Literal epidemic of rims being stolen
 

Its an extremely infuriating situation. You go out to your beloved Z in the morning, only to find all the wheels missing and the **** left your car perched up on cinder blocks! :shakes head: Even more damage is discovered as the blocks have bent your rocker panels and scraped up your precious paint job.

A while ago I started coming across articles showing an epidemic of rims being stolen off cars. This got me worried because I realize my own 370z doesn't have any wheel locks. All of my research about wheel locks left me less than enthusiastic. There are few videos on wheel locks themselves, but there are several times the amount of videos on YouTube on how to defeat them which is annoying! I have a garage, so thankfully I already have some protection at night at home. What about people without a garage?

I'm curious to know what kind of wheel locks others have installed. Do they really work or can they just be "defeated" as shown in numerous videos on YouTube? Is it really worth it to install an upgraded car alarm if the thieves simply continue working and walk off with your precious rims, alarm blaring, but being ignored by irritated neighbors?

I put in an order for "Gorilla Automotive 63621 Standard Mag Gorilla Guard Locks" as it seemed the best fit for Rays sport package wheels that I can find on Amazon.

Some interesting videos on the issue:

you can use OEM nissan locks. it's better than nothing. as long as you have full coverage insurance it shouldn't be a problem if they get stolen. just use the cash to get whatever wheels you want.

i have aftermarket wheels so i can use aftermarket lugs. i have r40's with lockers.

Only wheels locks I need!!!

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...91535ED669.jpg

well they obviously steal them when you're not in the car so that wouldn't really be applicable.

also in places out here like California you'd go to jail for shooting anyone, unless you're a cop

Garaged and I'm in Georgia were its perfectly legal, especially on your own property.
Dogs here everything, they bark, guns come out and I bark too.................Very Loud

If you're parked on the street there's not a lot you can do to stop a thief - he/she has the tools and know-how to get in and get out quick. Either park in a garage (where you can protect it a la JC-Nismo*) or get plenty of insurance.


*If your state doesn't allow you to defend yourself and your property, we welcome newcomers here in AR. ;)

My wife caught someone last night at 3:30am in the morning by my car and truck. Don't know what they were after but they got a surprise. 50 dogs raising cain at the top of their lungs. She could barely see the car over our back yard fence. Car and truck were in the garage. You can't see much of anything from the road. I do not know what they were after, but they got a surprise when the back yard flood lights flipped on. We live out in the country, so to speak. Nobody comes to my house unless we know they are coming. They could only have been up to no good. Call the cops, yeah right. They were gone in 2 min. They better be glad I wasn't up. When you live out like we do, you are your own protection. Someone from the city would freak out with all the sounds of nature. Screech owls, coyotes, bobcats, pond scoggins, etc. Personal protection is not an issue at my house.

I've heard of Tracy Scoggins,

http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/p...Scoggins-3.jpg

That has to be the worst, to come outside in the morning and your car is on bricks in your own driveway or even worse and it's gone completely. I feel like this...... If you catch me on the street or a parking lot somewhere, then fair play, the streets are cold, but don't FUCKK with me at my home where my family rests cause if your bold enough sit in someone's driveway and steal there ****, then what else will they be bold enough to do next time.

So you have never heard of pond scoggins making their funky noise at 1:00am in the morning?

I don't think anyone has.

Indeed. :tup:

What about the new code grabbing technology? How does this alarm prevent that?

No, but I so does Tracy.:icon23:

Wheel locks are a must, IMO, to at least slow the thief down, even if they have a bag full of keys to try to get your set of locks off.

Bag it so they couldn't get under it if they tried ;)

Alarm system with a tilt sensor on it. If someone even leaned on it, it'd go off. I think they even make them that alert your iPhone when the alarm activates.

With electric impact wrenches and conical bolt extractors, pros can have the wheels off as fast as a NASCAR pit crew. Wheel locks, alarms, &c may stop a opportunistic thief but they won't even slow down the pros.

I honestly wondered how they were so effective doing it.

3 Simple things you can do to help deter wheel theives.
1. Park near the curb.
2. Turn your front wheels all the way to one direction.
3. Get a tilt sensor added to the stock alarm.

Wheel locks cause more harm then good, at best it addes 30sec per wheel for a thief. At worst your going to have to call a tow truck when you get a flat.

http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/...R/IMG_9003.jpg
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3719/9...48c401c1_c.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/nzalQ1G.jpg
http://www.2dayblog.com/images/2009/...enwheels_2.jpg

Ouch!!!!
My eyes are bleeding, True Blood style:(

Ha Ha! Here in Texas they'd give you a medal.

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Don't mess with Texas :driving:

These pics are pretty awful :(

Your best chance is to deter. Tilt-alarm is your first line of defense. The new Viper alarms are ridiculous and have all sorts of remote notification options. See attached screenshots straight from their website.

Second line of defense would be wheel locks. I don't know how many different keys Nissan has for wheel locks (I have encountered 3), but I would put as many different keys as I could on each wheel and use wheel locks on every lug.

It doesn't take a lock key to undo a wheel lock. Hammer on a socket that's sligtly smaller and twist off. Or, even easier, use an EZ OUT. One can put 20 different wheel locks on a Z and they wouldn't deter or even slow down a wheel thief.

I just installed Gorilla Guard Lock #63621 on my 19" Rays wheels (2014 Touring with Sports Package). The outer sleeve spins, so banging a smaller socket on it wouldn't work. I've heard people say, what about just super gluing the outer sleeve? Not sure if that would work, but at least it would give them a problem to deal with and potentially move on to an easier target.

Keeping my Z in the locked garage is the best option and I'm so glad I don't live in some kind of crappy apartment complex any longer. Those places are horrible and the land lords don't give a **** about anything other than collecting the rent. The police don't care either. Any time I've called them, they say they aren't going to investigate and you just file a paper report and forget about it. When you're a victim of car prowls, it's extremely infuriating.

Where do these guys sell all these wheels? Craigslist or something. I'd be looking for them just to beat the hell out of someone. Crazy

Sorry to tell you but those locks do not work properly with OEM wheels. I would take them off asap before you damage your wheels. You are not the first person to make that mistake.

http://www.the370z.com/wheels-tires/...kage-rays.html

Where is your documentation that they don't work? This thread seems to have people who've been using them fine.
http://www.the370z.com/wheels-tires/...kage-rays.html

You didn't read the thread then :rolleyes: I quoted Andrew's very first comment in that thread, as I have done again below. I'm sure there are a number of people who run them on the street and haven't experienced catastrophic failure. But that doesn't mean they are a proper fit :ugh:

Andrew has looked into this exact issue (aftermarket lugs/locks on OEM wheels) pretty damn thoroughly. And the fact of the matter is only the OEM lugs/locks fit the OEM wheels.

I trust Andrew :twocents:

Here's another Andrew quote from that thread:

The OEM locks are just the kind of thing every internet video shows you how to easily defeat. Just pound on a size too small socket and take it right off. The Gorilla is the only one that spins on the outer sleeve. I'm not completely convinced they aren't the right fit. I never experienced a case where when torquing it down, it just kept turning. I need to see for myself what is going on before I can fully comprehend what all the hoopla is about why they supposedly aren't the right fit. I understand there is something about the bent washer, but I haven't seen that in my case yet. You're not supposed to use an impact wrench with these, or crank them on super hard. Either of those could cause bent washers.

try it and let us know how it works.

Easily defeated with a gator grip socket. No wheel lock is sufficient as a primary defense. They are just an additional deterrent and 20 of them is more deterring than 5 :twocents:

:rolleyes:

But you haven't measured anything or compared them in a calculated manner to OEM lugs? So how do you know they fit properly? All I said was I trust Andrew. If you are interested, I'm sure he would be happy to discuss with you the experience that he has in this area. His phone number is all over this forum lol.

I will add that I've seen OEM wheel locks torqued down with an impact wrench way beyond the specified 85 ft-lbs (I swear it was closer to 150 ft-lbs) by a stupid tire guy :shakes head: and no bent washers. But I understand the design of the OEM lugs is different than the standard aftermarket options and why the washer will bend with these aftermarket locks if treated the same.

Does vivid sell those, and if so does it come in neochrome?

The reality is, just like any type of "security" all you can do is make the other guys car seem more appealing than yours. If someone wants *your* wheels they will get them.

Sorry only available in obnoxious school bus yellow :rofl2:

This guy...... If you use after market lugs on stock rims you're gonna rip the bolt right off. Trust us! Jesus how many times can people help u out and tell u b4 u find out the hard way and kill someone in an accident.


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