Cobalt

Cobalt Miata License Plate Relocation (Moss Motors part# 904-530)

[7/30/2008] Reviewed by: Scott Lelievre - banzairx7@gmail.com

Applicable to: '90 - '97 '99-'05 1.6 liter 1.8 liter

Front License plate mounting bracket

I mounted this on my 04 MSM and it didn't fit properly as supplied. The bracket that mounts to the car had to be bent. The spacer provided to clear the body work on 99+ cars was 1/4" to short. Only one of the six possible plate mounting positions was actually able to be used. Im not sure if these are MSM specific problems or not.

I had some minor issues that for the price just shouldn't exist. It is generally well built though. Once installed it does look great and it should last a long time.

Under 30 minutes to remove completely

Cobalt Miata License Plate Relocation (Moss Motors part# 904-530)

[1/13/2008] Reviewed by: David Meyer - earthling_david@sbcglobal.net

Applicable to: '90 - '97 '99-'05 1.6 liter 1.8 liter

A replacement bracket kit for the front license plate. Relocates the license plate from the center of the car's nose to the lower left corner (when viewed from the front of the car). There is one for '90 to '05, which is the one I used for my '03. They also have one for NC. The brackets are painted black and have a nice, good quality look to them. The kit consists of two main pieces (the part that bolts directly to the car, and the part that the license plate bolts to) and the hardware required to bolt it all together. The bracket also lets you choose the height of the license plate with six possible positions. Moss Motors has a picture of it here: http://www.miatamania.com/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexID=58565&SortOrder=1

The product is well made, and it bolts into the same place that the left front baby tooth goes, so it is very solidly mounted. Much more solidly mounted, in fact, than the factory bracket. It can co-exist with the baby tooth, but I chose to remove that when I installed the license plate relocation kit. The kit contains everything you need, including the bolts that go into the body, in case the baby tooth has alreay been removed and you don't have the bolts anymore. I like the fact that the nuts for the license plate screws are permanently attached to the back of the bracket. It made the installation a bit easier, and it makes it have a higher quality feel. Also, with this kit you can use all four screws to hold your license plate on. The factory bracket only lets you use two. The only difficulty is that the bolts for the baby teeth are kind of hard to get to. I had to jack up the right side of the car, put a jackstand under it, and use a 14mm socket with 3/4" drive ratchet with a 10" extension to get to two of the three bolts. The 3/4" drive ratchtet gave me enough leverage to loosen the factory bolts, which were installed VERY tight. The instructions with the kit showed a combination wrench up in there to remove those bolts. There's no way I would have had the necessary leverage to do it that way. Even though my car has spent its entire life in California and there is no rust. The third baby tooth bolt is accessible from the front of the car, and I was able to remove that with a regular combination wrench. It was very tight also, but I was able to get two hands on the wrench and get it loose. The instructions were good, with clear pictures showing how everything goes in. I did have one problem. When the kit was originally shipped to me, it was missing one of the parts. It had the bracket that the license plate attaches to, but was missing the one that connected it to the car. Moss motors shipped the missing bracket right away after I called them and told them about it.

I really like this product. I live in a state the requires a front license plate, and the stock mounting point for it makes the front end of the car look funny. Like it's got a wart right on the tip of its nose. To my eye, moving the license plate to the left and down does wonders for the styling. I also like the fact that the license plate is so solidly mounted with this bracket. There's no way it's going to rattle or shift its position. I do have some concern about cooling, because the license plate now looks like it blocks slightly more of the opening than it does in the stock location. It's winter right now, so I don't think I'll know if this is a factor until summer comes around.

Over 30 minutes to remove completely