I've had it!

OK, that would cheese me the hell off. I cannot abide anymore messing with another man's car. Sorry you had to deal with this crap. Better yet hope you find the bastards. Those kinda look like landscaping blocks for doing flower beds.

Neighborhood watch, baseball bats, security lights, including one in the bedroom triggered by a motion sensor, and a big ass dog.

Sorry to hear it Eddie...I know the local crime element has been giving Tom a rough time lately. Some diligence and creative thinking will serve you well with this. Good luck man. I hope those bastards get what they have coming.

Cow fence or neon sign power supply. You will get a free jack :)

Make sure that it lights up and makes noise too so they don't have time to throw the cinder blocks thru your window. A motion camera would be cool so you can capture the look on the face of the first guy to get whacked like they have when you get off a roller coaster.

Adding obvious traps that could harm thieves = criminal charges for you.

Get security cameras, alarms, and signs.

Damn.

I'm sorry, man. That's staggeringly aggravating.

I really, really hope you can get some action out of the city, and/or arrive at a satisfying arrangement of your own device...

Man, that sux. Sorry to hear about this.

Chances are the thieves won't hit your 'hood again for a while since they have stirred up a hornet's nest. Locking lugs are a great idea, car alarms are a help particularly if 1) they have an easily visible blinking LED 2) have a vibration and glass breakage detector. Yeah, I know, alarms are useless yada yada yada but in the right setting they are a real good thing.

Here's the deal: the thieves are counting on silence and darkness. Remove those, the element of stealth is gone. For that reason be sure to use the 'flashing lights' feature too. Alarms are useless as tits on a boar hog in a mall parking lot etc but on a quiet suburban street oh yes they will make them think twice (that's what the LED is for also).

Don't even bother with the cheapie 2 wire 'voltage sensing' crap, by the time that thing goes off they are already in the car.

When you mount an alarm siren, pick a spot that's not easily accessed. A buddy had a system in a Ford van, the siren was behind the grille. Some kids reached through the grille and cut the wires, when he got outside the alarm was clicking like crazy but no sound. Wire a second siren inside the car, there are very few people who will stay inside with that thing blaring.

Think carefully before powering the alarm. If you run it off the fuse block in the car, then all they have to do is cut the positive battery cable and they can do whatever they want. It's easy to add a power distribution block or in some other way connect the alarm power directly to the battery terminals, that way if they cut the cable the alarm still works. That's how they disarm them; slide under the car, look for the cable going to the starter, cut it and see if the LED still blinks. No LED, no alarm, carry on.

If you really want to get fancy, you can wire in a small battery pack inside the car, i.e. give the alarm its own power source. It just needs to be wired so it gets recharged when the engine is running.

An alarm won't stop a pro. But it will scare off the amateur.

OBTW: currently the best stuff out there is made by a company called DEI (Directed Electronics Inc.) Most of their stuff is for pro installs, but there are some consumer grade versions too such as Viper. http://www.viper.com/ Avoid Clifford, Gorilla, Bulldog etc like the plague. Alpine used to make the absolute best stuff ever but they got out of the alarm market a while back.

OBTWOBTW: McGard makes the best wheel locks out there. They are not perfect, nothing is. But the lock nut itself is so hard and slick that the average goober will have a really hard time with the sacrificial socket. Even the special sockets sold by KD etc don't work real well on them. http://www.mcgard.com/ They won't stop a pro but the average idiot will spend a few minutes trying, then will generally give up and move on to the next car looking for easier pickings. Some of those jackoffs will bust the glass out etc because they are pissed they couldn't gank your crap. But, if they see that blinking LED they don't know for sure that the alarm won't go off.

So no damage to the Celica? Looks like the front was resting on the brake rotors.

Keyed lug nuts saved my wheels once, the car was parked at a tint shop in a bad neighborhood for a couple hours, they got one lug off, saw the locking lug and quit. They're not special wheels but they're rare and sought after for the look, and they'd be bloody hard for me to replace. If they were stolen I would have had to throw money away on a set of locally-sourced garbage tires to drive around on too.

They've tried for the stock 17s on my dad's X-trail too, I've been telling him he needs to get locking lugs.

Since you're being targeted so much get the better type that uses a cylindrical key and has a spinning outer portion, those can't be removed with the "sacrificial socket" method.

I understand this is about venting frustration and you probably dont want advice, but if you don't want it stolen get it off the street and out of public access. Talk to your neighbors and get rid of all the landscaping blocks up and down the street. Also make sure that your street is extremely well lit at night.

I have had a tracker( The Government Is Watching You ) on a thief's car as his crew stole wheels. It took less than a minute even with locking lug nuts. Officers were staged within a block and the ad guysthey had all of the wheels off and loaded when we moved in for the arrest.

Get a trail camera like hunters use. Not one of the fancy Infra-red jobs, just a cheap one that has an actual flash. Set it on the passenger seat leaning against the door and pointed at the driver side window.

Worked just fine for my neighbor. Not only kept his car form being hit for the third time but gave the cops a good enough picture that they could pick up the guy who was robbing cars in the neighborhood.

Hal wrote: Get a trail camera like hunters use. Not one of the fancy Infra-red jobs, just a cheap one that has an actual flash. Set it on the passenger seat leaning against the door and pointed at the driver side window. Worked just fine for my neighbor. Not only kept his car form being hit for the third time but gave the cops a good enough picture that they could pick up the guy who was robbing cars in the neighborhood.

I surprised the thief didn't just rob the car and take the camera.

I'm pretty sure that booby traps are illegal. II understand your frustration, but you don't want to deal with the possible legal ramifications. See if you can get the city to put in more street lights, or mount your own flood lights. I'm glad I live in a low crime area.

I like the idea about pressing for heavier patrolling of the neighborhood. There's a lot of legal ramifications to some of the other suggestions. I'm sorry to hear that your cars were damaged by thieves and would be very irritated to find them like that.

Adding obvious traps that could harm thieves = criminal charges for you.

Only if I get caught. There was a sharp edge on the inside of that wheel. Nothing I could do about it. Hell, I'd hope the guy screamed, then invite him in for a band-aid and blow his berkeleying head off. If they're grabbing reeeeyalms, home invasions are next.

In Texas traps are way illegal, but With some crimes such as theft, criminal mischief, etc at night you are perfectly within your rights to use deadly force.

I have had several calls where a thief broke a car window at night and the homeowner cracked a window and shot the dude with a rifle from within the house. The cases go to grand jury just like any other homicide, but charges are not filed.

Traps are sorta frowned upon by the police because they cannot discriminate between a thief and someone who may have a legitimate reason for being there, such as a cop or a fireman etc. That came to a head big time down here when a dude who ran a dogfighting ring set up a wire booby trap with a shotgun. A surveyor's assistant was shot in the legs. The guy went to jail not only for the booby trap but also for the dogfighting thing. A non lethal trap may not be as bad, but if a cop has a legit reason to be around your car and gets the E36 M3 shocked out of him in the process they ain't gonna be happy. I do like the trail camera idea, that would be priceless! Wally World has a Bushnell 5MP with flash for $99.00.

http://www.propublica.org/article/the-23-states-that-have-sweeping-self-defense-laws-just-like-floridas

The folks that are telling Eddie to booby trap his car then shoot the fellow that stumbles into said trap are describing something that does get some enforcement in states where it is legal, and is definitely not legal where he lives. So those solutions are pretty much off the table.

(praying to the patio gods that this thread doesn't fall apart, can we just be supportive of a guy that had his property stolen / vandalized?)

Damn, that seriously sucks. Sorry to hear.

I'd go with some very visible security cameras and a DVR.

It won't stop a determined criminal, but it might send them to someone else's house.

Your neighborhood is probably being targeted just because they are the more expensive houses. Stealing from the poor is kind of a waste of time. Nicer stuff brings more money. The wheels were probably stolen for scrap though.

turboswede wrote: I'd probably try to find a way to get the cars off the street as they are likely known to the thieves (who are likely local to the neighborhood) Kids who come from good neighborhoods are just as likely to do something like this as kids from the 'hood. Especially if it is amateur hour.

We had problems here with breakins.. nothing serious, but still.. My neighborhood is older and a bit run down, but still very safe and most of the neighbors are friendly.

Seems the kids in the expensive condos down the road were the ones doing all the thefts..

We had many problems with break ins, both car and home. I installed a very visible securty camera system and hid the DVR away somewhere it can't be easily found. I haven't had a single issue since. Not even my mail box has been tampered with, and I was going through a box every month or so until the cameras went up.

Is the car on your side of the street? If so you need some yard lights out front.

You could boot your car too. Maybe not the police version, but some cable through the wheels or metal discs over the lugnuts would slow down a thief.

when I was growing up.. we had family friends who lived in Brooklyn and had a BMW.. they would leave it on the Jersey Side of the river with half inch chain run between all four rims and the suspension and some very strong locks

GameboyRMH wrote: So no damage to the Celica? Looks like the front was resting on the brake rotors.

Thought the same thing when I walked out, but luckily, it was on the cross member. Rotors barely made it out alive.

Thanks for the support and suggestions. For now, we have our alley crammed full of our cars. Neighbors are supportive, but can't do that forever. More perminant measures in planning stages. Autocross today, but all day tomorrow to figure out ways to make ass holes miserable.

They'll be back. They hit our hood every couple of weeks. You could hit every car on five blocks and never see a cop at that time a night. The police station is like half a mile away, too. I'm almost as pissed about that as I am about the bad guys. Already sent some angry email. Angry guy in police station tomorrow. Going to ask if I can keep the Celica in their parking lot. They're great guys and gals up there. They really are. But the city budget is berkeleyed and they cut their resources. I get it, but I'm done. Drive down my God Damn street every now and then.

Anyhow, on a much better note, we made it out to the autocross and had a blast today. Tom Celica was better. Not right, but better and I beat a buddy of mine I've been chasing all year. That was nice.

Here's my fast run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ08q2lz8FU&feature=plcp

Neighborhood Crime Watch signs make the bad guys go somewhere else

fasted58 wrote: Neighborhood Crime Watch signs make the bad guys go somewhere else

We have those. Problem is, there's no actual Neighborhood Crime Watch. And they know it. But things are going to be a changin'. And they don't know it.

The second siren inside the car is freaking awesome. Buddy of mine had his sound q competition car stripped out one time. When the insurance check came in it was one of the first things he did. Something like a 169db alarm under the dash set on a 4 or 5 second delay. Gave em just enough time to get in. Sorry to hear about your troubles.