Hammerli

So I searched and found that this problem has been discussed before, but strangely not for a long time. Went to put the new sticker on the plate last night, and as I use the Weather Tech full cover, have to pull plate to do so. Of course one of the nutserts spun, serious PITA. Last thread said $130 to replace the frame, and at that point it feels like just asking for a recurrence given the terrible design. Someone mentioned a nylon nutsert worked, but never gave a part number or link. So I am thinking that if there is a quick off the shelf insert that works I'll go that route, otherwise it is break out the epoxy or fiberglass kit, and secure the nutserts more permanently. I just do not understand this design from Audi, it is pretty pathetic. While I like the concept of keeping the plate away from the body, you'd think after numerous failures of this rectangular slot and tiny nutsert, they would make an improvement!

So basically has anyone used an off the shelf (Lowes, Menards, Home Depot, True Value, etc.) fix, or do I start the rig job?

MP4.2+6.0

MY17? Was it broken when you went to pull off, or did you do it?

Is in, if dealer mucked it up when they put on a plate or dealer plastic self advertising or whatever, seems new enough to discuss w/ them.

Hammerli

Yes, MY17. Dealer put my plate on about a month ago, this is the first time I've had to take it off. I will take it up with them, but I am one of the weird people that take my plate off with some frequency to clear the salt from behind it, etc., so with this design I imagine that even being careful I may have future issues, so it may just be easier to come up with a permanent solution. I do not know if you have ever seen the Weather Tech plate covers, but they have a gasket around the perimeter that compresses against the mating surface, works really well, but you do have to tighten fasteners a little more than just a plate frame to get some compression of the seal.

tx170754

I'm not so sure what frame are you using but I've bought a silver one from AutoZone and fits perfectly with the Audi (dealer) provided screws

Hammerli

I was referring to the Audi "base" that is held to the car with 2 torx screws and adhesive strips. It has four captured nuts in rectangular slots, and is not a very robust design, and apparently this problem extends to other models as well, so maybe I'll try searching some other model forums as well.

pardz_late

i pulled that thing off (heated up with hair dryer and pulled off) because mine were all screwed up too...

i jb welded the original clips (that had fallen off) back in place [around the perimeter] thinking they won't come off anymore*

But I just got my new registration sticker, so we'll see if it works when i put it on in the next few days.

101/105guy

I'm a new member, but also noticed this on the rear plate mount. Steel (metric) captive nuts and steel machine screws are an invitation to rust! I may check with my local "Ace Hardware" for a nylon replacement. A spray of metal protectant on both sides would slow the rot and may be enough here in Sunny SoCal !!

A8L_New_England

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https://www.ebay.com/itm/264875519437 $10
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09S5

I purchase this off of eBay for my 17.

eBay item number:363043969016

madlife

I'm dealing with this misery now too. Problem seems to be rusty threads cause that nut to spin with the screw and the plastic backing isn't strong enough to hold it in place. I'm sure some anti-sieze would have helped, but it is such a short screw.

Throwing this out there...... Those backing nuts look a lot like the backing nuts used on datacenter server racks. I don't know if the sizes are different as I couldn't get my plastic backing plate off (I learned its has adhesive), but I'm gonna grab a handful of them from work to try. We only have a few thousand sitting in a box that hasn't been touched since the last data center refresh. And then we have a few thousand plus a few hundred.