jeff968

A friend at work just got an $80K Boxster S. While looking over the car I was noticing differences in the new Porsche compared to our 968s of 20 years ago. One of those differences was no standard wheel locks on this very expensive car. Thinking about it I wondered, are people having their wheels and tires stolen any more? I always found the lug locks on our cars a pain, especially when the key was lost once. Do you still have your locks installed?

RajDatta

Jeff, things have changed in the last 20 yrs, wheels and stereo systems no longer get jacked. They just car jack.

JDS968

Lots and lots of the Jags and other luxury brands like Infiniti get wheel locks, and they're much more primitive than the locks that came with my 968. Whereas the 968 units locked with the car's own key (so you couldn't lose an adaptor) and surrounded the lug nut, spinning freely when locked, the "locking" nuts I see installed regularly are solid units that have a number of patterns to engage one of a number of adaptors. Not only does this mean you can lose the adaptor, it also makes it INCREDIBLY fast and easy to defeat them by removing them with a twist socket extractor. If I were stealing wheels, I would show up with a half inch drive cordless impack wrench, a few metric and inch pattern impact sockets, and a few twist sockets. Any of these "locking" lug nuts would come off just as quickly as the regular hex nuts.

I have the tools to defeat a 968's locking lugs pretty easily too, but it wouldn't be nearly as fast or convenient.

I don't hear about people getting wheels stolen much anymore, but it must happen once in a while.

mbardeen

I switched my alloy lug nuts (and locks) to steel lugs. I never park my car any where that someone could get the wheels off without me knowing it, so why bother?

jeff968

Josh,
Good points (all posters) and FYI, the 968s used the two wheel locking systems you described:
1) the 92-94.5s used a cover setup that had it's own special key and a surrounding cover for the the lock lug.
2) the 94.5-95s used the McGuard "locking" lug style you described above with the specific pattern adapter.
Thanks
Jeff

bbain

My 92 had the wheel locks installed when I got it. One of the first things I did was buy 4 lug nuts and replaced the locking lugs.

Cloud9...68

When I bought new tires for my 968 from Discount Tire recently, I asked the manager whether the lug pattern on my wheel is fairly common, or unusual. He said it's so unusual that they don't even carry an adapter for their tire mounting machine that accommodates my wheels' hole pattern (they had to jury-rig something to mount my tires). He said my wheels fit only a handful of cars, all Porsches. So, as long as the thieves know a little about the merchandise they deal in, the likelihood of theft of our wheels is very remote.

chudson

Unless your car is sitting on a nice set of Speedlines or Kinesis you are probably safe unless the thief wants the wheels for their scrap value. The 16s and 17s that our cars were originally fitted with are now considered an undesirable size by most. And except for some of the VW enthusiast no one wants to "upgrade" to 20 year old Porsche wheels. I've been in the automotive industry my entire career and I can't remember the last time I heard of a set of wheels being stolen from a car.

But just for grins I still have my locks installed. I kinda like them being there.

Off topic but while we're discussing anti theft devices IMHO a real waste is theft resistant radios. Most of today's radios are shaped and sized to fit a particular car and will not fit any other. And their black market value is zip - so why does it need to be theft proof?? Again, I can't remember the last time I heard of a factory radio being stolen. And it causes a hassle when the vehicle battery has died or been disconnected and the owner doesn't know the security code.

I agree with TurboS - easier to take car. I know of a dealership that's missing a new high performance sports car worth over 100K. They have all the keys but not the car. Some one with a roll-back or wheel lift wrecker backed up to it and hauled it off for the value of the parts. And it probably only took seconds to accomplish.

Cloud9...68

I have a very nice set of 18" Enkei NT-03's, so I was moderately concerned about theft, but when I found out how unusual our bolt pattern is, I figured the chances of theft are very low, especially considering I never park the car in any bad areas. I may get a set of wheel locks just for good measure, though.

odurandina

my wheel locks are long gone. good riddance.

chudson

I agree. I also have aftermarket wheels that look expensive. I mentioned the other brands of wheels by name because they are the most recognizable. And like you my car is almost always tucked away or where I can see it. But one should prepare for the unexpected.

A year or more ago a fellow r-lister posted pics of his ripped out dash where his radio had been stolen. He was driving somewhere when the car quit running. He had to abandon the car to continue on with whatever it was he had to do and when he returned he had a destroyed interior. It could have just as easily been his wheels missing. I don't want either.

Idiot thugs will steal anything that even remotely looks desirable regardless of actual cash value. And they don't care who or what suffers when they do. Wheel locks aren't an absolute, but another hurdle to perhaps make them consider passing on my car should the unexpected occur to me.

And by the way our factory wheels are worth app 20 dollars each as scrap. A set would be an 80 dollar score for a thief.

JDS968

If you're particularly worried about somebody unbolting your wheels, I suggest you select only wheel locks that spin freely when in place (otherwise they're too easily removed to bother) and I suggest you install at least two full sets, so that at least two nuts on each wheel are protected.

Cloud9...68

So the way I see it is as follows:

- A knowledgeable and skillful thief, who could easily defeat any type of wheel lock, would probably know his "market" well enough to know that stealing a wheel off a 968 would be a complete waste of his time.

- An idiot thief who doesn't know that wheels off a 968 wold be virtually un-sellable would probably be too stupid to know how to defeat a wheel lock, and thus would probably pass on a car equipped with them.

So, it seems that the best strategy is to buy one (or two if you're really worried about it) set of wheel locks, and be done with it.

rgs944

Locking lugs and side post battery terminals are two things that should have never even been a thing of the future.

chudson

Well Cloud (and Jeff) in typical fashion opinions are all over the board. And locks are truly a personal preference decision. They don't stop any determined thief - they just slow them down or divert them to easier prey. So I'll leave you with my last thought on the subject which is this rhetorical question.

If you ever find your car with those Enkei's missing what is the first question you're gonna ask yourself?