Word of warning to those who don't want / need to wear a front license plate on their new 06 Civic Hybrid...make sure you tell your dealer's staff to leave it off before taking delivery of the car!

I went to take off my front plate, because I hate the way it looks on a car, and I wanted to take it in to have a clear bra ordered for it, like I had on my Accord.

There are two 13mm bolts underneath, that connect to the recessed part of the lower grille. No problem there. Just like the Accord. Put the bolts right back in the holes, and all is concealed and well.

Went to remove the plate holder, and...it's still on. Has to be another bolt someplace. After removing the plate from the holder, and looking closely, I see it...

There's a self-tapping screw that fastens the center of the holder to...the front bumper. "No..." I say to myself..."they couldn't have..." But they did. Removing the screw and the holder reveals...a 1/8" hole, right in the center of my bumper.

Since front plates are required in my state, and they had done PDI on my car before I arrived to drive it, the dealer considered themselves blameless. After all, the manufacturer had included that screw and instructions to put it there, did they not ?

Seems to me that common sense would tell you not to screw through a bumper cover, but hey - that's just me, apparently.

So now, before having the bra put on, I get to visit my local body shop, and see what they'll charge to fix this - if they can fix it. I also have a hybrid-exclusive paint color, so that'll be hard to procure and take longer for them to color match it. I'll also have to wait 45 days before I can have the clear bra installed - all the while taking my chances with rocks, etc, chipping off the paint, as Hondas are notorious for in the last few years.

Aaaauuuggh!

 

Honda sells a bottle of touch up paint for less than $5. They should give you one since they screwed the bumper! My dealer gives out a bottle of paint with every new one they sell. Got all colors in stock! There are a lot of cars that get the screw treatment on front bumper. In SC we dont have to have a front plate, BUT the dealers love to put that big old dealership advertising plate on them. Took my off soon as I got it. Figured the wind resistance would cut my mileage .0001 MPG over time. Ha Ha!

 

Ummm, since the front plate is required in your state, and since the bra adds wind resistance and reduces FE... why not just save yourself the hassle and money by not buying a Bra and leaving the plate on the bumper?

 

DTDRIVER:

Respectfully - I haven't seen the brand / type of paint yet that will patch holes in plastic.

It's not so much that the bumper is scratched (although that's another reason I took the plate holder off - there's no felt or anything between the plastic edge of the plate holder and the bumper of the car). It's that I've got an actual hole in my bumper cover, right on the front outer surface and clearly visible (to me, at least).

I did mention this to the representative from Honda that called to do my post-purchase survey over the phone this weekend. Maybe they'll mention it to customer relations. Who knows ?

BTW - HandAAccessories carries a paint pen in the Honda colors (but not in MagPearl yet These work so great, vs the conventional brush-style touch up paints. Give one a try - I wouldn't use anything else - and anything I couldn't cover adequately with one would be a candidate for the shop, anyway, IMO.

 

Here's what I did as a solution for mine. I went to Advance (or any auto parts store) and bought a plastic hole plug. Not sure if I have the "DORMAN" (the company that makes them) part #.

I did it for both my Insight and HCH. The Insight has two holes and the HCH has the one directly in the center as you mentioned. I didn't paint it the same color as the car so it's black but it smoothed out the front a lot more than the hole that was in the bumper. That drove me nuts. Maybe later I'll hit it with some touch up to match the car but actually it doesn't look too bad.

 

Zimbop - I'm not referring to a conventional cloth / fabric bra. I'd never put one of those on a car. Instead, I'm referring to 'Paint protection film'. 3M makes a version - you can see it on their site. It's about 8mil thick, from what I recall - and unless you're right up on the car, you can't even tell it's there (it's clear). No fading, scratching or paint clouding. But really protects against paint chips. Had it on my last car and thought it a worthwhile purchase.

As for leaving the plate on the bumper - I'm prepared to accept the consequences of my actions

 

Be happy they only put one hole in your HCH. The Prius has two nasty holes ripped in the from plastic bumper cover by self-tapping screws. On mine they did not even get it level. When I went to try and straighten the plate holder when my permanent plates arrived I was pretty horrified to see what they did to the car to hang the plate holder. I ended up slotting the holes on the plate holder to level it.

 

My 06 HCH came with a front lic. plate holder as well, and they are not required here in Indiana. Removing it was easy, as it was mounted beneath the bumper, so there were no exposed holes when it was removed. They must make different types of holders?

 

Back a couple of month ago I had gotten into an accident in my wife's 03 CR-V and as I was picking up the car from being repaired at a Honda Body Shop I asked them about the 3m type film for the front of the car. The person recommended to me that he wouldn't use it on any of his cars as it doesn't let the paint breath and the paint could become brittle over time.

As I was at the dealer yesterday getting a pinstrip put on my HCH, they were prepping a new regular civic for delivery that had this film on the front of the car. As they were waxing and buffing the car, I noticed a buildup of wax between the regular paint and the film. The detailer had to get out a soft type of brush to get the buildup out of the groove between the paint and film.

 

Paint needs to breath? Sounds like a myth to me. "Breathing" is what would cause paint to dry out and become brittle, or become oxydized. Keep air away from it and it will stay fresh.