[Rickiwithani]

The dealership I bought my car from was nice enough to not so carefully drill 3 rough holes into the brand new front end of my car before I was able to pick it up.
Pic 1

On the white pearl color it looked really bad because of the black plastic sticking out. I took a picture after cleaning up the holes quite a bit and using a white sharpie paint pen the coat the inside of the hole that was black plastic. The hole was immediately less noticeable but still bothered me.
Pic 2

Then figuring I really didn't want to pay a body shop or get the hole plugs online I tried some bathroom caulking white of course to fill them in. So with a rubber gloves I put a dot of caulking pressed it all the way in the hole and smoothed it out with a wet paper towel and kept at it until it was smooth and there was no caulk on the front of the bumper.
Pic 3 and 4

It's not perfect and if you look very close there is a slight dimple. But from standing next to it you absolutely can't tell there was ever a hole at all.

Also I have been on car forums for every car I have ever owned and I know this is a new community but there really needs to be more DIY instructions with pictures. I would also love to see a DIY section with all sorts of things like this and up to the much more complicated and involved.

 

[Stewie]

That's actually very different. Never seen that done. But looks to be pretty good ? Caulking is easily removable as well so you can always take it out and get it filled properly whenever you wanted to.

A DIY section would be great but I don't think I've seen much on the forums?

 

[LongBeachJim]

Even an unmolested bumper has three dimples, plus a tiny one dead center. You're not too far off the mark, appearance wise, by filling the holes.

 

[Stelvio]

Since mine came with a 30 day tag the dealer didn't have to mess up my front bumper. My state requires a front plate but I used one of those neoprene plate holders that dealers use to attach a plate. Nothing but soft rubber touches the car and the edges of the plate are kept nice as well.

 

[jdsmith75229]

The dealership I bought my car from was nice enough to not so carefully drill 3 rough holes into the brand new front end of my car before I was able to pick it up.
Pic 1

View attachment 9145


On the white pearl color it looked really bad because of the black plastic sticking out. I took a picture after cleaning up the holes quite a bit and using a white sharpie paint pen the coat the inside of the hole that was black plastic. The hole was immediately less noticeable but still bothered me.
Pic 2

View attachment 9153

Then figuring I really didn't want to pay a body shop or get the hole plugs online I tried some bathroom caulking white of course to fill them in. So with a rubber gloves I put a dot of caulking pressed it all the way in the hole and smoothed it out with a wet paper towel and kept at it until it was smooth and there was no caulk on the front of the bumper.
Pic 3 and 4


View attachment 9161

View attachment 9169

It's not perfect and if you look very close there is a slight dimple. But from standing next to it you absolutely can't tell there was ever a hole at all.

Also I have been on car forums for every car I have ever owned and I know this is a new community but there really needs to be more DIY instructions with pictures. I would also love to see a DIY section with all sorts of things like this and up to the much more complicated and involved.

The dealership in Newport News VA did the same thing.
After flying from Tx to Va I was not going to let 3 small holes stop me from getting the car I wanted.

I have been trying to come up with a way to fill the holes. Thanks for the post I may give this a try myself.

 

[Rickiwithani]

It can't hurt and is easily reversible if your not happy with the outcome

 

[SJWhiteley]

This might be a good warning for new buyers. A lot of states don't require a front plate, but some dealers add them to have 'free advertising' with their own plate - just like they attach their own tacky names to the back of cars. This is one thing that really gets my goat.

That was a good job taking care of that, Rickiwithani.

 

[Stelvio]

No holes and nice soft neoprene rubber touching the car.

 

[Dirty GSer]

No holes and nice soft neoprene rubber touching the car.

Interesting.....care to elaborate? :nerd:

(can't make it out from the picture)

 

[ThatsASeamus]

Alternative to screws

I always used this stuff when I needed a front plate living in Illinois. Putting it behind the mounting bracket instead of using the hit screws. VHB Black Foam Tape

Adhesive cures stronger than the foam to just about anything, plus peels reasonably well (as long as you're patient) if you no longer need a front plate.

 

[Stelvio]

Interesting.....care to elaborate? :nerd:

(can't make it out from the picture)

Bought one of these, (search dealer plate holder -9-12 bucks) put the plate in upside down and used four tie wraps. Looped tie wraps through the holes in the ears and fed the ends of the tie wraps through the lower grill up behind the center bumper piece and back through the upper grill. Fed the tie wrap ends through the back of the holder and through the top set of plate holes. Took two more tie wraps and used their ends to feed the first set of tie wrap through these additional tie wrap catches and pulled everything tight which means the rubber ears of the holder are through the lower grill and up behind the piece of bumper between the grills. Trimmed all the tie wrap ends with side cutters.
The bolts at the bottom add additional security to ensure the plate states permanently in the holder, until you decide to change it.