Ambitious Thieves !!

In reply to 914Driver:

This reminds me, post your cordless impact black Friday deals in this thread

I'd be looking for an out of work NASCAR pit crew.

Wow we had a used car dealer lose wheels and converters off 18 cars a few years ago when scrap was way up. But never seen anything like this on a new car lot.

Someone tried to steal the wheels of a friends car one night outside our house. They were interrupted and left behind two really nice hydraulic jacks one of which I still have.

Damn. I just missed a helluva opportunity.

I threw away hundreds of brand new never been used OEM wheels in the last few months.

The dealership I am working at had a mountain of them gathered from over the years- they upsell the wheels on new vehicles (especially trucks), but never had anyone to sell the original basic factory wheels to. They considered them scrap, and asked me to dispose of them.

Had this happen to a mitsu dealership in VA. All the evo's were sitting on blocks.

$300K would include lug nuts and labor and on and on and on.

I had a 200sx with spline drive nuts on the wheels, and I forgot to lock it one day. It was parked overnight in front of the shop door, and next morning I noticed that the car was sitting there, happy as a little clam, with 16 missing nuts, and the spline drive socket gone from the glovebox.

I'm sure the thief laughed himself to sleep that night thinking of me moving the car and having all the wheels fall off.

mad_machine wrote: I can believe the numbers. Years and years ago I looked to the dealer to get the optional aluminum rims for my Tiburon. The price they quoted me was jaw dropping.. we are talking close to 500 a wheel... for a small 15" rim I got a set of Enkei 16s for the price of one OEM

In about 1983, I checked the price on the 15" Z28 wheels on my car, and at that time they were over $400.

Not the first time, another Chevy dealer in Texas was hit back in April. They cited only higher end vehicles were hit.

http://www.ksat.com/news/thieves-steal-wheels-from-20-trucks-at-local-car-dealership

In pics from Seguin it appears thieves used similar wooden blocks but many trucks were sitting on rotors as if dropped on the ground. That'll add up.

I'm almost impressed by the speed of their work. Probably a rough morning for those working there though.

I'm not impressed at all.

Five guys and five hours: 25 man-hours. They managed 45 vehicles in that time, which is more than a half hour per car. I wouldn't want them on my race team. I think we could do a complete tire change in 45 seconds at the Thunderhill 25. Now, let's assume no impact guns to keep things quiet - but still. 30 minutes for four wheels, removal only? Slack.

Any chance these could be going overseas for some reason?

when i washed cars at a toyota dealership we had every catalytic converter cut out from every tundra (~20) on the lot one night. I thought they sounded pretty good with open headers, the owner didnt think so...

El Cheapo wrote: In reply to Nick (LUCAS) Comstock: $300,000/180 = $1666.00 per wheel... Sompthing ain't right with their maths.

New OE wheels are shockingly expensive, plus add tires, TPMS, and labor. That sounds about right averaging for car and trucks.

A place where I used to work sold a LOT of aftermarket wheels for DSM guys, because they bent wheels like nothing else, and two wheels bent was the price breakpoint to just get four aftermarket wheels.

I'll bet if they check the local craigslist they can get a better deal

Wall-e wrote: I'm surprised they bothered with the blocks. When I was a kid I saw a couple kids steal the wheels off a car without a jack. They pulled all the lug nuts off and shook the car side to side until the wheels fell off.

When I was in high school somebody stole the Crager mags off a 67 GTO in the parking lot of a textile mill I later worked at. They dropped it to the ground and bent the frame. There was even a guard house not far away.

Keith Tanner wrote: I'm not impressed at all. Five guys and five hours: 25 man-hours. They managed 45 vehicles in that time, which is more than a half hour per car. I wouldn't want them on my race team. I think we could do a complete tire change in 45 seconds at the Thunderhill 25. Now, let's assume no impact guns to keep things quiet - but still. 30 minutes for four wheels, removal only? Slack.

From the number of heavier trucks (8 lug wheels torqued to eleventy billion ft-lb) and having to block up the vehicles before moving to the next one, I'll be suitably impressed.

Imagine if they put that work ethic towards something productive instead of stealing from the dealership... which would be covered by the insurance company... which means we're all paying for it.

kazoospec wrote: I wonder if the stealership can still sell them as "new" with major components removed/replaced?

I know in MA if a new car has more than $1,000 in damage after it has a VIN assigned it can not legally be sold as a new car.

In reply to SVreX:

Did you try to sell them here first?

Knurled wrote: Imagine if they put that work ethic towards something productive instead of stealing from the dealership... which would be covered by the insurance company... which means we're all paying for it.

Work ethic alone won't get you anywhere these days, there isn't much demand for it.