Stealing car wheels

KTRIC

I was in the UGC car park last night and I happen to notice a really nice Focus saloon with its back end sitting on the ground. When I got closer I seen that the back wheels had been stolen and the car was literally just droped onto the polished concrete with the springs dug in.
I grew up on the Northside of Dublin in the early eighties and I heard about wheels getting robbed if they were nice and the cars being left on bricks but I thought this was such a horrible thing to do to someones car. The wheels were actually just black metal ones, nothing fancy.
Just thought I'd warn you all , time to get those locking bolts installed. :mad:

fletch

One of the first things I bought when I got my car was lockin wheel nuts....it wouldn't be so bad if they didn't just drop the car on the concrete cause that could fcjk up all manner of things

KTRIC

fletch wrote:

.it wouldn't be so bad if they didn't just drop the car on the concrete cause that could fcjk up all manner of things

I know what you mean, it's one thing taking someones wheels, granted it's not the end of the world and they can be replaced easily without any fuss, but dropping the car onto the ground could f*ck up loads of sh!t.

shayser

fletch wrote:

One of the first things I bought when I got my car was lockin wheel nuts....it wouldn't be so bad if they didn't just drop the car on the concrete cause that could fcjk up all manner of things

I put two sets of lockin wheel nuts on mine, hope that's enough, carry the keys on my keyring.

fletch

shayser wrote:

I put two sets of lockin wheel nuts on mine, hope that's enough, carry the keys on my keyring.

I was thinking of getting another set......jeez that must add some bulk to your set of keys!
One thing to note, don't lose the key, my Dad had to get all four alloy wheels drilled off his old car 'cause the garage lost the key & supposedly couldn't reproduce them! (I learned his lesson & my locking nuts come with a special code you can send of and get duplicate keys made...handy!)

5500

Two sets of locknuts per wheel is not reccomended,the nuts themselfs dont lock on as tight as a standard nut,you could risk having a shakey wheel with two sets on.

Another thing about them is if you really want to get it off you will,id lost the adapter nut on mine before and i just whacked a smaller socket onto the locknut and it was off.

I think the best ones are the mcgaurd ones but again there fairly easy to remove,so much to the extent i got an added tilt sensor on my car alarm so as soon as a jack goes under it goes off

Big Nelly

Swore I would never get lock nuts again on a car....had them on my old Primera cause when I bought the alloys for them they where very expensive....anyway kept the key in the bag with rest of stuff for taking off tyres....but of course the gear box started to go on car so got mate to get second hand one...day he goes to install the key is gone....2 weeks later of ringing around and contacting Nissan garage(Nissan alloys and nuts) I finally got a garage over beside airport with the set to take them off....went over.....5 mins and off.....but 2 weeks waiting so cost extra to get gear box installed :mad:

Anyway I havent heard or seen this in a long time...when I was young lived on North side for a while and heard and seen car with tyres taken off(not many mind you compared to the stories you would hear) and mostly these where cars with a nice set of alloys and thats why everyone started to get lock nuts....anyway these days with alloys so cheap* and on most new cars I thought this had more or less was now non existant.....

*Alloys these days are alot cheaper than what you paided for them in the 90's

ando

wow this still goes on, I haven't seen this for about 4 or 5 years. I taught the latest thing was steeling xenon headlights

fletch

ando wrote:

wow this still goes on, I haven't seen this for about 4 or 5 years. I taught the latest thing was steeling xenon headlights

My Dad had the bulbs outta his front fogs stolen!

shayser

ando wrote:

wow this still goes on, I haven't seen this for about 4 or 5 years. I taught the latest thing was steeling xenon headlights

Round here it's the steering wheels.. think it's for the airbags.

5500

ando wrote:

wow this still goes on, I haven't seen this for about 4 or 5 years. I taught the latest thing was steeling xenon headlights

Yeah i think its more common than ever now,with there being a much larger selection of alloys available now than years ago(especially chromes) there seems to be a demand for them

mobby

I bought a set of 4 ( Ford ) Metal dust caps cost €2 for 4 in spain on me holidays this year to replace the normal black plastic ones, some sad bastard stole the 4 of them of me alloys one night last week, went to the bother of removing the 4 of them sad F***ker is all i can say.

Victor

K-TRIC wrote:

I grew up on the Northside of Dublin in the early eighties and I heard about wheels getting robbed if they were nice and the cars being left on bricks but I thought this was such a horrible thing to do to someones car.

Bricks are expensive these days.

FX Meister

Ma had 2 wheel trims robbed off her Fiesta one night.
Perhaps the wheels were robbed off the focus for an NCT?

LostinBlanch

Well I had my tax and NCT discs stolen, so I'd believe they'd steal anything.

Calibos

mobby wrote:

I bought a set of 4 ( Ford ) Metal dust caps cost €2 for 4 in spain on me holidays this year to replace the normal black plastic ones, some sad bastard stole the 4 of them of me alloys one night last week, went to the bother of removing the 4 of them sad F***ker is all i can say.

Kids rob them for their bikes. They trade them in school too like pokemon cards!

I never bought a set but had 4 free decent looking sets from unsold FastCar magazines. I already knew they were 'Collectors Items' and I put them on knowing full well that they wouldn't last long. All 4 sets were gone in the space of 10 days!! Actually caught a young lad in the process of getting them off. Came from behind and caught him by the scruff. Was surprised to find I had a scared 12yo posh kid in my grasp rather than a cocky obnoxious, johnny Blue smoking 12yo skanger.

fletch

mobby wrote:

I bought a set of 4 ( Ford ) Metal dust caps cost €2 for 4 in spain on me holidays this year to replace the normal black plastic ones, some sad bastard stole the 4 of them of me alloys one night last week, went to the bother of removing the 4 of them sad F***ker is all i can say.

Had mine robbed on 2 seperate occasions....so I got me some nice Richbrook anti-theft spinning caps from ebay for <€20....enjoyed one evening watching a little kid tryna to get them off cause they just keep spinning and spinning without the key.

blastman

I've had about three sets of metal dust caps stolen (not necessarily all at once) over the years. Those spinning ones sound like a good idea, fletch, any idea who the seller was?

Green_Martian

I was in my car when a kid tried to rob the last dust cover i had..........

Stupid kid didn't see me cos of the tinited windows, he walked by looking and admiring the lovely 17"rims i have and i thought he had left.

I just turned around to see him standing at the rear pas side wheel trying to screw it off. I opened the pasg door and let a roar the poor kid stood in shock and legged it back into mammy and daddy in MCDonalds......... It was so funny to see his reaction........ha ha ha

Seth Brundle

I have two sets of locknuts per wheel. Never had a problem with them loosening.

I also saw an article in a mag a few months ago where the baddies used something to cut open the bootlid to remove a set of locknut 'keys' from the bootlid toolkit. They were half way through the job when disturbed. The boot still looked like an old tim opener was at it.

fletch

blastman wrote:

I've had about three sets of metal dust caps stolen (not necessarily all at once) over the years. Those spinning ones sound like a good idea, fletch, any idea who the seller was?

Yeh here's the guys I bought em off...rockshore
No problems with payment, delivery etc.

fletch

eireal wrote:

Two sets of locknuts per wheel is not reccomended,the nuts themselfs dont lock on as tight as a standard nut,you could risk having a shakey wheel with two sets on.

What are you talking about??? I torque all my nuts to the correct pressure so they are all the exact same tightness...if anything the locking wheel nut is made of a better material than the standard ones