I bought a 2010 Golf TDI (certified used) recently to replace my 2000 Golf TDI. The older Golf was still doing fine, but a 10 year old car without major problems is bound to develop some..... but that is another story.
The "new" Golf came with no front license bracket, apparently not required in NV where the car was previously registered. I have been lurking this forum and decided I was lucky that the bracket was not installed on the bumper. I investigated two commercial options, the gominigo.com tow-hitch receptacle off-set mount, and the Skene Design bracket. IMHO, both were more money than I wanted to pay, so I set out to design and build my own.
The finished installation:
Materials used:
4 - 3/4" X 1/2" Inside corner brackets (comes in a package with screws [not used] from Ace Hardware $2.49)
4 - Self tapping scews with hex heads ($.40 x 4 = $1.60)
4 - Pan head phillips bolts to hold the license to brackets (4 x $.80 = $3.20)
4 - Nylon insert lock nuts for the pan head bolts (4 pack for $.61)
1 - 1/16" X 1/2" X 3' aluminum stock (flat) for $2.32
Detail photo of the finished brackets: (Note: this photo shows the upper brackets only, the lower is identical.)
Construction notes:
1 - The self tapping screws came with neoprene spacers. I had to add a second on both the top and bottom brackets to create the necessary bracket hole vertical spacing to align with the existing holes in the license plate.
2 - Because of these spacers, make sure you have sufficiently long self tapping screws to grip properly. The holes were drilled vertically up and down into the bumper surface which is plastic only. Use caution not to over-tighten and strip out the plastic.
3 - The aluminum strip may not be necessary. My first idea was to use brackets only at the top, and the aluminum would provide stiffness, but once I added brackets at the bottom, that requirement went away, but I used the strips anyway.
My installation is very sturdy and was done in a couple of hours for a fraction of the cost of the commercial solutions.
SpadGuy