Spate of catalytic converter thefts lately.

Bigus

Be warned there's been a lot of theft of catalytic converters from vehicles with decent ground clearance in south Dublin in the past few weeks/days.

8 cats taken and cut off from parked van sales yard on greenhills road and a number taken from Jeeps in Marlay Park Car park specifically a Toyota Landcruiser.

Thieves targeting parked vans and jeeps with good ground clearance for ease of access and using a very efficient hand operated cutting tool.

No easy solution apart from being aware or perhaps putting an aftermarket guard to slow access to cat. Victims only become aware of theft when jeep or van is started with hole in exhaust noise.
Possible solution

Wibbs

I'd worry about heat buildup behind that panel or would this be an actual issue?

Bloody scum, now they're lopping bits off cars if they can't steal them? FFS. :mad:

I've read on US forums about an issue of cars being stripped of things like their HID lights and other things. Some were reduced to near shells when the owners came back. Makes sense if you're stealing cars to order for parts. If you can't bypass the modern built in immobilisers, you may as well strip the car of the valuable components you're after anyway.

This was/is happening in car parks at shopping centres, tourist sightseeing places(Here Glendalough car park used to be well dodgy for theft) and especially cinema car parks. The latter are a bloody charm for the scum, doubly so at night, as they know the owners are gone for the near two hours of a film. Plus they're rarely heavily patrolled and CCTV coverage can be hit and miss.

Luckily my yoke is lower than a snakes mickey so they'd need a jack and their attempt would set off my various alarm sensors(proximity, shock and tilt) and all hell would break loose, likely before they'd even position the jack. In most cases that would make them scurry back to their burrows.

djimi

Wibbs wrote: »

Bloody scum, now they're lopping bits off cars if they can't steal them? FFS. :mad:

Sadly its not really a new issue. Wasnt it a problem a couple of years back where people, especially in jeeps, were coming back to find their spare wheel missing? Ive heard plenty of stories of people coming back to find body parts gone AWOL.

dgt

Good luck most of my yokes are decatted

corkgsxr

dgt wrote: »

Good luck most of my yokes are decatted

But but think of the little children and kittens your killing while you have a vastly improved engine. I know you cant see any disadvantages whatsoever but think of the kittens

Caliden

The real robbery is the cost of buying a new/replacement catalytic converter.

MetzgerMeister

Wibbs wrote: »

Bloody scum, now they're lopping bits off cars if they can't steal them? FFS. :mad:

There's precious metals in catalytic converters - platinum, palladium and rhodium. They are worth a fair bit hence why the cats are targeted.

Wibbs

I'd say it's far more likely the scum are selling them on secondhand rather than melting them down for rare earth minerals. As Caliden points out they can be crazy money to buy new. I needed one to pass an NCT a few years back and IIRC the dealers wanted 400 odd quid. Something daft anyway(and a generic motor factors one wasn't much better and would have needed tweaking to fit) so I got a secondhand one from a guy on a UK speciality forum for 50 quid. It seems a lot of them over yonder de cat their systems so they're handy enough to get. Works fine to this day.

Dravokivich

corkgsxr wrote: »

But but think of the little children and kittens your killing while you have a vastly improved engine. I know you cant see any disadvantages whatsoever but think of the kittens

You may have just given me an incentive to get off my public transport peasant ass and start getting into driving. If only for the suffering of those sweet kittens!

dgt

corkgsxr wrote: »

But but think of the little children and kittens your killing while you have a vastly improved engine. I know you cant see any disadvantages whatsoever but think of the kittens

Meh I can live with that I can be a heartless cnut at times :pac:

I do like kittens though

Bigus

Three landcruiser s at least were done in Marlay park main carpark near the big house .
Going To go with straight through pipe replacement, no point in putting one back on for them to take again.
Apparently with low smoke additive it'll pass the test.

We'll see.

djimi

Bigus wrote: »

Apparently with low smoke additive it'll pass the test.

Would it be that simple? Ive seen people try to put de-catted cars through the NCT (admittedly Japanese performance cars) and they were a million miles away from passing on emissions without the cat.

Bigus

Yeah but its diesel, worth chancing the 28 euro retest fee, and unlike petrol there's no after cat lambda probe to throw on the engine light.

corkgsxr

I cant wait to do the trafic. Its just a balls to get at

dougie-lampkin

djimi wrote: »

Would it be that simple? Ive seen people try to put de-catted cars through the NCT (admittedly Japanese performance cars) and they were a million miles away from passing on emissions without the cat.

A cat on a diesel car doesn't affect smoke. You'd have the same readings with and without a cat. I decatted a 1.8 tddi Focus and it made it pick up a little quicker. It still sailed through the NCT smoke test, 0.1 out of 3.0 smokes If anything a cat is just another place for soot to accumulate at low speed and then to create a big ball of smoke when you floor it.

And a petrol car can still pass an NCT without a cat, I put a pre-94 car through with a decat and it was well under the limits. I posted the before and after NCT sheets here : http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=74837351&postcount=14

OldmanMondeo

Watched a programme before about cat's being nicked. Very hard to do quick and quite.

corkgsxr

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

Watched a programme before about cat's being nicked. Very hard to do quick and quite.

would ya stop 6 inch battery grinder with inox blades would have it out in a minute and minamal noise

dgt

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

Watched a programme before about cat's being nicked. Very hard to do quick and quite.

That's what they want you to think....

Bigus

dgt wrote: »

That's what they want you to think....

no its very easy with a special hand tool developed for scrap yards

dgt

Bigus wrote: »

no its very easy with a special hand tool developed for scrap yards

That was my point!!! :pac:

congo_90

funny because the other day i seen an ad on DD for buying cats back.
Imo would they not start patrolling scrap yards and hit old cars and feck off from our own!
My car is alarmed but has a bit of ground clearance and wouldn't take too much to persuade up. Only saving grace is the alarm is notoriously loud and it's parked up outside my house/ in direct view in work.

Do scummers still steal wheels?

dgt

congo_90 wrote: »

Imo would they not start patrolling scrap yards and hit old cars and feck off from our own!

In most places they're cut off asap and stored away from prying eyes

delly

congo_90 wrote: »

Do scummers still steal wheels?

Yes unfortunately. I know of a main dealers that had a number of complete sets stolen recently. Leaving a brand new car on its brake disks :mad:

congo_90

delly wrote: »

Yes unfortunately. I know of a main dealers that had a number of complete sets stolen recently. Leaving a brand new car on its brake disks :mad:

jesus thats rough! Whatever about a nice car with aftermarket wheels. A quick check on a dealer site shows the price of alloys! :eek:

sorry to de-rail thread

Back to rabbling about cats.

Is there any feasible prevention other than a big ass steel sheet across the entire bottom of the car?

goz83

Its not just the cost of replacing the cat, because they are not undoing the bolts, it means you have to get the exhaust pipes repaired, or more likely replaced.

endacl

dgt wrote: »

at times :pac:

I do like kittens though

Me too, but they're very 'more-ish'. One won't fill you, and you can never finish the second.

dgt

endacl wrote: »

Me too, but they're very 'more-ish'. One won't fill you, and you can never finish the second.

That's where juvenile cats come in. Not as big as an adult but more filling than a kitten and all the tenderness.... Win win!

randy hickey

This cat theft crime wave came up on the Joe Duffy Show last week or the week before.
Some bloke was on about his cat being cut off from his LC in the middle of a full Omni Centre carpark in Santry in the broad daylight of an early afternoon!

Think of all the copper theft over the last few years - well there's even bigger money to be made per tonne of "scrap" cats, because of the precious metals previously mentioned.

A full Garda background check should be mandatory for anybody buying a cordless grinder!!:D

endacl

randy hickey wrote: »

A full Garda background check should be mandatory for anybody buying a cordless grinder!!:D

Good idea. NOT :rolleyes:

We'd have to pay to have clamps removed then.

randy hickey

endacl wrote: »

Good idea. NOT :rolleyes:

We'd have to pay to have clamps removed then.

The albeit tongue in cheek suggestion was to keep cordless grinders out of the hands of criminals, not ordinary, decent folk.

:rolleyes:Right back atcha!

Toyotafanboi

i can sleep easy in the knowledge that my car is too low to get a trolley jack under so my cat is most likely safe

ikarie

Talking to a chap yesterday who's catalytic converter was cut out of his jeep in a busy car park, it seems two other jeeps were also hit and another seven in the local area!.
He said the investigating Garda had spoken of an epidemic of these kinds of theft as the thieves are after the expensive platinum content of the converters.
Watch were you park.

dgt

Tis old news but good to keep emphasising that fact.

On some jeeps you can see the cat its due to their height

knifey_spoonie

Its a huge issue at the Minute, Landcruisers are being targeted big time, Its got to the stage where its taking 6-8 weeks to get a new Cat. Insurance companies are paying out on claims but its still a nuisance.

visual

On mine the cat is very visible. There's enough clearance to do oil and filter change without lifting.

Where was the latest cat attack.

I wonder is it the SWB low roof transit van gang ?

For the amount of road tax I pay I want a garda to sit in the back minding it 24/7

Bpmull

I didn't think cats were that valuable used. We have one sitting in the garage is there anywhere that buys used cats.

pred racer

Bpmull wrote: »

I didn't think cats were that valuable used. We have one sitting in the garage is there anywhere that buys used cats.

A quick google throws up these guys


http://www.cata-lytic.com/buying.html

smoking_kills

Bpmull wrote: »

I didn't think cats were that valuable used. We have one sitting in the garage is there anywhere that buys used cats.

I know they have Platinum in them which I believe worth a bomb. But I cant imagine its that easy if at all possible to retrieve it from an old cat???

My cat went before my NCT this year. 850e from Audi, before fitting, and there 2 of them under there....

pred racer

smoking_kills wrote: »

I know they have Platinum in them which I believe worth a bomb. But I cant imagine its that easy if at all possible to retrieve it from an old cat???

My cat went before my NCT this year. 850e from Audi, before fitting, and there 2 of the under there....

Platinum, palladium, rhodium, cerium, iron, mangenese and depending where the car comes from possibly nickel or copper.

They can be ceramic/metallic (normal cheapo cat)
More expensive ones for sports cars etc have purely metallic ones which are worth more.

If you have enough of them its worth retrieving it.

Victor Meldrew

visual wrote: »

I wonder is it the SWB low roof transit van gang ?

LOL Great euphemism

Truckermal

Trucks are the same too, I know the newest models have Platinum in the stack exhausts ans are over 2k to replace.

Davidth88

My brother has had his Cat stolen off his Mercedes Sprinter van 3 times now !

It's 2 or 3 bolts and it drops out , apparently Sprinters are very easy.

He has now had a cage fitted over it.

keithclancy

Just cover it in thermal glue and cut glass.

Should give them a nasty surprise.

washman3

There's a spate of thefts around Limerick City and county at the moment.
Heard that 8 were stolen from a factory car park yesterday in broad daylight while the owners were inside at work. Same factory had been targeted only last week but the thieves were disturbed and left with 2 or 3. Hospitals, hotels and shopping centre car parks are being targeted.

Hellrazer

Suppose another one to add to this thread is that the little scummers are stealing spare wheels from Transits(well any model really with the spare wheel up under the rear bumper)

Cutting the cable that holds them up and making off with them.

YouTookMyName

The worst is when they are stupid enough to cut off a decat pipe.

Basil Fawlty

Happens with Range Rovers and Discovery IIIs onwards too. Wheel is cable mounted also.

Moby

Warning three cats stolen from Sprinters in Kilnamanagh Tallaght in last 2 weeks on same road

SleeperService

washman3 wrote: »

There's a spate of thefts around Limerick City and county at the moment.
Heard that 8 were stolen from a factory car park yesterday in broad daylight while the owners were inside at work. Same factory had been targeted only last week but the thieves were disturbed and left with 2 or 3. Hospitals, hotels and shopping centre car parks are being targeted.

3 done yesterday in daylight hours in Shannon. Landcruisers and a hilux.

washman3

SleeperService wrote: »

3 done yesterday in daylight hours in Shannon. Landcruisers and a hilux.

At the airport or at a factory.?

SleeperService

washman3 wrote: »

At the airport or at a factory.?

Smithstown, various locations. Workplaces I think. With their penchant for travel I'd say anywhere in the vicinity could be viable...