Front licence plate bracket removal with parking sensors

[Aquaman]

I am currently driving a 2013 Audi Q5. Premium + Monsoon Grey
My front licence plate bracket is starting to peel, and I am hoping to have it wrapped or painted. I have figured out that it simply clips on and is attached with two torx screws. That part is easy. My question is, Does anyone know how I can remove the bracket without removing the front bumper cover. I have parking sensors and they are plugged in to the back of the bracket. Does anyone know how I can access them to unplug them without bumper cover removal ?
Please help.

[Irish1004]

I am currently driving a 2013 Audi Q5. Premium + Monsoon Grey
My front licence plate bracket is starting to peel, and I am hoping to have it wrapped or painted. I have figured out that it simply clips on and is attached with two torx screws. That part is easy. My question is, Does anyone know how I can remove the bracket without removing the front bumper cover. I have parking sensors and they are plugged in to the back of the bracket. Does anyone know how I can access them to unplug them without bumper cover removal ?
Please help.

Funny you should ask this as I just replaced the same part on my wife’s 2014 Q5. Once you remove the two torx screws there are three tabs on both the top and bottom of the bracket. The top ones are in the bottom of the grill...bottom ones immediately below the bracket. Then carefully reach behind the bracket and you’ll see the tabs on the top & bottom of each parking sensor. Carefully pry these apart by applying gentle pressure up and down (not too much as they’re plastic) at the same time push on the sensor from the front of the bracket. Unfortunately there isn’t much wire on each sensor so the clearance between the still attached bracket and the bumper is tight. Once you have both detached from the bracket it will be free from the bumper and grill. It took me about 5-10 minutes to do this and I just replaced the bracket with a new one. Reinstalling it was a much easier job and probably took two minutes. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

[choppstixxx]

Here's my how to I posted on AudiWorld:
So I know a lot of people with 2013+ Q5's experience peeling on their license plate bracket and want to swap in a new one, but don't know how.
I just did this to put a new Euro plate bracket on to install my custom European plate, but thought a thorough how to would be helpful if you ever have to remove/replace it for any reason.

1) Remove license plate
2) Remove two Torx 20 bolts behind license plate
3) There are I believe 4-6 mounting points where the plate bracket snaps onto the actual grill. All you have to do is reach into your grill (where the openings are) and gently pull up on them at the same time pull the plate bracket towards you.

DO NOT PULL THE BRACKET AWAY FROM THE GRILL WITH ANY FORCE, THERE IS LITTLE TO NO WIRING SLACK FOR PEOPLE WITH FRONT PARKING SENSORS.
*I will explain how to safely remove the parking sensors in the next step.

You will see in the following picture what I am talking about with the mounting points, they are at the ends and in the middle portion:


4) Once you have the bracket free from the grill you will need to unplug the parking sensors. The easiest way is with a small pick to disengage them from the actual wiring harness plug, NOT from the bracket itself.
There is a small push tab at the end of the plug you just push down on and it will unlock the plug from the sensor seen here to the left of #1:


5) Once you do that on both sides your bracket will be free from the grill!
6) A helpful tip to re-install, install the parking sensors to the new bracket first. There is pretty much zero room to get anything behind the bracket to try and push the sensor back in while plugged in.
What you will do instead is remove the plastic bracket/shroud in your engine bay that goes over top of your headlights/intake scoop. This will allow you to go from the top down to plug the harness into the plate bracket from behind since there is a cutout in the grill to access it.

[Irish1004]

There is absolutely no reason to remove the panels above the headlights. It’s easy to remove the parking sensors from behind the license bracket. Just be careful not to pull the bracket too far away from the bumper as the parking sensor wiring is really short and could be damaged. It took me 5-10 minutes to remove the old bracket and install the new one and that was without any knowledge of how the bracket was attached. If you had some knowledge of this I suspect it would take even less time.

[choppstixxx]

There is absolutely no reason to remove the panels above the headlights.

Where would you even begin to get a finger or hand behind the grill without removing the top shroud with everything on the car? The top piece literally takes 5 mins to remove and allows you to get your whole arm/hands behind the grill with relative ease.

[Irish1004]

Where would you even begin to get a finger or hand behind the grill without removing the top shroud with everything on the car? The top piece literally takes 5 mins to remove and allows you to get your whole arm/hands behind the grill with relative ease.

It’s easy just remove bracket and reach behind and carefully spread the parking sensor tabs to release the sensors being careful not to pull the bracket too far away from the bumper.

[choppstixxx]

It’s easy just remove bracket and reach behind and carefully spread the parking sensor tabs to release the sensors being careful not to pull the bracket too far away from the bumper.

As you know there is little to no slack with the sensor wire, why even take the chance of accidentally yanking the wire too far out and damaging it? IMO people doing this procedure will be doing it for the first time, they have no idea how everything is attached or what tabs do what. The less risk the better especially when what I described does not add much time or difficulty at all. I have pretty small hands and it was no easy task to even disconnect the harness from the senor using a pick let alone your hand/fingers.

[Irish1004]

As you know there is little to no slack with the sensor wire, why even take the chance of accidentally yanking the wire too far out and damaging it? IMO people doing this procedure will be doing it for the first time, they have no idea how everything is attached or what tabs do what. The less risk the better especially when what I described does not add much time or difficulty at all. I have pretty small hands and it was no easy task to even disconnect the harness from the senor using a pick let alone your hand/fingers.

Agree to disagree! I was doing this for the first time and was able to release the sensors without removing the panel above the headlights. Also I released the parking sensors without disconnecting the wiring from the plug. I’m sure most people can figure this out and can pick whatever method works best for them.

[arjun90]

Pictures showing the process would be handy I'm about to replace mine and will post my experience here after I get it done in this heatwave

Here's my how to I posted on AudiWorld:
So I know a lot of people with 2013+ Q5's experience peeling on their license plate bracket and want to swap in a new one, but don't know how.
I just did this to put a new Euro plate bracket on to install my custom European plate, but thought a thorough how to would be helpful if you ever have to remove/replace it for any reason.

1) Remove license plate
2) Remove two Torx 20 bolts behind license plate
3) There are I believe 4-6 mounting points where the plate bracket snaps onto the actual grill. All you have to do is reach into your grill (where the openings are) and gently pull up on them at the same time pull the plate bracket towards you.

DO NOT PULL THE BRACKET AWAY FROM THE GRILL WITH ANY FORCE, THERE IS LITTLE TO NO WIRING SLACK FOR PEOPLE WITH FRONT PARKING SENSORS.
*I will explain how to safely remove the parking sensors in the next step.

You will see in the following picture what I am talking about with the mounting points, they are at the ends and in the middle portion:


4) Once you have the bracket free from the grill you will need to unplug the parking sensors. The easiest way is with a small pick to disengage them from the actual wiring harness plug, NOT from the bracket itself.
There is a small push tab at the end of the plug you just push down on and it will unlock the plug from the sensor seen here to the left of #1:


5) Once you do that on both sides your bracket will be free from the grill!
6) A helpful tip to re-install, install the parking sensors to the new bracket first. There is pretty much zero room to get anything behind the bracket to try and push the sensor back in while plugged in.
What you will do instead is remove the plastic bracket/shroud in your engine bay that goes over top of your headlights/intake scoop. This will allow you to go from the top down to plug the harness into the plate bracket from behind since there is a cutout in the grill to access it.

[arjun90]

Okay, so it took me about 20 mins to carefully get the old bracket off and install the new one on.

My suggestion for everyone attempting this is DO NOT UNPLUG THE PARKING SENSOR HARNESS. You won't have much wiggle room to place your hand behind the bracket to release the clip in order to unplug the sensor.

The trick is to remove the 2x T20 screws that hold the bracket; unclip all the bracket clips and with one hand hold the bracket (or have someone else aid you), but don't let the bracket hanging with the parking sensors still in place otherwise to risk damage to these already fragile thin wires.

From behind the grill, with your fingers, while prying off the tabs just a tad bit around the sensors, push the sensors inward from the exterior side of the bracket. This will let go of the parking sensors, and the bracket will separate completely from the grill itself.

The parking sensors will remain dangling (still attached to the harness). The weight of the sensors is negligible; there's very little risk of damage unless you mishandled and pulled away the bracket too hard.

If you are living in a state where a front license plate is required, you'll need to use a 1/8" drill bit to drill four holes in order to align the new license plate.

While replacing the bracket on the vehicle, carefully push the parking sensors back into the bracket (the tabs have some tension which secures the parking sensors--its a snug fit and nothing clips into place) and ensure all of the bracket clips are clipped onto the grill.

Reinstall the two T20 torx screws.

Reinstall your plates, and you should be all good to go.

Tips--Wear gloves to avoid excessive fingerprints. As a last step, wipe off the bracket with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol for the clean look.

Now eventually, depending on your driving habits, the bracket will get scuffed with minor scratches especially with flying debris on the highway. As long as the paint holds up and doesn't peel, you should be good to go.

I purchased the bracket for $120 from the Audi Dealer, comes with 12,000 miles 1-year warranty. Should the peeling start again, I'll go back to any Audi Dealer and replace the part again during this time period.

However, the final revision of this part seems to resolve all the peel issues owners were having in the past.

I went with the same gloss finish as it matched better with the fog light grilles.

However, if it really bothers you buy a filler plate (matte black finish) and reinstall your license plates there without going about another bracket.

They do have a matte black finish for the license plate bracket itself (for 2.0T and SQ5 vehicles). However, I'm not sure how the matte black finish will stand up to the elements especially UV.

There's too much in place on front of these newer vehicles. Simple is ideally better.