rear license plate holder question - how to remove

[RudyH]

So, I bought an 8Y CPO S3 to hold me over until something happens here in Canada...and its been a PITA lately lol. Small things, including finding the passenger tint was done terribly...

Anyway, the other day I came out to see a screw was missing in my rear license plate.

stock photo:


So the top left corner you can see there are little brackets that the screw pops into to hold the plate (they look like the ones at the bottom of this image), but little bracket fell behind the plate, between the plate and the trunk. Now I got this cheap metal rattling in my trunk. For the time being I had some left over plastic brackets that worked perfectly the plate fits.

I want to take the license plate holder off now to retrieve the pieces of metal rattling around. I removed the two screws (found in the middle of the image), but it's still glued on??? Anyone know how to remove this, is it only glue or is there a mysterious screw hidden somewhere? some type of extra clip?

[A4_n00b]

After you remove the two screws, the only thing holding the plate on is super strong double sided tape. You have to pull a lot harder than you think you need to get it off. Pull from each side to distribute the force and it will eventually come off. Heating it with a hair dryer also helps loosen the glue.

When you reinstall it, you have three options:
- Use the same clips (you can take needle nose pliers and spear them out a bit), but it’ll happen again
- You can get similar sized/shaped plastic clips at Lowe’s or Home Depot that are slightly better
- Straight up replace it with something like this

https://yourlittlecncshop.com/collec...-plate-bracket

Option three is a little overpriced, but a solid solution.


Those little clips have been a problem for years and I’m not sure why Audi hasn’t come up with something better.

[murph3699]

I grabbed on of those CNC plate mounts and its much better than the factory mount. Its expensive but stable.

[RudyH]

Ok I will try the hair dryer / heat gun on low and pop it off, maybe dental floss. It feels solid on the car so I was afraid to pull too much, so I wanted to ask just to make sure I don't damage the paint.

I used the option 2 in your post...it seems to be doing ok so I might just run that idea for now, I need to get some black screws though to match the rest of the blacked out chrome

[Quegma]

For my own A3 I bought a new rear license plate bracket from yourlittlecncshop.com

Nobody sees it, nobody knows it’s there except for me, but it’s a worthwhile upgrade imo.

[Quegma]

I see that A4_n00b beat me to it with the link lol. Well, now you have 2 people vouching for that replacement.

[murph3699]

For my own A3 I bought a new rear license plate bracket from yourlittlecncshop.com

Nobody sees it, nobody knows it’s there except for me, but it’s a worthwhile upgrade imo.

I saw mine today lol. Its nice not having to fight with those stupid clips if you need to remove your plate.