A lot of people consider changing their car’s number plates. They may do it because they would love to get customized ones. Or in some unfortunate occurrences, their number plate might have been stolen. Whatever your reasons, there are important things to know about removing number plates and fitting newer ones.
How are Number Plates Fixed to Your Car?
Number plates on your car are fixed in one of the two ways. The license plate might be screwed to your car, or number plate sticky pads would have been used. As part of your car’s maintenance, you have to take in to account the number plate as well and how they have been set on your car. You have to remove them and fit newer ones.
How to Remove The Number Plate From Your Car?
Removing number plates always come at the risk of damaging your car’s paint. However, if it is the license plate that has been fixed on your car with the screws, it is a little safe. The process is not complex. All you have to do is unscrew the screws with the screwdriver. Unscrew the screw with one hand while keeping the registration plate in place with the other to ensure it does not move or damage the paintwork.
If it’s the sticky pads, you are bound to fear that it will leave some remains of it being on your car. On a lot of online forums, you will find options like using spirit or other chemicals but with caution to remove these adhesive number plates. But the best thing you could do is to first check for the strength of the adhesives. For this purpose you should try pulling the pads only at the corners. If they are too tightly stuck, take help of the building wire which is thin and can be wrapped around the pads. Try maintaining a balance and evenly pressing onto the pads to get rid of the stickiness. It should allow you to get rid of the adhesive number plate.
How to Fix the Newer Ones?
If you are good with the tools, it is nothing hard. Again, you need to decide well about the method you want to use for number plate to be fixed to your car. Both have their pros and cons discussed in the following heading.
If you are considering to go with sticky pad adhesive number plates, clean the surface of the car. Stick the pads to your number plate. Undo the adhesive tape on the other side, and fix it to your car.
If it’s the screws you are using, you need some expertise there. If you are sure you can do that, then very well, you should carry on. You need to b aware of the correct drill bit. After having removed your previous number plate, you make holes in the new number plate by using screwdriver. Make sure to do drilling by applying low pressure. Drill the holes through the backside. If you do it from the front you will need a masking tape as well. Therefore, the recommended way is to drill holes through the backside. Then secure the holes with the help of nuts.
Pros and Cons of Each Method
Using adhesive sticky pads might be the quickest technique because no drilling or vehicle modifications are required. Instead, you affix the number plates on the vehicle with these double-sided adhesive pads. But once connected, these will not readily come off, so make sure the plate is properly positioned before attaching to the car. These are available in two varieties: double-sided white pads and thinner, transparent double-sided silicon. Both operate in the same manner.
On the other hand, using screws is the most common method of attaching a number plate to the vehicle’s frame, however nylon nuts and bolts can also be used. You can do this with any screw, although plastic nut and bolt combinations are preferred to avoid breakage. The downside is that your number plate is so vulnerable to being stolen by anyone. Screws can be easily gotten rid of. There is a solution to it and that is to use tamper-free screws. How reliable that could be us still undecided.
Final Say
If you are someone who is always changing the number plates of your vehicle, then you should go with the screw-fixing number plate option. This way you will not always be worried about damaging your car’s paint. Moreover, you will be able to reuse the same caps, and bolts or nuts without having t invest in the newer ones.
But if you are looking for a permanent option, then it would be good to use adhesive number plates. They give a neater and tidier appearance and are so strongly adhered to the car surface that they cannot be removed easily.
