car security and parking

mustang68

I've moved to a new house and its in an estate away from a main road, there is a green in front of the house, I don't have a driveway, but I can usually get a parking place in front of the house, they are still bulding behind me, so there is still a steady stream of construction traffic. On Sunday I moved the Mustang to the new house. Thing is is that I'm a little nervous, I have a very good alarm, but we have had a few episodes in the estate; my hubcaps went missing off my daily driver :mad: , someone tried to take an "abandoned" car (turned out someione in one of the houses owned it!) and as I looked out Yesterday, two guys drove in, parked beside the car, spotted me looking out the window and drove out again :eek:

What are your collective thoughts on this ?

8~)

My opinion is that no-one is going to steal the car outright because it's that bit too obvious if spotted.

If anything happens it will have something taken off it or be keyed. This can be more hassle than having a car stolen because you still have the car and have to fix it!

One other thing I've noticed is that housing estates under construction attract thieving types because there's stuff left lying around and so much traffic coming and going that one more van is not that noticable.

The two guys might just have been admiring the car, BTW.
However, is there somewhere more quiet you can store it?

1275gt

ive been there bought the tshirt mate. its a horrible situation to be in. best thing you can do is try get your neighbours on board, try drum up some sort of neighbourhood watching. you'd be surprised how many people are afraid to talk to thier neighbours about stuff like that - afterall, it effects everyone in some shape or form having scrotebags hanging around. what sort of visual deterrant do you have on the stang?? big dirty assed chain is usually good, and i know somebody whos bought themselves a clamp and swears by it. you just gotta make the scummers feel like they are being watched and its not easy pickings,

mustang68

Seems like I'm going to go for prevention:

• get a big chain/arm on the wheel
• Actually put the alarm stickers on the windows
• Fix the flashing red light thingy for the alarm

The next door neighbours are keeping an eye on it for me, thing about new estates is that there are alarms going off all the time and no one knows anyone

The only other place I can put the car is at the other side of the city and i may as well not have the car as I can't drive/tinker with it when I want to.

Dades

Would the car be close enough to the house to point a camera at it?

Home CCTV cameras are dead cheap now and can be wired directly into your TV. I fitted one to the front of the house and put a yellow sign up on the gate saying "protected by CCTV".

mustang68

The Atheist wrote:

Would the car be close enough to the house to point a camera at it?

that was something I had considered, but I was going a bit oott, as I wanted to put in a camera connected to a pc, but the cost was a bit high. I will probably get a camera, mount it in the house's window looking out and put a big sign on the car

Dades

Maybe something like one of these might act as a deterent?

MercMad

I bought two cameras from eBay, wireless into the TV so no drilling or messing around. Worked perfectly with brilliant clarity and infra red night vision !

They cost about €20 each including delivery !!

Happy days !

Slinky>

You can get software webcam xp and crime catcher which will take a snapshot when theres motion which is handy if something does go wrong,

Also I have disklok which is a disc which sits over the steering wheel which can rotate freely making it a lot harder to break off, This is tatcham approved and won a few awards in auto express. I would definitely reccomend it, You can get it in Argos.

Daxklynsmith

http://kalashnikov.guns.ru/photos/7.jpg

We found this works quite well in Africa

dubtom

I bought a cctv from aldi a while back, motion sensor, sounds an alarm when activated and atomatically switches the channel if hooked up to the tv, the sensor can be adjusted for distance, the only problem with it for you would be the distance from the car to the house, it going off every time someone passed would be a pain.I have a steering lock that I used to use in the Mustang, the new wheel I got is smaller so not a great fit, you can have it if it helps.

mustang68

dubtom wrote:

I have a steering lock that I used to use in the Mustang, the new wheel I got is smaller so not a great fit, you can have it if it helps.

Might take you up on that one dubtom, thank you for offering. Seems like the main thing is visual deterrent.

Cmar-Ireland

A snap-off steering wheel boss would be a good idea too. Take the steering wheel in with you. An alarm with perimeter protection is also good. It will go off before anyone even touches the car if they linger too close for too long.

When I had my jetski, I dug two deep holes and got some 60mm stainless tube bent into a U shape. I buried the tube under concrete and then secured the ski trailer with heavy duty chain and security padlocks. 12mm square profile hardned chainlink is not easy to cut!!

Maybe its a bit extreme, but something similar looped over the rear axle will keep your car where it belongs! Bit of a pain to remove when you want to drive it though....

The more mechanical deterents you have the better IMO....

mustang68

Cmar-Ireland wrote:

An alarm with perimeter protection is also good. It will go off before anyone even touches the car if they linger too close for too long.

I gave that a lot of thought, its not pratical as most of the people who walk past the car normally linger for too long ooooing and awing at the car

Cmar-Ireland wrote:

.....buried the tube under concrete and then secured the ski trailer with heavy duty chain and security padlocks. 12mm square profile hardned chainlink is not easy to cut!!

problem with me is that I don't own the parking place so can't go digging holes

Like the idea of a removable steering wheel, will look into that, thanks for the ideas

Anan1

Cmar-Ireland wrote:

When I had my jetski, I dug two deep holes and got some 60mm stainless tube bent into a U shape. I buried the tube under concrete and then secured the ski trailer with heavy duty chain and security padlocks. 12mm square profile hardned chainlink is not easy to cut!!

Maybe its a bit extreme, but something similar looped over the rear axle will keep your car where it belongs! Bit of a pain to remove when you want to drive it though....

The only problem with that is that one day you will forget...;)

mustang68

When you're driving so much american muscle you'll find if you forget to undo the chain the only thing you'll notice is the next time you stop at lights you'll see a chunk of road stuck to your bumper

Cmar-Ireland

LOL......... yep, forgetting about it would be a problem!!!

dubtom

No problem 68, if your heading up to Mosney on Sunday I may see you there.

Eric318

I used to take the steering wheel off the Traction, then I figured something better: I leave the steering wheel, but I remove the half moon bit that connects it to the column... I will let you all work it our why this is better than showing no steering wheel.

You have to have at least 2 immobilising tricks and one of them being preferably not obvious to avoid determined thieves to come prepared. Taking the distributor head off is an obvious one, clamping the fuel line, taking the rotor arm off is also good. etc.

The tragedy is that if some gang really wants YOUR car, they will get it. A former girlfiend's uncle had a Merc 300 SL Gullwing in California, at the time when these fetched crazy prices. Thieves came with a chopper to lift the car out of the yard... it was worth their while. The machine was never found again and insurance only managed to get him a 300SL convertible...

Id say that you want to keep opportunity thieves away, the joy riders. Befriending neighbours and the local gangs works well. In an other life in London I lived on a council estate in London and parked my motorbike and the Jag there... !!! At first I tried to keep the kids from playing with the machines, setting the alarms off and stuff, you know... did not work. They were a pain. Then I took them for rides... explained how the engines worked, spent time with them, helped them fix their bikes with my toolkit, they loved it, I became the local hero: nobody ever touched my machines again (other than them sitting on the bonnet and saddle, but hey...), they belonged to them as mush as to me and gangs from the other estates were kept away by free 24/7 watchbudies!! Cant beat that for security!

Good luck.

mustang68

What do ye all think of throwing a cover over the car as a deterrent?? Would it put someone aff, because they have to take off the cover, or would it attract more attention?

Don't think I'll be up to Mosney on sunday dubtom, probably the next will be terenure for me sure that we'll be out in the stangs before that though

Henry Ford III

You've ultimately got to get a garage. Your car will deteriorate outside even in the short term.

mustang68

Henry Ford III wrote:

You've ultimately got to get a garage. Your car will deteriorate outside even in the short term.

I have somewhere to put the car for the winter in a carcoon, so its not the deterioration that I'm worried about and during the summer even if its wet, it dries fast. I've been doing the leaving outside thing during the summer for three years and I've little/no rust on it

Cmar-Ireland

Car cover, wheel clamp, steering wheel lock (or removal) two or more point mechanical immoblisers and a good alarm........

That should keep everyone away, except for those thieves in the helicopter!!!:eek:

Seriously though, unless they want your specific type of car, they are not going to bother if you have that lot on it.

ambro25

mustang68 wrote:

What do ye all think of throwing a cover over the car as a deterrent?? Would it put someone aff, because they have to take off the cover, or would it attract more attention?

No, it wouldn't put off determined thieves (as amply posted above), but it would make you car less attractive/spottable/talked-about, and reduce the 'chances' somewhat - at the very least insofar as 'opportunistic' damage (or covetedness) is concerned.

I've been keeping my MX-5 under a breathable tarp for nearly a year now, and whilst I don't get as many strangers at the door wanting to buy it outright, I do sleep better at night (but then there's the factory immob, the volumetric/perimetric alarm and a few 'select' fuses missing - and the webcam/CCTV, nearly forgot about that one!). Don't forget to loop electrician's ties through the wheels to secure the cover (and let thieves know that it will take them that little bit longer to make off with it).

Not to mention how better for the chrome/paintwork as well (and saving quite a bit of elbow grease by not having to wash/wax/polish/etc. haf as often).

Eric318

If you put a cover, make sure you lock it. It is easier to steal than a whole car ...

qazz

I thought that only Poland was so dangerous I'm a little scared now :eek: because I'm thinking of buying some nice car in some time - corvette or camaro I hope nobody will take it from me...