Last week I was helping a friend remove the license plate screws from his car. The screws were rusted and we snapped off 3 of the 4 screws. His new license plate is currently held on by 1 screw. This got me to thinking about the rusted screws on the back of my 2008 Rav4. I decided I would change them to stainless (I'm due for new tags in February). I managed to get one screw out, but the other would not budge. They are/were slotted -panhead screws.
Here is what I tried:
WD-40 - hard to get into the screw because the license plate is in the way.
Impact driver - never got a good bite. Screw head eventually stripped.
Hack saw blade to cut a better slot in the top of the screw.
Vice Grip pliers - the head of the screw is really flat and there is just not enough sticking up to grab.
Grabbit bit - this was a reverse threaded screw removal tool. I didin't work, and just left a hole in the screw head.
Drilling - I've never drilled a screw out before. I have started the process and now have a hole in the screw.
For drilling this out, do I just continue with larger bits until I remove all of the old screw material?
Is there some way to remove the rear interior door panel to access the back of the screw?
Is there a way to remove the exterior license plate panel? It seems to be its own plastic panel.
:wall
TIA
Here is what I tried:
WD-40 - hard to get into the screw because the license plate is in the way.
Impact driver - never got a good bite. Screw head eventually stripped.
Hack saw blade to cut a better slot in the top of the screw.
Vice Grip pliers - the head of the screw is really flat and there is just not enough sticking up to grab.
Grabbit bit - this was a reverse threaded screw removal tool. I didin't work, and just left a hole in the screw head.
Drilling - I've never drilled a screw out before. I have started the process and now have a hole in the screw.
For drilling this out, do I just continue with larger bits until I remove all of the old screw material?
Is there some way to remove the rear interior door panel to access the back of the screw?
Is there a way to remove the exterior license plate panel? It seems to be its own plastic panel.
:wall
TIA
