I took my plates off my car and into the MTO today. the white layer and blue lettering were lifting off the metal.

The clerk called somewhere and the plates were deemed defective. I received a new set of plates at no cost to me.

FYI should your plates be doing the same thing.

License plates in Ontario come with a 5 year warranty. They can be replaced at no cost as long as the damage is considered a defect.

Apparently, old plates used a slower process where the aluminum was painted on directly and baked on. The new process involves printing the plate on reflective vinyl sheets and it's adhered to the aluminum plate. They can print more plates this way because they don't have to wait for them to dry. They started this about 10 years ago which is why you notice tons of vehicles with peeling plates now a days.

A lot of states in the USA have moved to this process too and have had the same issues. Not all states use raised lettering anymore, but states that do were more prone to peeling. The edges around the letters and numbers create a weak point in the sheet where daily weather can find its way in and under.

Not always. My plates peeled badly and I took them to the MTO and they checked a database and said that mine were not within a recognized defective batch and I had to pay to replace them....and they were only 2 years old.