Service Academy: How To Fit Number Plates -

Fitting a new set of number plates is a nice simple job that can smarten up the appearance of your car without breaking the bank. A pair of number plates & fixings will cost you less than €15.00 and fitting then is extremely easy – here's how it's done…. The image above is of our old number plate. As you can see it's looking a little bit tatty and is held on with 2 Philips screws which are covered up with white plastic caps. To remove the old number plate, prise the plastic caps off and remove the screws To give a cleaner, smoother look we're going to use adhesive pads to attach our new number plates rather than screws and plastic caps. You need to make sure that the number plate mounting surface is clean and dry. We used No H2o trigger spray detergent and dried it off with a micro fibre cloth. You'll need 2 sheets of number plate adhesive pads if you're doing the front and rear of the car Apply the adhesive pads to the back of the number plate (which must also be clean and dry) If the number plate mounting surface is curved, make sure you have plenty of adhesive pads at the ends of the number plate. Apply the pads a couple of mm in from the edge so that when the plate is applied you can't see the pads. Take care to position the number plate centrally – you only get 1 shot at it! Once in position, use a clean cloth to rub over the surface of the plate, applying firm pressure in the areas where the adhesive pads are located. Lastly remove the clear protective film from the front of the new number plate. And that's it! job done! As you can see from the before and after image below the new plates make quite a difference. Personally I prefer the cleaner look that the adhesive pads give over the screw fixings but we do offer both. For more tips, tricks and simple maintenance advice, why not check out our Service Academy Series or click here to follow the progress of our Project GTi