front license plate removal

Hey does anybody know an easy way to remove the front plastic plate? I got the two flathead screws but the other four seem to be rivets and I dont want to damage the bumper by tearing it off. Thanks!

Drill out the rivets?

KillaKeninaRiv wrote:

Hey does anybody know an easy way to remove the front plastic plate? I got the two flathead screws but the other four seem to be rivets and I dont want to damage the bumper by tearing it off. Thanks!

If they are indeed rivets why not just drill them out? Or put a vanity plate in the holder and leave it?

Albertj

They should not be rivets, but plastic push-pins very similar to what holds the belly pan under the radiator. Pull on the centers with needle nose and you should be able to slide them right out.

That was just in time. Im about to go and grab the needle nose...

All that I have removed have had aluminum pop rivets holding them on? You have to be careful drilling them out, since they are popped into plastic they will/might spin on you.

I am sticking with my (some say ugly) vanity plate!

Mine was held on only by screws. Maybe the brackets were put on by the dealer, and they use whatever method for attachment they prefer?

Mine is also held on by large metal rivets. I thought of drilling them out to remove the holder, but just decided to look for a riviera themed vanity plate of some sort. No luck yet.

My '96 has rivets I know.

Perhaps cars that are shipped to states like Florida that don't use a front plate don't have them mounted at the factory?
I know the '04 Jeep Gran Cherokee we bought was a fleet vehicle from Florida and I had to put the plate holder on.
It was in a bag with screws and instructions. It killed me to have to drill the holes in the bumper.

I wish all states would go to one plate.

Ash wrote:

Mine is also held on by large metal rivets. I thought of drilling them out to remove the holder, but just decided to look for a riviera themed vanity plate of some sort. No luck yet.

http://www.rivowners.org/clubcor.html

?

Mine didn't have one on the front because it was from PA. I got pulled over by a statey a got a warning so I had put the stupid front plate on. Look a lot better without. stupid ohio law.

Sweepspear wrote:

My '96 has rivets I know.

Perhaps cars that are shipped to states like Florida that don't use a front plate don't have them mounted at the factory?
I know the '04 Jeep Gran Cherokee we bought was a fleet vehicle from Florida and I had to put the plate holder on.
It was in a bag with screws and instructions. It killed me to have to drill the holes in the bumper.

I wish all states would go to one plate.

Mine was a Florida car, no license plate holder. I suspect they were all dealer-installed in states that required them, thus varying fastening methods.

City police pulled me over this winter, going a bit too fast, and got just a verbal warning for the missing plate, after I told him it was in the trunk. Sure am happy I didn't have to install one.

1998 Riv wrote:

Mine was a Florida car, no license plate holder. I suspect they were all dealer-installed in states that required them, thus varying fastening methods.

City police pulled me over this winter, going a bit too fast, and got just a verbal warning for the missing plate, after I told him it was in the trunk. Sure am happy I didn't have to install one.

So, you never put the front plate on then?
The cars look so much cleaner without them.

When I initially got my Riv, that was the first thing I took off. IIRC, it was just screws. Guess I lucked out. Front plates suck.

OH Riviera owner, 7 years so far with no front plate, not pulled over for it yet. I have been pulled over for other stuff, but they never bring up the plate thing. Also no problem being pulled over in NC.

Same here in CT. Regal sans front plate for over 5 years now and Riv hasn't had one for over a year as well.

AA wrote:

OH Riviera owner, 7 years so far with no front plate, not pulled over for it yet. I have been pulled over for other stuff, but they never bring up the plate thing. Also no problem being pulled over in NC.

My streak of having no front plate lasted a little bit over a month D@mn state highway patrol shouldn't u be looking for drunk drivers and other more important things??.......

Sweepspear wrote:

1998 Riv wrote:

Mine was a Florida car, no license plate holder. I suspect they were all dealer-installed in states that required them, thus varying fastening methods.

City police pulled me over this winter, going a bit too fast, and got just a verbal warning for the missing plate, after I told him it was in the trunk. Sure am happy I didn't have to install one.

So, you never put the front plate on then?
The cars look so much cleaner without them.

I won't put a front plate on until the day they write a ticket for it. In what, 3 years, I've been stopped just one time for speeding, and no big deal was made of the front plate, other than asking me about it. I highly doubt I'd ever get stopped just for the plate.

Sweepspear wrote:

1998 Riv wrote:

Mine was a Florida car, no license plate holder. I suspect they were all dealer-installed in states that required them, thus varying fastening methods.

City police pulled me over this winter, going a bit too fast, and got just a verbal warning for the missing plate, after I told him it was in the trunk. Sure am happy I didn't have to install one.

So, you never put the front plate on then?
The cars look so much cleaner without them.

Which is exactly the look Im going for. It takes away from the naturally curving lines with that plastic black box.

1998 Riv wrote:

I won't put a front plate on until the day they write a ticket for it. In what, 3 years, I've been stopped just one time for speeding, and no big deal was made of the front plate, other than asking me about it. I highly doubt I'd ever get stopped just for the plate.

While I am tempted to remove it, the cops around here just look for things like this to pull people over for.
It also seems they pay more attention to my Riviera than any car I have owned in a long time. I don't know what the deal is. Might be a trouble maker that owns one the same color as mine or something, but on more than one occasion I have had them speed up and pull up on my bumper, then back off which makes me think they are running the plate.
One even did a U-turn in the street after passing me going the other direction to do this.

Makes me feel 18 again.

I had a cop tailgate so close that I couldn't even see his head lights in my 87 turbo T for a block once.... if I had a pos car I would have slammed my brakes on and turned on my turn signal just to have him hit me.... Fricken moron!

My front plate looks just fine. Others in this state have gotten tickets for it. It's obeying the law, therefore does not make the car look any different than any other car.

When I bought the car I made the dealer buy a front plate bracket from Buick for me. It looks fine.

I agree with the majority: that damned license plate is the only flat surface on the front of the car, it's larger than the bumper, and looks like an afterthought... or a limpet!

Mine is also riveted, and I'm sure the installation was left up to the dealers/customers.

Things are probably only going to get worse, as more & more jurisdictions discover the profits to found in Lidar and Red-light cameras...

Does LIDAR need the front license plate.? I didn't think so, but could be wrong as I only know that has been the only speeding ticket I couldn't talk my way out of to the court magistrate.

Where I am, we have no camera's yet, but who knows, maybe after the credit crunch and economy recovers we can get some of that Big City Technology here too. I'm sure Bubba be waitin on it.