Hi, I recently took delivery of my lovely new Octavia vRS Estate.  I wanted to ask if anyone knows if the car has pre-drilled numberplate holes in the bodywork?  My dealer has stuck the plates on with tape and I have another set of plates to fit.

 

I dont want to take off the current plates and find no holes...!!  As I dont want to start drilling holes in my new car....

 

TIA.

The mk2 definitely had captive nuts.

Both number plates on my 2014 VRS are held on with screws, so unless they have since deleted them they should be there.

Pre drilled at the back, so probably at the front too

Trouble is, the holes are too far away from the edges, so the plates have a quite considerable gap to catch your fingers whilst cleaning the car.

i have just within the last 15 minutes taken the back one off, and placed double sided tape on the edges to prevent this..

Job sorted 

Haven't got a clue how you are supposed to drill them though, as it has to be done absolutely 100% accurately for the holes to line up with the pre drilled catchment lugs.

I presume main dealers have a template.

 

Prefer the sticky pads myself, as you won't get....sometimes....blackening water ingress through the drill holes in the plates, and they also make them slightly less attractive to thieves as they can snap if stuck on significantly.

Edited 13 May, 201610 yr by Adenuf

Captive threads at the back nothing on the front.

Haven't got a clue how you are supposed to drill them though, as it has to be done absolutely 100% accurately for the holes to line up with the pre drilled catchment lugs.

I presume main dealers have a template.

 

Prefer the sticky pads myself, as you won't get....sometimes....blackening water ingress through the drill holes in the plates, and they also make them slightly less attractive to thieves as they can snap if stuck on significantly.

I used an old number plate as a template.

I used an old number plate as a template.

Not so easy if you haven't got one though.

Front bumper is plastic so drilling it isn't going to cause any rust. Hatch has holes from the factory.

Just measure the distance from the centre of each hole, then measure your plate, take one from the other divide by 2 and you know how far in to drill the holes.

Not so easy if you haven't got one though.

Not rocket science though to measure the distance between the holes on the car though. Then drill into the new plate accordingly.

Another top tip is to drill with the protective film still in place or masking tape on both sides where you are drilling to stop the plastic shattering / crazing.

Or buy metal plates and number plate surrounds that have multiple holes in the moulding that will line up with the holes / depressions in the front bumper.

Edited 13 May, 201610 yr by Black_Sheep

Front bumper is plastic so drilling it isn't going to cause any rust. Hatch has holes from the factory.

Just measure the distance from the centre of each hole, then measure your plate, take one from the other divide by 2 and you know how far in to drill the holes.

Now you see, if I did that, i could double it up to use as a culander..

Not rocket science though to measure the distance between the holes on the car though. Then drill into the new plate accordingly.

Correct. It is indeed NOT rocket science, but you only get one shot at this, and it HAS to be absolutely 'bob on' first time, no excuses

Wow, thanks all.  I'll start with the back one in that case.  I have a numberplate 'carrier / holder' which has numerous holes already in it so matching up with the holes shouldn't be an issue.  I'll just have to be careful at the front with the park sensors.

I wanted the chrome surround on a black backplate so that I didn't have to drill through the plate itself. (Plate sits inside the carrier). The only problem I found was that it isn't at all flexible and doesn't "bend" to the (very slight) contour of either the hatch or the front bumper when screwed on. Not a huge problem, maybe a bit of gentle persuasion with some heat from a blowtorch..... 

It's suprising the nunmber of rear plates that arn't fitted straight, even when stuck or bolted on.

 

You pay 10's of thousands for a car and the dealers can't even put the number plates on properly .

Edited 13 May, 201610 yr by Auric Goldfinger

It's suprising the nunmber of rear plates that arn't fitted straight, even when stuck or bolted on.

You pay 10's of thousands for a car and the dealers can't even put the number plates on properly .

Mine weren't straight, had dealer surrounds despite being asked specifically no dealer stuff and they screwed through the bumper in a random place that's not symmetrical.

Oh and when they screwed through the plates they didn't drill big enough holes to the threads cracked the plates causing water ingress.

I stuck new plates on with adhesive strips and a spirit level. Not that I'm ocd or anything .

Mine came with screw nails front and back but unfortunately the garage used non stainless screwnails which means I've got rusty screwnails plus some delamination where the plates were originally drilled, a fairly poor job really, I would have thought that it would have been kind of obvious to use stainless screwnails but maybe they cost a few pence more than the cheapo ones the garage used instead!

Edited 13 May, 201610 yr by AllanDJ

Tape them on far better and cleaner result

Nice Briskoda number plate holders in the shop.

I recently swapped to private plates from dealer plates. Used tape tape front and back at first but the front ones kept on coming away. Must be due to the speed.. : D

Now I have used original screw holes which are on the front and back. No problems now.

Edited 13 May, 201610 yr by pkoconnor

I recently swapped to private plates from dealer plates. Used tape tape front and back at first but the front ones kept on coming away. Must be due to the speed.. : D

Now I have used original screw holes which are on the front and back. No problems now.

Wouldn't the wind pressure from the speed have pressed the front plate into place firmer?

I see gullyg's post about water ingess when plates are drilled. That's why sticky tape is much the better choice.

Don't trust dealers...

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/219040-unbelievable-skoda-dealers/

 

It wasn't until I needed to remove my rear number plates that I realised the previous dealer had completely ignored the holes provided by the factory and simply drilled a couple of self-tappers straight through the bodywork.

 

So amazed was Skoda UK thankfully they agreed to fix the damage!

 

 

 

 

The front wasn't much better but at least it was plastic so rust free...

 

I love (sic) the ones you see where they've drilled and screw the plates right in the top corners.

Makes you just want to grab the plate a rip it off... Lol

Every time the cars washed its going to get caught.

Or the ones screwed right at the sides, the plate expands in the sun and it bulges....