theft protection?

[racemybuick]

I am sad to say it, but living in NJ has taught me a thing or two about security. The problem is, what security can protect my car? Aside from a battery kill, and hidden fuel cut off, I dont have any other form of protection for my car. What should I use when I finally get it on the road? I figure a loud car alarm is always a good scare tactic, but in my area, especially at the mall, those bells and whistles often go unchecked. What do you drivers think?

John

 

[Bruce Alred]

THEFT PROTECTION

Hi John, I would strongly suggest getting a column lock & change the interior door locks to smooth ones. These items will slow them at least. This saved my friends car from being stolen.
Bruce Alred

 

[John84GN]

I don't have this on my car, but I came across it a while back...It's a little bit of work, but it sure does look foolproof!

HTH - John

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/electrical/antitheft.html

 

[racemybuick]

Thanks a bunch guys. John, when I first read that article, I thought it was complicated, but as I read it over again, I realized, damn, that is simple! The only other thing I would have a problem with is keeping my stereo and guages! I am having a 3 guage pod mounted in the pass dash, plus a nice expensive head unit and speakers are going to compliment that grey interior, so I assume if they cant take the car, take whatever isnt welded to the floor boards...Right? I already have the smoothe nobs, and against better judgement, but fear of break in, I placed a piece of lexan plastic over the locking mechanism in the door so a slim jim cannot catch onto the lock. A busted window would remedy that for a criminal, but I dont want their lives easy in any way. If any other ideas pop up, feel free to jump in!!!

John

 

[6SENSE]

I always figured that if they really want it they will get it, no matter what you do. However I also believe anyway you can slow them down the better chance you have. Time is their enemy, so the more the merrier as far as theft detterents. I use an alarm (a good alarm) installed by myself, so you know everything is hidden where it will take time to find. It is very loud, wired to use the vehicles horn as well as the siren. They would need to dissable the horn, not just cut the siren wires to get rid of the noise. I use a club. I use a removeable steering column protector that wraps around the whole column area that gets broken into (get from Kirbans). This is way ahead of the normal silver column guard that only stops them from breaking the lower half of the column (your car will still get stolen with one of these ones). My hood doesnt open with the normal pull handle. Oh, yeah, this was a appearance thing but I guess it helps me with security: I have shaved door handles (not everyones cup of tea, I know). I use chips from time to time with theft detterent features.
Like I said, the more the merrier. When a thief walks by a car with noticeably multiple theft detterents, not to mention what he knows he cant see, he may just decide to go for the easier prey elsewhere.

Kill switches, as mentioned, are always nice. You can use your imagination with them. Also, if the car is going to sit for awhile unattended, you can also remove the ECM fuse. Also, unplug the ECM pwr wire from the battery. I know Im being repetitive but, all this stuff will definately slow down a thief. If they take too much time they are most likely going to get caught. Remember the movie was gone in 60 seconds, not 60 minutes

 

[TType84]

easy.. shaved door handles

if they can slim jim the locks but cant open the door, what are they going to do? :-D

btw you should get a steadfast for sure.. i hav one and it saved my ass once..

also.. could you pm me how to go about making a piece of plastic to cover the lock mechanism? i wanna do that..

 

[b4black]

http://www.steadfastautosecurity.com/gnpage.htm

 

[TType84]

http://home.comcast.net/~threepointeight

i have a steadfast page, second link down.

 

[TDS-84]

I've seen some mechanism before where it made the steering wheel removable, but I can recall the name of the manufacturer.

I don't know how people would feel about carrying around the steering wheel, though. I'm not sure if I would be able to go that far. It would make the car impossible to drive, but not to tow away I suppose.

To think of all the times I parked mine, with the t-tops off, at the mall, downtown, etc. Granted is was like 10 years ago, but still. . . .

 

[6SENSE]

Originally posted by TDS-84
I've seen some mechanism before where it made the steering wheel removable, but I can recall the name of the manufacturer.

I don't know how people would feel about carrying around the steering wheel, though. I'm not sure if I would be able to go that far. It would make the car impossible to drive, but not to tow away I suppose.

To think of all the times I parked mine, with the t-tops off, at the mall, downtown, etc. Granted is was like 10 years ago, but still. . . .

I think Grant made those. They dont adapt to your OEM wheel though. You have to have one of their aftermarket ones. The removable deal comes seperate. There is a red cap that replaces the steering wheel when removed and the deal uses a key. One of my brothers has this setup with a wood Grant steering wheel on a '85 NA Regal.
As far as the getting towed away deal. I always mention that to people when I say if they really want it that bad, they will get. Riding away on a tow truck with the alarm sounding One thing that I always do is to turn my wheels when I park and lock up the steering wheel in the manner that I mentioned in my earlier post. If parking next to a curb I always turn towards the curb, even if faced uphill. I know there are some other little tidbits that are not coming to me right now, but use your imagination. This should make it a little more difficult for the tow trucks.

 

[racemybuick]

with all the ideas, I have no cluse where to start. as for the towing deal, I got lucky. My buddy lives at rutgers university, and his car got booted....long story short, they flattened his tire, got the boot off, and aired the tire up two blocks away at the gas station! lol, well, there is a boot sitting on my back porch, and witht he help of a cutting wheel and a dremel, i got the master lock off in a matter of minutes. I got my own master lock for it now, with the hardened clamp so that it cannot be cut off easily. What's good about this is that it is too small to get any bolt cutters on, so the lock can really only come off with a high speed dremel, or the key...lol...SO i think I got one of my theft prevention devices secured. As for that steering wheel take off stuff, I also had the grant rosewood signature series wheel, and it could be taken off in a minute or so, but it was a pain in the ass with that damn horn wire alway touching metal. it was a nice wheel tho, and yes it was grant.

Thanks for the help as always!

John