Where to Attach Front Plate

Is the standard mounting hardware just the plastic "2/3 bracket and two self-tapping screws?

The "standard" position seems to be centered, on the prominent upper "gums" of the "mouth".
There, it looks like a big buck tooth!

Can the plate be mounted any other place and not spoil the airflow?

Would "inside" the mouth, not all the way back to the recessed "grill" be OK, or even good?

Ideas and pictures, Please.

Since the dealer installs these plate holders "all day long", I had them install mine and they did a good job...One less thing to worry about....

Inside the grille "mouth", even at an angle, is a non-starter without trimming the plate down quite a bit.

I'm not sure it's a better choice, but you could go underneath the front valance, and there are even bolts there (the ones for the underbelly pan) that could be co-opted to fasten fabricated brackets. My MGB has this kind of setup, with the plate angled for improved aerodynamics and more ground clearance. Would that be any better for aerodynamics than the standard position? Possibly not. Would it look better? Probably so.

My dealer did not install and I am kinda happy as it would not look good. It is required but I drove my zenn for three years without one. Hopefully I can go another three years

That is one good thing about AZ is there are no front plates required here and they only issue the 1 plate (unless you order a personalized plate).

I would look into fabricating a bracket that would mount underneath where the bumper and belly pan meet. You could offset it to one side to help keep airflow going into the radiator opening in the bumper. Or you could run it centered like on this car:

Just bend the plate back a bit (or a lot) to improve aerodynamics

Can the plate be mounted without the holding bracket?

Actually, you want to block the grill as much as possible to improve aerodynamics. You would only worry about keeping it open if you are worried about maximum cooling, but as long as you aren't racing through Death Valley in the summer you should be fine.

drees said:

Actually, you want to block the grill as much as possible to improve aerodynamics. You would only worry about keeping it open if you are worried about maximum cooling, but as long as you aren't racing through Death Valley in the summer you should be fine.

Click to expand...

Not sure I would advice people to "block as much grill as possible" unless you know the design specifics, There is a radiator for AC that needs air flow may have a specific flow path for efficiency. Not recommended.

Yes, pay attention to EVDRIVER's warning.

Guessing that it should/might be OK is a lot different than knowing,
and the LEAF contains expensive sub-systems.

I've been thinking about how to mount the front license plate without drilling holes in the bumper, which is the normal procedure. Also, I may want to move the plate to the side at some point.

Mounting a front plate in the normal position should not be confused with blocking the airflow or improving aerodynamics.

garygid said:

Is the standard mounting hardware just the plastic "2/3 bracket and two self-tapping screws?

The "standard" position seems to be centered, on the prominent upper "gums" of the "mouth".
There, it looks like a big buck tooth!

Click to expand...

It sure does look like a big buck tooth. I certainly wish I could just leave the front bracket and plate off but they are sticklers about that in these parts. I wish they had just designed the front with plates in mind in the first place instead of it always looking like an after thought. Page 9-9 of the manual covers the standard install of the plate with the provided bracket. Here is the picture from that page

.

I just finished an install of the front license plate pretty much following the owners manual section 9 page 9. It was a nightmare and a heart-breaking process -- because the front license plate mounting bracket and parts are such an insanely insanely poor industrial design -- requiring two 3/8" mounting hole and two HUGE 7/8" clearance holes for the [deleted-word]-ingly insanely poorly designed "J nuts" which for no good reason stick out far enough to keep the mounting bracket from sitting flush on the bumper unless you drill these insane clearance holes.

Take the dang thing back to the dealer and make him mount the front bracket himself and make sure you go into another room while they do this where you cannot see what they are doing to your brand new beautiful Leaf. It will make you sick!

Some Nissan "Industrial Designer" ought to be pulling time fixing nuclear power plants.

This innovative design showed up at our SF BayLEAFs monthly meeting today:
Decided to remove photo--should have blurred it before posting.
(Notice the conventionally mounted plate at the upper right corner of the photo.)
Many are going plate-less

I got the Skene Design bracket. Works great and very well made.

It's a little tricky getting the brackets right were you want, but otherwise straight forward. Installation tip - I didn't bother drilling all the way through for the self-tapping screws - I just used my fingers and spun the included drill bit enough to put a dent in the bumper - the screws then went right in without issue.

Would be nice if the bracket had some fore-aft adjustment after installed - that would let you worry less about exact placement if you are trying to mount the plate as flush as possible.

I went with Skene Designs as well. Photos here: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=2743&start=50&hilit=Skene

garygid said:

Is the standard mounting hardware just the plastic "2/3 bracket and two self-tapping screws?
[...]
Can the plate be mounted any other place and not spoil the airflow?[...]
Ideas and pictures, Please.

Click to expand...

Here are five methods I have seen so far.

I went with the GoMiniGo tow-hook adapter. Came in handy the other day for a photo shoot when they were worried about how they were going to blur the plate (even though I didn't care).