3 a.m. - I guess it is my turn

[kodiak]

Sorry man. I had that happen to my old bronco about 5 years ago. In my last two vehicles I designed my stereo around the stock head unit. If you look at the dash in my VX you would never guess there was a $2000 stereo system in there. It’s sad that I would need to do something like that to keep people from braking in to my truck.

[Mark B]

Sorry to hear about your VX.
Call Hillary, now that she is secretary of state, she will be ready for that 3:00 a.m. call as she promised in her campaign speech.

[JoFotoz]

Yup...that suxs.

And it often seems to end up with more damage dollar wise...

.... than the value of stuff taken.

jo

[Riff Raff]

Damn, that sucks. Someday, I hope to catch a car prowler in the act and make him physically pay in blood for all of the other perp's that got away. Perhaps in your new replacement car stereo, you can solder razor blades on the back side of the head unit. Thus, when the thief reaches around to yank the head unit out, he'll slice his fingertips to pieces, leaving his DNA as evidence.

[JHarris1385]

Riff never thought about that one.....

The guy was seen running away with a pistol. The first thing the officer asked is if I had a gun in the car. I said yes, an air soft pistol in a box (present). The officer was relieved to think he theif was carrying this instead of something real. That is until we got into the car and found my air soft gun. Not sure what would have happened if i did see it in action. The enterance to my complex is about a 1/3 mile long with multiple speed bumps and I have a rear facing apartment next to a farm. Dumb spot to steal - they drove that far to single out my car. Luckily someone did see it and probably stopped them from taking evyrthing including the seats.

[Hotsauce]

Been there way too often myself.

Hate to say it, but you are marked now. They will be back soon for the replacement unit. Our trucks stand out and are remembered. Thats why they went so far to break into yours.

I haven't had a radio in mine for almost 2 years now since it was stolen.

I put part of the blame on radio mfg's. Any new car today comes with a radio that needs a code to operate if powered down. Its impossible to buy such a feature in an aftermarket radio because they thrive on replacement sales.

Unfortunatly its illegal to hollow out a radio and fill it with TNT and rusty scraps. Leave the door unlocked. Problems solved one at a time. Repete as often as necessary.


John C.

[nfpgasmask]

Hate to say it, but you are marked now. They will be back soon for the replacement unit. Our trucks stand out and are remembered. Thats why they went so far to break into yours.

Yup, my buddy in Chicago has had his radio stolen 3 times in the same spot...

Bart

[kodiak]

This is what I used on my stock head unit. It’s not the exact model but it gives you an idea of what can be done.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/USA-S...3A1|240%3A1318

Sorry man. I had that happen to my old bronco about 5 years ago. In my last two vehicles I designed my stereo around the stock head unit. If you look at the dash in my VX you would never guess there was a $2000 stereo system in there. It’s sad that I would need to do something like that to keep people from braking in to my truck.

[JHarris1385]

I have not called by my auto insurance yet today becuase I was under the impression by them that my renters would cover everything not stock on the VX. Well Allstate renters with a $1,000 deduct will not cover anything that is powered by the car. The last time i talked to Gieco they said they will only cover factory items....Getting them on the phone now.

[JHarris1385]

Geico will only cover factory installed items....I would have needed endorsements on each additional stereo device that I had in there prior to this claim.

Allstate has a $1,000 deduct, $200 cash max, $500 cd max.....CRAZY....never thought it would be this hard to get back what they stole.

[tom4bren]

Dang Son - sorry to hear that you're having that much trouble.

Sorta like - bend over & smile.

[pbkid]

well, just my 2 cents as i see probably 5 vehicles a week that i work on have been broken into and have had items stolen out of them....

first, a good aftermarket security is key, not something that just beeps if the shock sensor goes off....i mean spend some serious money on something..(this is my recommendation to anyone with a VX considering we are highly targeted)...I have a $1000 security system on my VX...considering i spent that much money on the stuff on my roof alone, i think its not that big of a deal....

secondly, even if it costs more money, have someone wire up an LED to each door, so that when they look in the window to see if the car is locked they see the flashing LED...that will be enough to deter some people....also have LED's wired up to the rear window and the dash right next to where the radio goes.....i know all this costs quite a bit, so if you have a security system installed i would be more than willing to do a write up on how to add additional LED's....

also, i have seen people wiring TONS of LEDs all over the car so people know there is security, and all they do is put a switch that causes the LED's to flash when on....there is actually no security on the car, just the illusion of good security because of 30 flashing LED's lol.....

also, when you have them put on the security system, have them wire the system to the headlights instead of wiring it to the park lights, that way when it goes off, everything nearby lights up....therefore scaring off most criminals...

Lastly, (this i havent done yet, but its the next security mod for me)..
go buy some 'hella horns', they are made by the company Hella and they are awesome.....most factory horns on a car are about 60-80 dB(thats volume for those that dont know)...the hella horns are 160dB....they wire in place of your factory horns and they will DEFINATELY wake you up if you park anywhere near your house, they will also wake up anyone in a 2 block radius...(im not sure what 160dB is relative to, but im sure someone can chime in on that...i think its something around a jet taking off...they will be as loud as semi-truck horns at least)....
of course, have the hella horns wired into the security system also...for obvious reasons....

if your on a tight budget, at the very least hook up multiple LED's to a switch that causes them to flash and just flip it every time you get out of your car, a lot of times theives will look at the door locks and if there is a flashing LED they wont try to break into the car (audi uses this technology with putting their security LED's next to the door locks)....

thats my deterrence soap box....sorry if its lengthy but i work with this stuff all day every day and i think that my extended family deserves a little bit of the industries tricks.....

good luck, if there is a need for a write up on any of this let me know and ill spend a day or two and take some good pic's....

[etlsport]

ive been meaning to put LEDs next to my door locks a la audi/vw.. my plan was just to piggyback off of the stock alarm LED.. should be pretty easy and doubt that it will draw enough energy to make any difference in the flash speed or battery drain.. just note that most LEDs you buy in automotive stores have resistors built into their wire leads.. more than likely you will need to cut those off for them to work properly with your stock alarm flasher... as for the horn.. this one one of my fav mods... 18" airhorn mounted behind the bumper (its the chrome thing towards the bottom of the fans and an air compressor next to the passenger headlight) it was $50 off e-bay and maybe 1.5-2 hours of install time



ask spike or tom.. its stupid loud