Numberplate Screws?

[Moocow]

Sigh, just noticed that the numberplate was loose on the back of the car so removed it to fix it properly. Some idiot has put two lovely holes in the boot lid with a drill and used self tapers to fix it instead of the four holes that the factory put there for them.
Why do people do this?? I now have two rusty holes to deal with - fortunately they just appear to be surface rust at present so will tackle them when I do my rear view camera as I will be removing the trim anyway.

Does anyone know the standard screw size that should be here for the four holes. They seem to be M6 but the thread pitch is wrong for everything I have at hand.

In case it matters - its a facelift W204 Coupe

 

[Blobcat]

Pretty sure M6 fits. I use the plastic clip on holders (I screw them to the car first). The Mercedes nutserts tend to corrode to the bolts so when you try to undo them they just spin around in the body. Careful application of grease to the threads can aid future removal.

I really dislike any screw heads in number plates. After a while they almost always show water damage around the screw holes. With nail varnish applied to the hole you can mitigate this for a short while.

 

[John Laidlaw]

As above number plate holders are by far the best solution

 

[Moocow]

Nice! I am also not a fan of numberplate screws - especially metal as like you say they tend to rust and it leaches into the laminate of the numberplate.
Will get some of them holders I think and a new set of plates to go in them next week.
I take it the Mercedes inserts are dissimilar metals and does that lovely corroding thing then? Maybe this is why they have ended up putting self tapers into the body work

 

[Blobcat]

It is, they do and that’s why

Mercedes dealers used to give away the clip-in holders for free as they had their names on. They’re made by Wurth the ones I have. I’ve some branded free ones (with the names removed) and some plain ones. They are available on ebay

 

[JBell]

I bought these number plate holders, they bolt on the standard holes and the plate clips in, look much sleeker

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0102N7QN8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[EmilysDad]

I asked about the screws at Merc because all mine were rusty. He came back with 4 of them & serupticiously put them on the counter. He said that he hadn't the face to charge me the £2 each that Mercedes priced them at.
I'd tried M6 too but they didn't seem to want to go in.

I should really replace them on my ML sooner rather than later before they go rusty too.

 

[davemercedes]

Back in the 70's my Parts Department had the account for number plates and the DVLA used to issue 50 at a time. In turn, the sales pre-foreman ordered those plates and they were held in a secure locker until they were called off.

But the price - for perspex plates with our name across the bottom was ridiculously cheap because we were a direct/"favoured" customer. I can't remember the actual price but in today's market we would probably pay maybe as much as £5 per pair - and they were top quality. But oh boy... the prices that appeared on sales invoices...

In those days, at most places the salesman was paid a fairly poor salary plus 10% of the nett profit in each of his deals. I often thought the number plates had the biggest margin!

 

[EmilysDad]

....

But the price - for perspex plates with our name across the bottom was ridiculously cheap because we were a direct/"favoured" customer. I can't remember the actual price but in today's market we would probably pay maybe as much as £5 per pair - and they were top quality. But oh boy... the prices that appeared on sales invoices...

....

I've just bought a perspex number plate for a trailer board. On-line (Fancy plates) was £12, Halfords was £16 and a local motorfactors that's been around for years .... £8.something

 

[EmilysDad]

Sigh, just noticed that the numberplate was loose on the back of the car so removed it to fix it properly. Some idiot has put two lovely holes in the boot lid with a drill and used self tapers to fix it instead of the four holes that the factory put there for them.
Why do people do this?? I now have two rusty holes to deal with - fortunately they just appear to be surface rust at present so will tackle them when I do my rear view camera as I will be removing the trim anyway. ...

Years ago I was in a main dealers just before the new numbers in August, and a lad was doing exactly this to a new car with fancy show plates. The proper threaded bungs were only inches away .....

 

[A.J.]

As Blobncat has said I also hate the sight of screw heads on the face of a registration plate. The simple answer is use double side adhesive tape, no holes to drill and no unsightly screw heads

 

[KennyN]

If you use the proper number plate adhesive pads then you will need the thicker ones to clear the tapped inserts in the bootlid, Halfords sell them and it makes the plate look neater without screw holes , just get the fitment correct first time as they are a pig to remove should you need to correct alignment issues.

The bootlid on my CLS was aluminium so there were no corrosion concerns when I drilled it to fit the reversing camera.

K

 

[brianbrian]

I use plastic screws, they do not go rusty.

 

[EmilysDad]

I use plastic screws, they do not go rusty.

Can you get plastic M6 screws?

 

[LostKiwi]

Can you get plastic M6 screws?

Yes.... Halfords do them.
Personally I use double sided permanent tape.

 

[EmilysDad]

.....
The bootlid on my CLS was aluminium so there were no corrosion concerns when I drilled it to fit the reversing camera.

K

The tailgate on my R Class leaked water because the aluminium captive nuts holding the 'chrome' trim had corroded .....

 

[DREAMER NO2]

I can help but i need a picture of screw and nut .These are dealers only parts and you wont find them anywhere else ,i tried at the time when i was after 4 to fix my reg plate on the original way . You will need a rivnut tool to fit them in to the boot but you can do this with a piece of all thread a nd 2 nuts and 2 washers to squash them up in to the boot lid. You wont find another nut like these .The rivnuts you can purchase of ebay wont have the flats on them and will turn in the hole if used . If you do use these then grease the thread so you can take them out next time . Reason the rust up in there the nut is aluminum and the screw is brass .And if you are going to remove the old nut do take care,, brass is harder than alloy and the drill tends to skid off the brass damaging the boot lid.

 

[davemercedes]

The only thing with double-sided sticky tabs is making sure that both surfaces are clean and free from grease. Over the years (and my grandkids have a go about there being lots of them!) I've seen quite a few cars where the back number plate has been lost.

I've often wondered how reasonable Mr Plod would be because the driver who lost his plate, fairly obviously had no intention of committing any offence but unwittingly he has done so...

 

[Blobcat]

The only thing with double-sided sticky tabs is making sure that both surfaces are clean and free from grease. Over the years (and my grandkids have a go about there being lots of them!) I've seen quite a few cars where the back number plate has been lost.

I've often wondered how reasonable Mr Plod would be because the driver who lost his plate, fairly obviously had no intention of committing any offence but unwittingly he has done so...

Considering how many cars you see with no front numberplate (if you’re lucky it’s jammed in the corner of the windscreen)
I don’t think there’s any traffic police around at all...

 

[rorywquin]

If you use the proper number plate adhesive pads then you will need the thicker ones to clear the tapped inserts in the bootlid, Halfords sell them and it makes the plate look neater without screw holes , just get the fitment correct first time as they are a pig to remove should you need to correct alignment issues.

The bootlid on my CLS was aluminium so there were no corrosion concerns when I drilled it to fit the reversing camera.

K

If you did not use aluminium screws (or plastic / coated) you will probably get a problem with galvanic corrosion.

Some information

https://www.hunker.com/12502151/screws-compatible-with-aluminum