Wheels are being stolen like crazy

And I just don't get it.

I'm guessing metal prices are still up, too.

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

ooooohhhhhh..... I always thought that song was about a Gypsy Chimpanzee and never understood why she never mentioned bananas!

Unfortunately, EVERYTHING is being stolen extra. 

And that's all I can say about it without starting some E36 M3 i'm just not trying to start right now. 

And here I was thinking that wheels don't get stolen much any more, so nobody bothers with wheel locks.

My friend had his wheels ALMOST stolen but they could not get the wheel locks off !
 

started to drive in the morning and felt a "wiggle" ,  4 lugs were missing on each wheel ,

lucky there was no damage.

Added it was a Cayenne  which has the Porsche only 5 x 130 lug pattern

Me showing up to work about a year ago.

I've never had a set of wheels stolen.  Ever.  If a car I buy has wheel locks on it, I immediately remove them and throw them away.  I've had multiple issues with wheel locks, either the keys stripping, the lugs breaking, etc, etc.  I don't need to be dealing with that in the middle of a snow storm, at night, while trying to change a flat tire.  F that.  I have insurance.

I put a set of wheel locks on my F-150 before our big trip through the Northeast. Normally I hate those things, but I figured it was a cheap and easy deterrent while it's street parked a bunch.

As far as why wheels are being stolen? I'm wondering if it has something to do with how easy it is to quickly sell parts these days. I'm constantly amazed at how easily Facebook Marketplace turns parts, literally any parts, into almost instant cash. 10 years ago, to sell a set of truck wheels you'd need to know somebody with a truck, join a random truck forum or hope a potential buyer was browsing craigslist and using the right keywords. Today, you post them and then a massive algorithm fills potential buyers' feeds with ads for the wheels instantly.

In reply to docwyte :

I'm with the Doc.

Wheel locks go in the scrap bin as soon as I buy the car. I've never lost a set of wheels. I seldom end up anywhere they would get stolen. My yard, driveway, and shop are covered by 10 cameras so crooks shop elsewhere. 

Duke said:

And here I was thinking that wheels don't get stolen much any more, so nobody bothers with wheel locks.

 

We have a Ring doorbell, so we get all the alerts from closeby neighborhoods. The things that really gets me?

People have garages, but don't park their cars in them. (If you have so much crap in you can't use the garage, ditch it or get a storage unit).
People leave valuables, including the garage door opener in their car.
People leave their berkeleying doors to the car unlocked. 

Hell we lock the doors to the car inside of our garage. 

 

z31maniac said:

People have garages, but don't park their cars in them. (If you have so much crap in you can't use the garage, ditch it or get a storage unit).
People leave valuables, including the garage door opener in their car.
People leave their berkeleying doors to the car unlocked. 

Hell we lock the doors to the car inside of our garage. 

My wife does that.  Drives me nuts because our garage is so packed (with vehicles) that I sometimes have to push it forward to get around it to the far side.

Years ago, my neighbor's Audi A8 was stolen out of her driveway.  Doors unlocked, KEYS IN IT.  It was crazy.  They had moved from Brooklyn - I guess they thought you just don't have to lock everything in the 'burbs.  Her car had the VW telematics system but she had never configured it.  They found the car a few weeks later but it was a write-off.

There's also this.

Wheel locks have saved my wheels from being stolen at least once. I took my AE92 to a tint shop in a bad neighborhood, told them to lock their key in the car and I would pick it up after work with my own key. The car was unattended for less than 2 hours and somewhat visible from a main road, but someone still tried stealing the wheels. They didn't check out the lugs first and removed one from a rear wheel and loosened another before they found the keyed lug nut and apparently gave up. Never had an issue with keyed lugs stripping etc, they've been no more troublesome than ordinary lugs to me.

Someone also tried stealing the factory alloys off my dad's X-trail one time, he didn't have wheel locks but someone must have interrupted the thief, he found it with some lug nuts missing.

I added wheel locks to the Toyobaru. It has moderately expensive wheels and downright costly tires. With the wheel locks, I can park it in the sketchiest neighborhoods and never have to worry about someone casually popping the wheels off.

Tom Suddard said:

As far as why wheels are being stolen? I'm wondering if it has something to do with how easy it is to quickly sell parts these days. I'm constantly amazed at how easily Facebook Marketplace turns parts, literally any parts, into almost instant cash. 10 years ago, to sell a set of truck wheels you'd need to know somebody with a truck, join a random truck forum or hope a potential buyer was browsing craigslist and using the right keywords. Today, you post them and then a massive algorithm fills potential buyers' feeds with ads for the wheels instantly.

Its true, but I wonder at what point its not even worth a criminal's time to sell stuff?

Dealing with people on FB is terrible.  Imagine doing it with stolen goods you are trying to move quickly PLUS going through the trouble of stealing those goods.  

In reply to ProDarwin :

Well when your cost in the item is $0, you can afford to price it cheap and make it go away quickly

My truck, pictured above, had a brand new set of Cooper Discoverer LT tires on it, and the thief was driving an early 00's Chev pickup, by the neighbors video.

He was tire shopping.

 I had neglected to lock my Sentra one night, and someone had gone through the glovebox, found the spline drive socket for the wheel nuts, then took all 16 wheel nuts and left the car sitting on unbolted wheels.  I saw the missing nuts before I moved the car. I kinda snickered at that one.

Thieves were targeting dealers last year so they had to hire overnight security 

And of course our insurance rates are skyrocketing

I have my name, phone number, and a description of the vehicle written inside each wheel. "if these wheels are not on xxxx vehicle, they are stolen. call ####"

had a set of wheels stolen, gone for a year, got a call from a tire shop an hour away. The new 'owner' was getting the tires replaced and the tech found my notes. Took a long time, but I got them back.

We had another Integra towed in today.  No wheels.

In reply to AClockworkGarage :

That is a good idea!

Do people still steal car radio head units?

Do people even still buy aftermarket head units for their cars?

I'm looking for some newer 17" factory Chevrolet Silverado aluminum wheels should you "know" a guy.