Stop someone stealing wheels?

colm_c

On the street where my apartment is, there's now been two cars in two weeks with all four wheels stolen, and the car left on the ground.

Neither were alloy wheels, just bog standard ones with covers, and the cars were average, polo and a mazda 6.

My car is parked in the same area and I'm getting a little worried this will happen to mine!

I do have fiat alloys that came with the car, which are probably not as easy to sell on as standard wheels or a more popular alloy.

Is there anything that can be done on my end, without parking somewhere else?

There are about 20-30 cars parked in this area at any time.

colm_mcm

locking wheel nuts are the answer. McGard do good ones.

Locking wheel nuts, one per wheel, I hate them but if wheels are being robbed they will deter thieves. Recently had to have them removed from a car as the key was mullered, two came off with a tool thing the garage had the other two had to be welded to a bar then torqued off.

20 or 30 euro I think should get you some, ebay may be your friend for them

Edit, colm mcm beat me to it.

Also if there is a kerb on the street absolutely cling your car to it, that makes two of the wheels fairly hard to take. If no kerb cling one wheel to a lampost etc, make it hard for them to take one or two of the wheels and they may leave your car alone. Never know with these types though.

colm_c

RoverJames wrote: »

Locking wheel nuts, one per wheel, I hate them but if wheels are being robbed they will deter thieves. Recently had to have them removed from a car as the key was mullered, two came off with a tool thing the garage had the other two had to be welded to a bar then torqued off.

20 or 30 euro I think should get you some, ebay may be your friend for them

Edit, colm mcm beat me to it.

Also if there is a kerb on the street absolutely cling your car to it, that makes two of the wheels fairly hard to take.

Cheers, I think I'll get a set, parking is front or rear facing the curb unfortunately.

colm_c

colm_c wrote: »

Cheers, I think I'll get a set, parking is front or rear facing the curb unfortunately.

mmm, as an interim potential aid until you get the locking wheel nuts it may be any idea to liase with a neighbour so ye park ye're cars incredibly close together (passenger door to passenger door). That makes two wheels from each car fairly impossible to take unless they move one car. Possibly OTT though

Anan1

Just remember that everyone carries the key for the locking nuts somewhere in the car, a point which has no doubt occurred to the thieves.

colm_c

Anan1 wrote: »

Just remember that everyone carries the key for the locking nuts somewhere in the car, a point which has no doubt occurred to the thieves.

Good point, I'll try to put them somewhere hard to find.

corktina

colm_c wrote: »

Good point, I'll try to put them somewhere hard to find.

that wont help you mend a broken window.....

Theta

Preempt - Just take your own wheels off at night and bring them in!

I didnt really think anyone stole wheels anymore.

And as a matter of interest are they leaving blocks or anything under the cars?

Anan1

Anan1 wrote: »

Just remember that everyone carries the key for the locking nuts somewhere in the car, a point which has no doubt occurred to the thieves.

corktina wrote: »

that wont help you mend a broken window.....

The locking nuts are a deterrant, that is all.

rebel.ranter

Easier to move on the next car without locking nuts than risk setting off a car alarm.

mickdw

Recession must be really taking hold if they are stealing steel wheels now. For the tyres I guess?

Midnight_EG

I'm so worried about my wheels I have 4 lock nuts on each wheel

colm_mcm

I hope you're joking.

Theta

colm_mcm wrote: »

I hope you're joking.

So do I!

Midnight_EG

colm_mcm wrote: »

I hope you're joking.

Theta wrote: »

So do I!

Nope, I wanted red wheel nuts for a reason, and the only ones within budget I could find were lock nuts, which I was also looking for. I came to a deal with the seller about 4 sets of them for a cheap price so I got them

Here they are on the wheels

colm_mcm

can you torque lock nuts as tight as regular nuts?

T-Maxx

colm_c wrote: »

Good point, I'll try to put them somewhere hard to find.

corktina wrote: »

that wont help you mend a broken window.....

Or change the flat if they're at home somewhere...

Midnight_EG

colm_mcm wrote: »

can you torque lock nuts as tight as regular nuts?

They're not the kind you'd find on manufacturers cars. These have irregular notches cut into the outside of the nut and the overall piece is round, so there's no edges for that a regular 'head' could catch onto.

Only way to get em off is with the keys or by welding then torquing

Overature

find a window that looks on to the street and get a hunting rifle, nuff said

colm_c

Theta wrote: »

Preempt - Just take your own wheels off at night and bring them in!

I didnt really think anyone stole wheels anymore.

And as a matter of interest are they leaving blocks or anything under the cars?

No blocks, just left the car sitting on the brake disks!

I've never heard of any crime in the area until this.

Midnight_EG

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Nope, I wanted red wheel nuts for a reason, and the only ones within budget I could find were lock nuts,

This crowd are very reasonable if you fancy normal red nuts as opposed to the locking ones. I would reckon the locking ones are very difficult to torque to the required degree.

http://www.silverstormai.com/

Midnight_EG

RoverJames wrote: »

This crowd are very reasonable if you fancy normal red nuts as opposed to the locking ones. I would reckon the locking ones are very difficult to torque to the required degree.

http://www.silverstormai.com/

These are the ones I have. Cheaper at the time also.

alexmcred

They don't look that hard to remove EG tbh

dceire

I got a set of these a while back & stuck one on each wheel.

Had a bit of a coming together with a kerb in a housing estate during the bad weather over christmas & when I went to change the tyre I noticed that the nut itself had a small crack in it that made the key useless. I'm still not sure if it broke because of the collision or because it had been tightened too much when the tyres were done last & the force of taking it off broke it.

Anyway, I ended up taking it off myself using a socket that was slightly bigger than the lock nut. Hammered it on and took it off in a few minutes. Proving that they're not fool proof, even without a key, but at least it'd slow them down a bit and they'd cause a hell of a racket in doing so.

Midnight_EG

dceire wrote: »

I got a set of these a while back & stuck one on each wheel.

Had a bit of a coming together with a kerb in a housing estate during the bad weather over christmas & when I went to change the tyre I noticed that the nut itself had a small crack in it that made the key useless. I'm still not sure if it broke because of the collision or because it had been tightened too much when the tyres were done last & the force of taking it off broke it.

Anyway, I ended up taking it off myself using a socket that was slightly bigger than the lock nut. Hammered it on and took it off in a few minutes. Proving that they're not fool proof, even without a key, but at least it'd slow them down a bit and they'd cause a hell of a racket in doing so.

The whole reason I have 4 on each wheel


And yeah, they're pretty hard to get off, a mate had them and he had to weld a longer bolt onto it and drive that out


So times 16 and ye're spending a good while trying to get my wheels :P

Hagar

Just clean up the nameplate on the wheels so that the word Fiat is clearly visible. Simples.

Mycroft H

Steel wheels?

No one is going to rob them......

colm_mcm

locking wheelnuts not much good on steel wheels. the OP has alloys though and his neighbours steel wheels have been stolen.

dirtydiesel

You could smear dog ****e on the nuts every night! a bit extreme but should deter the thieves!!

Mycroft H

colm_mcm wrote: »

locking wheelnuts not much good on steel wheels. the OP has alloys though and his neighbours steel wheels have been stolen.

hmmmm i was just thinking that they were worth buttons compared to a decent set of alloys

And surely someone who is stealing wheels would have one of the special unlocking nuts.... I got one in the motor factors when we lost the origional, so they are easily sourced