Damn thieves, Silverado hovercraft edition Options

[trackbird]

My wife's Honda was totaled Tuesday of last week. So I've been driving the Camaro daily and she's been taking my truck to work while we are car shopping. This morning she left, opened the garage door and yelled for me. The tone of her voice told me it wasn't good. I ran outside and we found my truck in my driveway on blocks with all the wheels and lug nuts missing. All of them. Apparently they needed them for their truck. I had to take her up to borrow her mom's Accord and I spent the morning chasing down parts. I'll have the new wheels tomorrow and tires as well. $3386 is the total for wheels, lug nuts, tire pressure monitor valves, and replacement tires for the ones I bought in November. Fucking awesome.

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[KCG]

Holy crap! I hate thieves. Looks like your neighbors are close too. Talk to any of them yet?

[rocky]

Damn it man! that's some b.s

[trackbird]

Holy crap! I hate thieves. Looks like your neighbors are close too. Talk to any of them yet?

Neighbor (behind me) said his dog went nuts about 3 am and there was a red vehicle out front (in front of his house, not on my street). But he didn't see anything more than that. They had to bring a jack, 4 blocks, take the lug nuts and roll the tires away. I figure it was 3-4 guys. This wasn't a one man show...I don't think it could have been. They didn't drop a single lug nut.

[Pranav]

Yep, tahoes/silverados are notorious for going full hovercraft.

Here in the Houston area it got bad for a while. I had a buddy staying in an apartment in Dallas for a while during a relocation and had the wheels stolen off his truck TWICE in two weeks.

Does your alarm have the tilt sensor option?

[BumpaD_Z28]

(IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) ... OH man I would go BALLISTIC (pun intended) !

This post has been edited by BumpaD_Z28: May 24 2017, 06:56 PM

[KCG]

Holy crap! I hate thieves. Looks like your neighbors are close too. Talk to any of them yet?

Neighbor (behind me) said his dog went nuts about 3 am and there was a red vehicle out front (in front of his house, not on my street). But he didn't see anything more than that. They had to bring a jack, 4 blocks, take the lug nuts and roll the tires away. I figure it was 3-4 guys. This wasn't a one man show...I don't think it could have been. They didn't drop a single lug nut.

I'm sure you've probably walked that path already, but you never know if they may have dropped something...
Wouldn't hurt to ask if anyone has front or rear porch video cams. Or does any of your neighbors come home or go to work that time of morning....maybe they have a dash cam.

[GCrites80s]

Damn. I didn't know people wanted those wheels. Usually stock wheels are safe, or at least that's what I thought.

[trackbird]

Does your alarm have the tilt sensor option?

I'll have to check if the dealer can add it. I don't believe it does at this time...and if it does, it sucks. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I'm sure you've probably walked that path already, but you never know if they may have dropped something...
Wouldn't hurt to ask if anyone has front or rear porch video cams. Or does any of your neighbors come home or go to work that time of morning....maybe they have a dash cam.

I'll take a walk and see if I see any lug nuts, maybe it would have prints on it (not likely).

Damn. I didn't know people wanted those wheels. Usually stock wheels are safe, or at least that's what I thought.

I put new AT tires on them in November (not the OEM), that might have "helped", not sure.

[CrashTestDummy]

Etch your VIN in the replacement set. Had a friend who had a truck towed. The reason was dubious, and the cops said they were trying to find a way to prosecute the towing co. When he got his truck back, the Alcoas he had were gone, yet the tow truck in the yard had a nice set of Alcoas on it. The cops said there was nothing they could do unless he could verify his VIN was on those wheels. Even if the spot he could verify was sanded down, that would help their case. Unfortunately, he hadn't done that.... then.

Everyone, etch the VIN in your wheels. Even if you do it so that it makes the wheel look like crap, do it!

And a 220v capacitor connected to the vehicle when it's in your driveway can't hurt (you) either. Sure, people frown upon it but... dead perps tell no tales. :-)

This post has been edited by CrashTestDummy: May 25 2017, 02:40 AM

[slowTA]

Were they factory upgraded wheels or the base aluminum? I had a theory that they didn't need a jack, just pick the right size cinder block and let the air out of the tires! But your pictures prove that wrong for the front anyway.

[trackbird]

Were they factory upgraded wheels or the base aluminum? I had a theory that they didn't need a jack, just pick the right size cinder block and let the air out of the tires! But your pictures prove that wrong for the front anyway.

That's an interesting idea. I think they would have needed a jack in this case, but I'm not totally sure.


That's a pic when I had the tires put on (a friend was shopping for tires for his Jeep and they were also in the truck tire discussion thread on CC.com). It's just the 18" aluminum wheels and all the OEM lug nuts. Tires were Goodyear Wrangler Adventure AT (with Kevlar reinforcement). I had a flat tire on the OEM tires at 16k miles and the hole was in the sidewall, so I put 4 tires on it. So maybe they wanted the wheels and better tires? Maybe they were just stealing anything they could get? I can't decide if I'll see them on an '80's or '90's Silverado in town sometime soon...or if they took them for drug money. Seems like a pretty well planned event for druggies. The way they set the truck on blocks, these guys knew something about cars (they did get one side on a brake rotor, but the drivers side is sitting on the "pin" that sticks out of the bottom of the balljoint and the back axle is on the shock mounts. They were pretty careful as they lowered it, almost like car guys who felt bad (but figured "He's insured, so he won't be hurt" or "He has a nice truck, he can afford it"...not sure which).

I told the officer, they are programmed to my tire pressure monitoring system. If they were to find them and we put them near my truck, I should get tire pressure readings. That would be the only way to ID them....until I reprogram the sensors. I may wait a while. I'd like the cops to find them and this to provide evidence to convict (discrediting their "A friend gave them to me" story, or whatever they come up with). I'll give it a few weeks before I reset the TPMS sensors.

Wow, that picture really makes me nostalgic for a time when my truck had wheels. This was long before it was converted to glorified yard art. Ah, the good old days.

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[dojob]

Damn shame about your wheels. That odd they went after the dime-a-dozen 18'' wheels. I thought you had factory 22" wheels perhaps.

Insurance is covering your $3300 bill correct? Minus your deductable

[trackbird]

Damn shame about your wheels. That odd they went after the dime-a-dozen 18'' wheels. I thought you had factory 22" wheels perhaps.

Insurance is covering your $3300 bill correct? Minus your deductible

Yea, I didn't want the 20" wheels. I knew I'd be in some mud and the thinner tires can allow the wheel faces to get scratched as they churn through mud. The 18" has more protection for the wheels and makes a wider hole that the wheel fits down into without damage. Heck, the wheels usually don't get dirty (unless something splashes up onto them). I also didn't think they would be a "target".

Yes, insurance is reimbursing me. And I don't have a deductible. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I wasn't sure what would cover it or what the deductible would be when it happened (Home owners insurance? etc). But I knew I needed to order some wheels. It did fall under comprehensive. Ultimately I'll be fine, I'm just pissed. It really disrupted my schedule, made us both late for work, caused me to spend the morning chasing parts and then work late to make it up (when I should have been on OT), etc. Right now the truck is still on blocks in my driveway (waiting on parts, and my new HD camera system to arrive). And, I hate thieving assholes. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

My wife said "I haven't had to borrow my mom's car since I was a teenager". We're both irritated that we had to borrow it now. We had 3 cars....

[dojob]

Yea, I was like $3300. HOLY HELL! But if insurance is paying for it with no deductible... so be it. We bought my dad those exact wheels with tires (as take offs) when he bought his new 2014....$1200 from dealer... everything, lugs, center caps, tpms.

Glad they didn't damage the truck. I've seen some silly collateral damage from thieves

This post has been edited by dojob: May 25 2017, 12:22 PM

[trackbird]

Yea, I was like $3300. HOLY HELL! But if insurance is paying for it with no deductible... so be it. We bought my dad those exact wheels with tires (as take offs) when he bought his new 2014....$1200 from dealer... everything, lugs, center caps, tpms.

Glad they didn't damage the truck. I've seen some silly collateral damage from thieves

He sold me the wheels and parts at wholesale. And the tires are as cheap as they can sell them to me (far more than I paid in November). I wasn't sure who was paying. Just that I needed them, I'd file the paperwork and sort that out later.

I'm glad they didn't manage to scratch it all up and hit the fenders with a jack, etc. That part was nice.


My neighbor said the car they saw out front had 3 guys and they got out and very quietly clicked their doors closed. They weren't so quiet when they left. He said the car was too small for tires. I wonder if they stacked them behind my truck and called friends to come pick them up. Maybe these guys are pulling them off and having a second crew run by and grab them? I'm not sure how they did it from the information I have, but they managed to do it "clean".

[trackbird]

And we forgot $148 in center caps (wholesale, they were over $50 each retail). They are on order.

[mitchntx]

These trucks look awesome slammed into the weeds.

Maybe stake that feral cat in the front lawn. That'll deter'em ...

[trackbird]

These trucks look awesome slammed into the weeds.

Maybe stake that feral cat in the front lawn. That'll deter'em ...

They told me I needed a "block kit" to lower the rear. I wasn't sure what to do with the front, so we just used the same blocks. Oddly, I couldn't find these in the Belltech catalog. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I meant to text you. You have outlived the evil kitty. Midnight was sick a month or two ago and my ex sent me a message to say that he had left this planet behind. I'm sure he's up chasing Texans in kitty heaven as we speak. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[mitchntx]

I'm sorry to hear that.

I'm sure Midnight was a great cat ... just not to me. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)