Best number plate / plate holder style

Ok, so I have read most of the pages here and there is just one thing I flat out don't get.

Why not just put on what was designed for the car!? I mean, it is good enough for Europe.

I understand that personal opinion and style differ. Some people like Detroits while I hate them. Some people are going to hate my wheels etc etc. What I don't get however is changing something that has a clear design and purpose. Take the R in the photo above this post as a perfect example. Why not just put the standard Euro plates on and be done with it. You won't have to worry about holes, overhang or anything else. Is it because they are too big and you like a smaller plate? Our new C class has a much smaller bracket on the front, for a plate the size of the one on the R above. If we were to put Euro's on it they would be the smaller version.

Don't you think the plate on the R looks silly? It looks like it was designed for another car or that you made a mistake when ordering. It looks like someone measured in inches and ordered in centimeters.

The plates SA plates on my GTI fit perfectly front and back, like they were designed to do. Don't you guys like that finished look?

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Originally Posted by Corey_R

Yeah - talk to Philip, he's a great guy and is really on the ball.
Also, if you read my post I linked you to before, that includes exact parts and information related to fitting, as well as a link to another post I did which had extensive photos of the kit, including the instructions and all the little bits and pieces. You'll be surprised at how good the kit really is :)

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Mate, trust me your 'how to apply them' post is saved in my 'Things to do after receiving R' file and I will be follo0wing it to the letter! I just need to find something called a 'Trusty Sharpie' ;-)

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Originally Posted by aussiegtidude

Ok, so I have read most of the pages here and there is just one thing I flat out don't get.

Why not just put on what was designed for the car!? I mean, it is good enough for Europe.

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If you really read most of the pages here you'd already know the answer.
1) The cheapest plate which correctly fits the front holder in Australia is the NSW "Premium Euro Classic White" for a one-off fee of $400. Note that this is "standard content" and not at all personalised. In some states, this is as high as $695 for the standard non-personalised plate which fits.
2) Out of 60+ styles of plate available in NSW, there is only a single plate which fits correctly (as per #1)
3) In NSW this single plate which fits cannot be truly personalised ($200 + $90 per year, and it must have a "N" at the front)
4) In other states, the personalised plates which fit can cost over $1000
5) Too bad if the colour of the plate doesn't suit the colour of the paint you want.
6) On the R, it blocks part of your intake area to the intercooler etc
7) Some states DO NOT have ANY plate which fits correctly

Do you need more reasons?
Having to pay $400 to $695+ to simply have a plate which "fits correctly", if it's an option at all in your state, is simply ridiculous.

SA is $150 a year and that is 520 x 112. This is the standard measurement across Europe. So far I have found NSW, Victoria, WA and Queensland (and obviously SA) come to this standard. What more could you want? This, whether you like it or not, is the ISO and that is what European makers design to. Including VW with their GTI and R.

Every state has the first letter in-front of it. Even the standard non-European plates now issued (again, in SA) begin with 'S', this is obviously going to be a thing at least in some states. It easily identifies which state a car is from, just like the US and Europe. M for Munich, S for Stuttgart etc. Not such a silly idea. It also allows us South Australians to drive really poorly in full view of Victorians so they never come back across the border because of our '****ty driving'. Win win!

I have yet to find a state that it would come to over $1,000. I did have a quick look but came up empty. In all seriousness, what state? That is absurd.

Europeans don't get to choose colour, c'est la vie. How many options do you really want? For once I am actually on the Government's side, how many options could you possibly have? Seriously? Think about it. They have to make sure they are legible to not only the naked eye but speed cameras, registration cameras, security cameras, normal traffic cameras...... nothing will be as easy to read as black on white and we have already moved on from that.

I myself only studied first year physics so I thought I would put it to my best man who works at BAE as an Aeronautical Engineer. He laughed (quite hard) when I asked him if that plate holder would obstruct any measurable airflow into the car. I guess that is a pretty emphatic 'no, it would not'.

I would loved to be able to pay $400, once, for a 520x110mm plate like they do in NSW. After spending 50k on a car, which most of us have, that isn't really much to finish it off.

Hey Corey, I'm going to down the track of plugging the holes because I have slim plates for the front and odered the Lakin bracket to suit the size of them. Want to expose as much of the blue bumper as I can. The four holes will be plugged with colour coded scrivets (not supplied colour coded) that I got from Philip. Now this may end up looking crap but I'm hoping it will look ok.

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Originally Posted by aussiegtidude

SA is $150 a year and that is 520 x 112<snip>

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I'm aware of all this info because I already investigated it when I contacted Volkswagen to make them aware of these facts. Believe it or not, they had no idea of the costs and availability. And yes, SA is really the most expensive for a standard Euro plate since it's $150 a year. Thus even only having it for 5 years will cost you $750! NSW had an annual fee for standard Euro plates a few years ago but ditched that.


Anyway, you asked, "What more could you want?"
Not to have the stupid front holder in the first place, so we can just put on one of the 59 other varieties of plate that we want/already have :)

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Originally Posted by Rob_R

Hey Corey, I'm going to down the track of plugging the holes because I have slim plates for the front and odered the Lakin bracket to suit the size of them. Want to expose as much of the blue bumper as I can. The four holes will be plugged with colour coded scrivets (not supplied colour coded) that I got from Philip. Now this may end up looking crap but I'm hoping it will look ok.

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Hey Rob_R. Make sure you take some photos. Others have talked about colour coding the plugs, but I've yet to see anyone actually do it.

Guy_H recently went 1 step further. For the new Stage 4 Golf R they've been building, since they already had the bumper off anyway, they took it up to a body shop, had the bumper filled, and resprayed. They've then attached their existing personalised QLD plates via double sided tape (at least it looked that way from the video).

All ordered. Thanks mate. Nice bloke Philip.

Corey, Yep I will take some pics when it's done. Hoping it will look half ok. If not I will have to go the less tight a$$ way of getting the bumper filled and resprayed.

langers, Philip was more than helpful when it came to making my purchase. Actually I've heard nothing but good things about him. The product is top notch also.

bit off topic but can anyone shed some light on what the lead time is to get a set of personalised Euro plates? i think i've left it too late :|

edit: found it - 14 business days if anyone else is interested.

Given the increased use of fixed and point-to-point speed cameras I'm starting to really like the idea of these number plate holders:
Speedflip.