Front license plate sucks

[xrocket21]

I think the offset front plate looks terrible. There has to be a better way to do it. Offset just looks like an afterthought... Like zip tied to the front grill.

:ugh:

you own a vehicle with a FMIC and dont like offset plates?

get ******.

 

[BangBang]

Texas here.
I've had 3 tickets for no front plate with in 8 months traveling to New Mexico through a small hick town.
Same cop each time. $150 a pop.

I bought the Swarfworks tow hook plate bracket for when I drive that way again.
three small bolts to place it on and remove.

 

[TXRaptor]

Texas here.
I've had 3 tickets for no front plate with in 8 months traveling to New Mexico through a small hick town.
Same cop each time. $150 a pop.

I bought the Swarfworks tow hook plate bracket for when I drive that way again.
three small bolts to place it on and remove.

I have always driven without a front plate in Texas. I was pulled over once about 10 years ago over the 4th of July weekend between Austin and Houston on Hwy 290. He was using it as an excuse to see if I was drinking and driving, so he let me go with a warning.

 

[NASSTY]

I think the offset front plate looks terrible. There has to be a better way to do it. Offset just looks like an afterthought... Like zip tied to the front grill.

Sasquatch...I previously owned a 2011 and a 2014 Ecoboost F150 so I'm used to it. I don't mind the offset plate.

 

[KBlackford]

Seriously?

When do any Police see your front plate when they are trying to Identify you in a chase? "IF" they catch you in a Raptor, they will only be able to see your rear license plate with Infrared through a cloud of dust.

 

[smurfslayer]

When do any Police see your front plate when they are trying to Identify you in a chase? "IF" they catch you in a Raptor, they will only be able to see your rear license plate with Infrared through a could of dust.

They don’t. There’s almost no circumstance a front plate is needed, or you would be seeing them on motorcycles. The laws are in place requiring front plates for the sole purpose of allowing another reason for a traffic stop. You can thank a myriad of war on drugs, and asset seizure laws for this.

 

[OriginalToken]

IL requires me to have one. i have never installed one and have never gotten a ticket for it. and i take my vehicles all across the country.

CA requires one, and I have been pulled over and warned for not having one. Although I have not been ticketed myself for this I know several people that have been.

It is totally the officers call, some don't care about it, others see it as another reason to interface with you that day. Some agencies push enforcement, or at least contact, and others don't want to deal with it.

T!

---------- Post added at 07:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:46 AM ----------

They don’t. There’s almost no circumstance a front plate is needed, or you would be seeing them on motorcycles. The laws are in place requiring front plates for the sole purpose of allowing another reason for a traffic stop. You can thank a myriad of war on drugs, and asset seizure laws for this.

Most states (I think it is 31), and almost all other countries, require both a front and rear plate, and this requirement often far predates any war on drugs. For example in California the front plate requirement goes back to 1911, and other states require both a front and rear plate as far back as 1906.

There are various reasons given, from parking enforcement (one of the original reasons, often either a front plate was required or a regulation for nose in parking only was on the books, nose in parking might be a problem in the early days, when reverse gear was less common) to stolen vehicle recovery.

This argument comes up often in every car forum I am part of, and it almost always comes down to the same things said in each forum. People often don't like them, they think they look ugly / tacky / cheap, but the reality is they are a requirement (in most places). And you don't have to like them, but you do have to run them, or be prepared to possibly pay the "no front plate" tax.

T!

 

[smurfslayer]

I will freely admit I don’t know the first state to require a front plate, and historically at what point states began adopting them, but I can say with first hand knowledge that’s how the infraction is used now and for several years past. Pre-shift briefings are nothing like Hill Street Blues, and if the general motoring public were to hear some of the stuff said in them, there would riots, or at least some spit out lattes. Traffic cops are a different breed of LEO. Not all LEO are like them, but the ones who stay in traffic tend to not have a great deal of respect or empathy for other humans. To be fair, they’re lied to quite frequently and I think this colors the perspective of anyone this happens to.

Even where the front plate is a moving violation, it’s often overlooked because it’s not a big money infraction, close to the end of shift, and a number of other excuses. sometimes there is “directed” enforcement of certain infractions, a local politician might complain. Other times and in some places it’s budgetary. a telephone call will be placed to someone who can command patrol division to undertake certain enforcement campaigns. The Fed offers assistance to, as do insurance companies, though it’s becoming more common for this kind of “assistance” to come from profession or industry orgs. Most of this is for speeding or what the media like to call “aggressive driving”.

if you’re motoring along with no front plate, or have it stuffed in the windshield, hanging by zip ties or coat hanger wire, you can be detained for it in states where it’s an infraction. If you live where front plates are required by all the surrounding areas, not having one makes your vehicle stick out and not “look like the others”. This will draw attention more than having the plate.

as to drilling holes; I had to check. Where I’m at the standard is clearly legible, clearly visible, securely affixed and cannot swing. Cannot be covered, obscured etc.

holes could be ok, but you’ll almost certainly run into someone who considers the holes to alter the ‘legibility’.

 

[COMBS19]

https://www.cjponyparts.com/license-plate-bracket-sto-n-sho-f-150-raptor-2017-2018/p/LPB51/

You could use this it only covers up about half as much as the stock license plate bracket and easily remove it when you want more air flow.

 

[Helopilot]

https://www.cjponyparts.com/license-plate-bracket-sto-n-sho-f-150-raptor-2017-2018/p/LPB51/

You could use this it only covers up about half as much as the stock license plate bracket and easily remove it when you want more air flow.

I like the look of that, but would be worried about the snow up here ripping it right off of the vehicle. Note the snow packed into the fog pocket area of my truck in this picture. I had been running in snow even with the top of the bumper.


And I have to agree with Smurf (again) about the traffic cops. They are in that position to do traffic law enforcement. As such, their job performance is based upon how productive they are at traffic law enforcement. 99 percent of the time that means they are judged on how many tickets they write. Not enough and they will find themselves off of the traffic unit and back on the streets answering calls for service. That means almost every traffic stop results in a ticket being written. The rest of us used stuff like that as a “fishing expedition.” The front tag in most states has an expiration decal and usually in most states it is color coded by year. It is easy to see an expired tag going the opposite direction just by seeing last years color. On the rare occasion when we weren’t running call-to-call, we would stop vehicles for things like no front tag, but it was a reason to run the driver and find suspended/revoked licenses, and warrants. I also looked for insurance, because that ****** me off when people run without it (we all pay higher premiums because of the idiots who don’t have insurance). So my recommendation to those of you who don’t properly display your front tag on a vehicle that is licensed in a state requiring it is this: Make sure the rest of your shit is together, because if it isn’t you are waiving a red flag in front of the bull. If your stuff is together, I agree, you are not likely to get a ticket but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.