A4 Avant license plate mounting

[Kneale Brownson]

Every Audi I've owned (seven so far) has had the captive nuts in the
license plate bracket broken.  Rustbelt issue.  What I've done is take out
the screws that anchor the center of the trunklid lightbar (the only ones
you can get to through the holes in the trunk lid liner) and attach a piece
of galvanized metal the size of a license plate.  Then I bolt the plate to
the galvanized metal.

At 05:07 PM 8/12/2004 -0700, Michael McLaughlin wrote:
>Hello everyone. I recently purchased a '99.5 A4 Avant 1.8T. It's 
>pelican blue with the sports package, sport seats and a five-speed 
>manual -- hard to find. Anyway, the car is next to perfect, except for 
>mounting the rear license plate. The previous plate had badly rusted 
>hardware and took some manhandling to get off. Right now the back of 
>the car has the four holes in the lid where the plate mounts, but 
>nothing for the bolts to go into. In my previous Audis, there have been 
>nuts that go into clips that clip into those holes and the bolts screw 
>into those. Is this how the Avant works too? I called the closest 
>dealer and they were of little help; they suggested bringing the car in 
>to look at it, but being that it's 80 miles away and I don't trust 
>them, I'm reluctant to do so.
>
>If anyone can give me some insight into how the plate mounts to the 
>back of an Avant, I'd appreciate it. I could also use some help in 
>figuring out which parts I need and any suggestions of where to find 
>them.
>
>Thanks,
>Mike
>
>_______________________________________________
>quattro mailing list
>quattro at audifans.com
>http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/quattro