Frase_civic

Hey so the last civic I owned was missing the license plate bolt hole on one side of the front bumper. Just bought another civic and same thing, no where for the bolt to thread into on the drivers side. I pulled the bumper off to replace the backing plate with one from a wreckers to find out both tabs have been broken on the backside of the bumper. So here is a fix I came up with.

I went to the hardware store and looked in the automotive section and found these license plate locking fasteners. Along with some nylon license plate fasteners. Cost for both 6 bucks



TOOLS NEEDED
1.Philips screw driver
2.Flat Head screw driver
3.10mm wrench/ratchet
4.license plate locking fasteners
5.nylon license plate fasteners

Total time while taking pictures was 15 mins

This is what the license plate looked like before with one bolt, and double sided foam sticky pad holding the other. With zip ties holding the bottom..Nasty!


Alright here we go, first you have to remove bumper .. so simple

1.Open hood.
2.Remove screw (philips) from driver and passenger side wheel well holding the bumper. Might have to start the car and move your wheels depends on rim size/if your car is lowered.



3.Remove all the clips under the hood holding the bumper like this. (7 total on my 99 EM1)





4.Next you have to remove the two bolts underneath the bumper. They are located about a foot behind the bottom of the bumper/lip.



5.Now start on drivers side and where the bumper meets the fender, grab the bumper there with one hand and the bottom with the other and pull down/out ... then reach under pull out from headlight area.



6.Do the other side, leaving the center of the bumper alone!

7.After the other side is done, pull the bumper out from center of car and it should come right off!

This is what the backing looks like.

driver side missing bracket and broken tabs


Passenger side is fine


8.Now remove passengers side bracket with a flat head screwdriver, take your time and dont break the tabs because who knows you may want to install the bracket again someday.



9.Now push the white fasteners into the license plate holes from the front.



10.Screw the license plate in about half way to make sure everything fits before the bumper goes back on the car.



11. Mine works and holds extremely tight like factory, so back on she goes. Put the bumper back on in reverse order.

12.Level up the license plate and snug it up, dont loose the special allen key either. Throw it in the glovebox or something.



I used the nylon fasteners for the bottom to clean it up, blends nicely with the black background of the bumper.


Hope this helps someone out! I couldn't find anything online on how to fix it

730_Si

Nice write up!! Bump

scrapper bitch

I had the same problem...but I was too lazy and zip tied the thing on, good read though!

mattaucoin_905

where did you find that special bolt set with the special allen key?

mattaucoin_905

lol nevermind. i see the home hardware bagggg