Wheel locks
 

When is the last time you have heard of somebody having their wheels stolen. I am thinking I knew someone who had their Corvette wheels stolen in maybe 92-93, and he was shady as hell anyhow, and probably stole them himself .
I see wheel locks on all sorts of mundane grocery getter cars these days, and it makes me wonder. Today's was on a Chrysler town and country. Really ???
I think I remember reading of a lot of Fuchs wheel thefts at one time in the not so distant past. That I could almost understand.
Is this still a common crime?

That's funny.
I parked next to a new Chevy Malibu at the grocery store and noticed it had wheel locks. I thought the same thing--"why would you install locks on THAT?"

It's still very common in OKC. The current trend is to use landscaping stones from the victims yard under the vehicle instead of bringing their own cinder blocks. Large diameter factory SUV wheels are quite a popular target.

Thefts these days will steal anything.
They can sell wheels as scrape.

I bought a car that had wheel locks once but the key was missing. I just hammered a socket over the wheel lock and removed them all in less than 5 minutes. They are useless.

Late 90s. I had a classmate who came out to his car (E30) one morning to find it up on cinder blocks.

SPD car found on cinder blocks, tires and rims stolen - KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports

http://ksla.images.worldnow.com/images/14891657_BG1.jpg

happens all the time

The Mazdaspeed had factory wheel locks on the OEM wheels. Replaced them with a nice set of Volk Racing wheels with bronze lug nuts to match, no locks. Never had any issues with either set. Not surprising given how bland the OEMs were; marginally surprising given the value of Volks.

Of course I didn't exactly leave it in the hood overnight either, but...

i just saw it a couple of weeks ago. riding my bike, come thru a neighborhood, a decent one..older lexus up on cinder blocks.

i think people steal them when they need new tires? i dont have them on mine. i hate them.

In many cases the locks do come from the factory. With my Mustang, they were part of the "security system" option...the alarm. Probably good since the Bullitt wheels are a target of thieves, being modeled after the torque thrusts on the movie car.

Couple of years ago they wheels were disappearing all over the part of Phoenix where I live. Haven't heard much lately. The latest problem in my neighborhood is kids shooting BB guns and tossing rocks through car and house windows.

They came stock on my '83 T-Bird Turbo Coupe.
.

About 9 Hondas got hit with missing wheels in our apartment complex last year......
Came outside to leave for work and there were a bunch of cops and people standing around scratching their heads lol

Yrs. ago, I came out of my apartment to find my Fiat 124 Spider up on cinder blocks. I only had a carport at the time & two days prior bought a new set of tires.
Cops said it was hopeless to think that I would find them.
Talk about an angry & helpless feeling. :(
.

Just about every single lifted 4x4 around here has wheel locks. Jeeps and FJ's usually have 5 (one for the spare.) When the cost of the wheel and tire gets around $300 to $400 apiece, you want to slow the craigslist suppliers down a little bit. Around here the popular items seem to be gps units (hit the home button and go rob the house because the owner is close to the car), wheels and tires, sawzall off the cat, and steal the airbags.

On a related note - can someone explain the fact that the thieves are nice enough to prop the car up on blocks? I mean, can't you just let it down on the hubs / disks just as well? Are they being nice?

I have no locks on my cars, except the 993 - it came with them. The Fikse FM10 aren't cheap, so I did not want to jinx it and take off the locks. When I run the cup wheels for AX or Track, I have no locks.

G

I think it makes it more difficult to get the rest of the wheels if you drop it on the ground.

You generally can't get the jack out without blocking the wheel somehow.

I had new snow tires put on new steel rims on my wife's Camry. I saved $$ by not getting wheel locks. Now I am doing a rethink. For a few $$ I can get wheel locks and not be so concerned......

Little wonder that my wife is always happy for me to take P car when we go out!