i think one thing we'll all agree on is that GM got carried away with the design of the front tag bracket on the GMT400 models.
when i had my truck painted last fall, i asked the painter/body man to fill the top two holes on my smoothie bumper.. he asked ".. why leave the bottom two then?" I wanted a Plan B since Virginia is a front-plate state and at the time i didn't plan on running a front plate...until i got warned numerous times and finally ticketed for it. to the tune of $86 for the fine. I was hell bent on NOT using the stock bracket since it looks so boxie and bulky. I looked at different aftermarket mounting brackets but those would require drilling new holes in my newly painted bumper. Since i've shown the truck a few times (in Under Construction) and plan to show her in the future, i wanted a way to use the two stock mounting holes on the bottom and then take the bracket OFF for shows, then throw it back on later.
SO.......... I put my stock bracket (OE to the truck, for the record) on a diet via a ban saw... yes a ban saw. this could be done with a cut-off wheel and a steady hand, but i'm a klutz and my stepdad has a wood-working shop, so i sawed the devil down some.
first pic shows the front view: (the sides were cut off following the seam/line on each side, the top and bottom were cut along the line as well.
i was worried the top mounting "square" areas would rub the paint at highway speed (remember, the top bolt holes were filled...) so i cut those off as well.
back view:
side view:
later on, the bracket will be color matched. i think it will look better this way and not draw your attention to the black plastic bolted against the green bumper.
results:
the ban saw had a fine-tooth blade on it... which left minimal burring. I proceeded to remove the burrs with a table-mounted belt sander with fine grit paper.
front tags suck... but now i don't have such a bulky box displaying mine.
any questions, lemme know.. peace!
EDIT: wanted to say that cutting all that plastic away didn't weaken it in the least.
EDIT again: for the painted bumper guys... i put two rubber washers (the plumbing kind) between the bracket and the paint..then used stainless steel nuts/bolts/washers to reattach it.