Midget96

Went to a movie this morning at a fairly new shopping center in North Phoenix near I-17 and Happy Valley. Certainly not in the ghetto at all. Built near new mid-upscale housing developments. Came back to the truck and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, so we headed a bit north to run an easy trail.

About half way through the trail, we ran into a Danish family trying to run it in a rented Jeep Compass. I convinced them to turn around, and he struggled to make it back the way he came. Eventually, he came to a climb out of a wash that he couldn't make, so I pulled out the trusty new ARB strap to give him a quick pull up. Went around to tie if off to my hitch frame and....

MY BRAND NEW FULL SIZE SPARE WAS GONE!!! I literally had my new set of Toyo A/Ts on for less than a week, and it took me about 6 months to track down a 16" Limited wheel that wasn't ridiculously priced. The spare had never touched the ground aside from the roll out from the tire shop. $250 down the drain.

Bastards bent the lug tab out, fished the cradle through the center hole of the wheel and voila. Might have taken a minute to steal it, if that.

I highly recommend the following:

1) Chaining your spare through the wheel to the tire carrier crossmember and using a quality pad lock to secure it.

2) NEVER EVER EVER coming to Phoenix for any reason. This city sucks so bad. Nothing redeeming about it whatsoever. From the horrible drivers to the well documented and rampant automotive theft, it's hard to do anything recreational involving even a mildly-conspicuous vehicle here. I've had several friends have their trucks broken into in their driveways in broad daylight in nice parts of town. I can't escape this hell hole fast enough!

Elton

ahh that sucks i been driving on my spare tire for almost a month cant afford a new tire lol

BajaRunner

Yep, that sucks! Sometimes you can't do anything about it though. Just being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

I had my new 35" MTR's on for about 3 weeks and came out one morning to find that someone drilled 3" drywall screws into the sidewalls. Gotta love Santa Cruz.

mt_goat

Yeah I've been using a cable and padlock for many years, just don't lose the key LOL.

sharrack

First off........is that elisha cuthbert on your avatar..........pretty sweet!

O.K. now..............lets just simma down a bit with the Phoenix bashing.
I live minutes from your location or realization of the theft and I'll admit ,smash and grab thefts are common here but there are a few simple things you can do to prevent thefts.

I moved to AZ from NY 10 yrs ago and have never looked back.
AZ is an outdoorsman 's dream state but much like other border towns mixed with a meth capital......... you have to learn how to keep your hands on the small stuff. Most of it is cat converters, tailgates, tail lights and simple interior theft when doors are left open.
Petty stuff.
Can't argue with the wow factor of a vehicle here..........if it looks good.....it might disappear.

Some phx / texas/socal/NM/ tips:
1- spot welds on your cat converter bolts
2- hose clamp on the lift out barrel of your tailgate hinge
3- never leave the reg/ins papers for your car in your glove box.
4- never leave ANYTHING visible in your vehicle
5-cable lock your spare to the frame
6- hide or remove your garage door opener as well
7- use the club for good measure......i know i know but it will keep the amateurs away.

8- lock your car doors AND ALWAYS LEAVE BED TOOLBOXES WITH NOTHING OF VALUE IN THEM AND THE LOCKS UNLOCKED.
Otherwise a crowbar will be doing some remodeling. I'd rather just let them look and walk away.

9-garage your vehicle.................I know filling the garage with tons of crap so NO cars can fit is the American way but theres your biggest chance of getting vandalized. It's like a one stop shop........100' of houses in a subdivision with 2 car garages and 4 cars sitting in the driveway!
The closer you live to a highway on ramp.........the better chance you have of getting hit. Drive off the highway.....grab........on the highway to the next neighborhood......for more grabbing

Here's a special tip...........you know those lights mounted on your garage that you keep on every night to light your driveway?
Cover the bulb openings with chicken wire or something to deter unscrewing the lights.
They unscrew the lights and then go to work in the dark.
You'll think a bulb is out until you go to change it.

Hopefully there's a tip to help someone here but thinking PHX is alone in this rampant petty theft / vehicle theft epidemic is a bit naive.
Kenny s

Local phx gaurd dog!

1987tanyota

sharrack .... um the whole "1- spot welds on your cat converter bolts" is good till the guy gets a saws all

sharrack

Logic tells me that the petty thief is armed with metric sockets and not a earthshattering loud sawzall in most cases.
An intact cat can be sold 2 ways.....for the platinum or to a salvage yard for resale.
Much like the CLUB scenario........if they want it and are good enough, the pros will have your stuff no matter what.
Keeping the amateurs at bay is your biggest problem.
K>S>

1987tanyota

yeah good point. but in past i've done some loud things to cars and nobody really noticed.... but yeah your right the amatuers are the issue most of the time.

Rock Slide

iTrader: (1)

Midget - wow, that blows...

Sharrack - Good points. Just remember though, locks are made for honest people. If someone wants something bad enough, they will do whatever it takes to get it...

Fasterthanthedevil

what sort of cable lock are you guys using to secure your spares?

drew303

heh, ive had my spare chained in my bed with a padlock for 3 years. no ones messed with my truck other than egging it in my driveway.

but i did have my ex gfs car windows bashed out in my driveway a few years ago that was weird.

YOU can never trust society. I chained my quad to my bed last night and backed the tail as close to the house as i could, it would of taken 3 guys to get it out and i would of heard it and been shooting the bastards from my window haha.

i hate how crappy society is. Why people can't live decent honest lives...

mt_goat

The cable I'm using is for locking a bicycle to a bike rack.

dirtoyboy

I use one of these to lock up my doors and spare tires

http://www.masterlock.com/promos/pyt...hon_lock.shtml

rdlsz24

Dang you guys have it rough. I've had my full size spare chilling in the bed of my truck for over 6 months now. Nobody has messed with it and I don't expect they will.

Rob

rowdy235

lol @ elton, still driving on that spare?

JasonWin

Wow that's crappy. As I've said before in anouther thread most of the people around here, if they don't have keyless entry, don't lock the doors. And the only break ins we hear about, are maybe a few CDs and the change from the ash try missing. I know, it's horrible, but we learn to deal with it...

Belize Off Road Team

didn't you notice the missing weight in the rear??? i know i did when i removed mine!

toy_tek

That sucks.

Another alternative: Used spare tire on a stock steel rim. My backup isn't worth $20, but it will get me home.

Phoenix isn't really any worse than any other city, theft wise.

mt_goat

Yeah, my current spare I bought used just for a spare. I was tempted to just get a new one but the thought of hanging a brand new $200 tire under there seemed a little risky, cable locked or not. That plus the fact that in 15 years of driving this truck I've never actually needed the spare.

James Dean

I know you can't put a very big lock thru it, but don't all Toyota spare tire hangers have the tab that you stick thru a lug hole for a lock. You would have to have the tire all the way down and it's still hard to cut since it's in the recess of the rim. No way to get a hack saw in there. Would certainly slow down most crooks, especially the dumb ones.