain better.

The bracket. A variety of mounting holes and plate attachment studs at the four corners. You can see the part number and find it on amazon or go to the dealer and pay more like I did.







Don't know if all the bumpers have these marking indentations but mine does as you can see and it works great for alignment because the holes are visible through the top mounting holes in the bracket. I did mount mine slightly higher though because I wanted it to fully hide the stock two mounting points.





Once I had it where I wanted, I used the center mounting point as this would disperse pressure evenly over the entire bracket. I marked, drilled, added the rivet nuts (multiple ways to mount; I went this route because I had them) and mounted the bracket. The bracket can be mounted in two different angles as the bracket itself has an offset which you can see in the side pic not mounted to the car. You'll want to have the larger offset on top to clear the stock mounting holes already on the bumper.









Once the bracket is mounted, put the plate on and secure it with the four included cap nuts and your good to go. Non vibrating and keeps it from rubbing on the paint. You can use a frame or go naked as I have it.







Maybe not for everyone but if you have the OCD/ADD issues like I have, you'll like it. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions if I wasn't clear on something.


!

Very cool-- I had to add that same bracket to a used Volvo XC90 we bought a couple years ago that didn't have one. It's a nice piece. What are rivet nuts? (N/M, forgot to Google) Better question- what size did you use? And what are other mounting options besides the rivet nuts?

Rivet nuts are basically a way of adding threads that require more depth than the material thickness. They are inserted into a specified drill sized hole and placed in. Once they are in, you basically use a bolt and nut to cinch it down which causes the back of the rivet nut to expand behind the material thus becoming more of a permanent threaded location. This just gave me the ability to remove the bracket when I want to. Most that go this route would just use some self tapping screws to mount the bracket. Either way you go, it's still a great option as no matter what, you are drilling some holes but this bracket keeps the plate off the paint and the brackets rubber feet protect the bumper as well plus stop any unwanted vibration. The license plate is easy to remove from the bracket and the bracket already comes with the stud nuts to lock the plate down. This is truly just an option and there are those that just don't care how they mount their plate and that's fine to.

Walmart has a rubber frame that goes on the edge of the plate. It works pretty good for me.

Excellent! just ordered one, $9.49 on eBay with free shipping!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271983739018

db252 said:

Once they are in, you basically use a bolt and nut to cinch it down which causes the back of the rivet nut to expand behind the material thus becoming more of a permanent threaded location.

Click to expand...

On some videos I was watching, they used a special tool to cinch the back of the rivnut so it wouldn't come loose. Just a regular nut and bolt would work also?

jdoug said:

On some videos I was watching, they used a special tool to cinch the back of the rivnut so it wouldn't come loose. Just a regular nut and bolt would work also?

Click to expand...

Yes a regular nut and bolt will work. I basically am using the supplied hardware from Roush when I did my exhaust. Here is a pic of the nut and bolt along with a rivet nut and then them mated together. The bolt hole is large enough for the bolt to slip through but not the head of the bolt and the bolt is the same thread pattern as the hex nut. All you would be doing is holding the nut with an open or closed end wrench and using a socket or another wrench on the bolt head. There is resistance but you will feel it get easier until it cinches down on the backside of the material. You then back the bolt out and have a threaded location to attach things and in this case the license plate bracket.

Excellent description, thank you!

Just used your advice on the rivnuts. Got a kit from Harbor Freight pretty cheap, used the ¼ - 20 rivnuts and some stainless ¾ screws with a little bit of loctite. Everything went in easy peasy.

I did notice my acorn nuts are starting to rust. Anyone know of a good place to get stainless, aluminum (black would be perfect) acorn nuts that won't rust?


New personalized plate by Aaron Slater, on Flickr

New personalized plate by Aaron Slater, on Flickr

New personalized plate by Aaron Slater, on Flickr

New personalized plate by Aaron Slater, on Flickr

New personalized plate by Aaron Slater, on Flickr

great idea! thanks for the DIY, mine will be here tomorrow, if I cant find any nutserts locally, Ill use self tapping screws.