Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Rash of rim thefts

From the Queens Courier:

If you live in Howard Beach, Ozone Park or Lindenwood, police are cautioning that you keep an eye on your car — and be wary of where you store your wheel lock key.

There has been an increased number of thefts in rims and tires from late-model Nissan Maximas, Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys, police said.

Thieves have allegedly been taking tires from cars, on the side that does not face the owner’s house, so drivers may not notice until they are already in the vehicle. Police said one of the main problems is car owners storing their wheel lock key in the glove compartment. Because of this, police said, passenger side windows may be broken to get to the key. While it is a convenient place to store it, vandals have broken into passenger side windows to look for the key, police said.

The cost to replace a full set of rims and tires can be upwards of thousands of dollars, both police and auto dealers confirm.

9 comments:

Joe said...

Problem is the shape of the wheel locks themselves.
To get them off all you need to do is roll some carbide sandpaper around the locking nut and twist it off with a visegrip. Some smash a metric sized socket over and give a good twist. This has been going on since the 60's. All the crooks and mechanics know this. Perhaps it time the people do

Use only cone shaped wheel locks it deters or slows the scumbags down
Why put $1500 rims on a car to drive in Queens in the first place ?

Anonymous said...

Why put expensive rims on at all.

Anonymous said...

Who knew there was a market for used rims? It's probably a growing one since so many rims are being stolen...

Anonymous said...

this is also happening in Astoria Woodside and Sunnyside -- this is terrible

Anonymous said...

My neighbor across the street once had his tires/rims stolen and he had a chevy impala, the type of car that the undercover NYPD officers drive.

Joe said...

Quote: "Why put expensive rims on at all"

I agree.
I have a 69 Cuda but had to find its original wheels for the restoration, historic and insurence qualification.
I also have a 1951 Ford F1 "Sanford N Son" copy down to the door sign, bed spring and dented baby moon Ford OEM hubcaps.
There are reasons--SOMETIMES.

These stupid assholes buying $1800 AFTERMARKET wheels eather have a"stature issue" or really think thay are gonna have better performance under 80MPG.
---The same people that would put Home Depot bling, plactic Greek bowling pins and brass handrails on a 1920s Stier house.
I saw a 1989 Impala paint all cracked with $2000 rims, rap music thumping.
Hey Perhaps these assholes deserve to have the wheels stolen.

J said...

"had a chevy impala, the type of car that the undercover NYPD officers drive"
It may have been a NYPD car, they use very special puncture proof, blow proof tires that are worth A LOAD on the blackmarket.

Anonymous said...

Same thing happened to a really nice Escalade last month in Maspeth.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was the job of the POLICE to watch out for my property!?!?!?!?!?!? like i said before ,Bright lights,cameras and good locks...........and a gun if you know how and when to use it..........