[ntj]

For those that may be interested, Carbonio just released a new centre-mounted, no drill license plate mount that fits the M240i (and I assume M235i, as well as other "M sport" cars).

https://carbonio.com/collections/lic...nt-msport-cell

Some photos of the bracket installed. Sorry for the very dirty front bumper -- drove a few hundred km's this morning and didn't have time to clean the car.

Bracket without the license plate mounted:


Bracket with license plate installed and the angle adjusted:


Some views from the front:






Initial thoughts... The plate moves a bit more than I expected when it's all mounted, not because the mount isn't rigid (quite the opposite, the mount seems to be very well designed and engineered) but rather because the grille itself is fairly flexible. The rubber bumpers that are provided are definitely needed in my opinion, otherwise there is a risk of the bolts hitting the paint. I suppose the plate could be mounted further away from the bumper (you can see in second photo there is about 3/8" more the plate could be pushed forward) but I preferred the plate to be as close to bumper as possible. Since I've got Xpel on the front end, I'm really not bothered by the rubber bumpers hitting against the car on the highway. Others without PPF may be a bit more cautious.

I would have also preferred the supplied bolts to be slightly shorter so they weren't visible out the back when installed. They are distracting to me as they seem to catch my eye. Yes, this is pretty picky, but it goes without saying that those of us who choose not to drill our front bumpers are the picky type.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it, although I've not done any highway driving yet. It isn't as rock solid as the US Millworks plate I ran on my Golf R, but I just couldn't live with the off centre look on this car. I definitely think this is a great solution.

[Dylan86]

Cool, tuned in for photo's. Can't say I'm a fan of the appearance from offset Tow Hook mount I have, although it does work just fine...

[dradernh]

Thanks for this - I just ordered one myself. I'll be getting plates soon and had resigned myself to having to drill into the bumper cover.

[Speedwell-Industries]

Sounds awesome! No drill FTW.

Can't wait for the photos and your thoughts

[ntj]

Photos added to OP!

[ZeeJM]

Not intending to hijack/derail the thread, but I thought I'd share my front plate experience:I went with the bracket from Skene (https://skenebrackets.com/index.htm ), which does require drilling two holes (along the bottom of the bumper facing down to the ground but not along the front-facing surface), because the law in here in Colorado currently requires a front, center-mounted plate.

Anyhow - After mounting my front plate I started experiencing problems with my Park Distance Control system on sunny days when the temperature went above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Specifically, the system would detect imaginary obstructions at stop signs and stop lights. I took my car to my local dealer and they discovered and replaced a faulty sensor, but the problem persisted.

After another full week in the shop, more sensor replacements, and replacement of the PDC wiring harness the problem persisted. But after additional escalation within the BMW service organization the problem went away after the recommendation to remove the front plate.

Apparently, the untreated, unpainted, highly-reflective rear side of the metal license plate captures and radiates enough energy to interfere with the neighboring sensor when the ambient temperature is high and the sun is shining. Not sure if my car color (Sunset Orange) exacerbates the condition.

As a test I fashioned a cardboard backer for my plate and reinstalled the plate. I drove the car on a day with 100+ degree temps and the problem did not reappear.

So a heads-up if you A) Have PDC B) Have a shiny, unfinished metal surface on the back of your plate, and C) Plan to mount your plate near your PDC sensors. You might need to fashion a backer of some type for your front plate before you mount it in order to reduce the chance of PDC interference.

[ntj]

Thanks for chiming in ZeeJM. I'll keep an eye on this and report back if I experience any issues this summer. Although to be fair, I'm not exactly in a hot climate zone...