Car Stereo Deterents

It seems alot of people here are getting their stereo stuff stolen. I wanted to compile a list of things to do to help prevent car stereo theft.

My suggestions are:
1. Do not play music loud close to home (important)
2. Get good alarm to help deter thieves.
3. For the subs. bolt them into something in the trunk, such as the floorboard or through some metal.
4. After having speakers, or subs screwed into the box, melt solder into the head of the screws so no screwdriver can loosen the subs (to undo just heat up and loosen with screw)


here is one cool thing my friend did to his car.

the sub box is bigger than the opening for the trunk lid. ( 3 12's) and the amps are mounted between the seats and the sub box.
also for his car(6th gen civic) you need a key to move the seats in order to access the trunk from the inside, thus no one can realy steal it.

if you have any sugestions feel free to reply.

AND please do not write "if they want your stuff, they can tow it away..."
i find that improbable for that to happen to most people on AF since they would wake up when they here a tow truck in their driveway at night...

1.) Try a bland, more stock looking headunit like a Nakamichi or some such HU that doesn't have all the flash and pizzaz like most HU's.

2.) Use screws that require a hex wrench instead of a normal philips head or flathead screwdriver.

3.) Try your best to cover up all your stuff when you park your car. Example: Throw a jacket over your subs, or put some books or magazines in the way of the HU so you can't really see it.

Ok question ~ you labeled this post "deterents" but yet... NONE of those would actually deter any theft. Someone would still have to break into your car to find your box bolted in, and they would still have to break into your car to find out their screwdriver wont take the screws out... also, theifs dont normally use "hand" screwdrivers ~ takes too long... and MOST power screwdrivers or power drills w/ screwdriver attachment has a torque option which will bust any solder joint... dont believe me, go rent one and try it for yourself!

There is no real way to DETER theft, it will happen no matter HOW HARD you plan. Your car, in some point in time will ALWAYS be vounerable... you park on a dark / desserted street... you park at the opposite end of the mall parking lot to catch a movie and its later and everyone leaves and now theres no one else parked around your car so you stand out... you cut someone off in the parking lot and he gets pissed, he finds out you stole his g/f too, you stepped on his sneaker... you have to pay attention to everyone you see. Theifs VERY RARELY hit people they dont know ~ unless its a totally totally random attack, and those people are usually after the pocket change you left in your ash tray that they can see by looking in or might be a half ass cracker jack headunit theif... They dont ever doo much damage ~ and theres really no way to protect yourself from em.

Originally posted by sparq
Ok question ~ you labeled this post "deterents" but yet... NONE of those would actually deter any theft. Someone would still have to break into your car to find your box bolted in, and they would still have to break into your car to find out their screwdriver wont take the screws out... also, theifs dont normally use "hand" screwdrivers ~ takes too long... and MOST power screwdrivers or power drills w/ screwdriver attachment has a torque option which will bust any solder joint... dont believe me, go rent one and try it for yourself!



i wanted hints of things to help slow down the process of theft... sometimes when things suprise theives, and they don't think they can handle it... they run away... i know no matter what something can happen, but i want to have a listof things people can do to be smart about their audio equipment.

oh yeah sparq.. having that hottie in your car one day will attract everyone including theives...hahaha

Originally posted by igo4bmx
oh yeah sparq.. having that hottie in your car one day will attract everyone including theives...hahaha You are 100% correct... Like I started saying in other posts ~ the more your car stands out, the more of a target it is. If you are one car on a street with 200 other cars and you got a 4' high supra wing with your rims pushed out ~ and someone walks onto the street who do they see? They might walk right by the Mercedes S class or BMW M5 because you caught their eyes first.

Now the trick is to slow them down as much as possible... the key? Figuring out just exactly what you want to prevent. Do you want your car to still be there and to come back to all your shit jacked? Do you want your shit all busted up because they couldnt get it out? Car stolen so you just file a total claim? I mean you need to figure out what your goal with your "security" is...

Key things EVERY system should have...

1. DO NOT USE STANDARD OR METRIC bolts on ANYTHING you bolt down
2. DO NOT use philips/regular head screws
3. If your headunit can bolt in using 8 screws, dont just use two and say "well hey it doesnt move or fall out so im ok"
4. HIDE YOUR DAMN ALARM SIREN (sure it can still be found but hey an extra 10 seconds is an extra 10 seconds that someone might actually walk by and see someone doing this to your car right???)
5. HIDE YOUR DAMN ALARM BRAIN ~ No sticking it behind the glove box is not the best spot!!!!
6. MINI SIRENS INSIDE THE CAR ~ whats worse then cutting the MAIN siren only to have multiple PIEZO sirens going off INSIDE the car which will get very annoying if you mount them correcting because a PIEZO siren is hard to determine the source as it sounds like its coming from everywhere... throw 3 or 4 of those puppies in and each one your looking at another 10 seconds plus for each one depending on how good you are with the wiring and hiding!



Could think of some more but its getting late...

I might as well add my 2¢ worth....
Don't brag about your system or mods in public or on forums like this. You may trust your friends but they have friends and stuff like that gets passed around. As for forums like this wonderful one, most of us are harmless and would probably never get visit the city where you live. There could be some unknown jackass visitor in your area reading your posts and decide that he would also like your system, but with a really big discount ;) I know it's pretty far-fetched, but you can never be too careful...

when you screw your subs into the box use those security screws that neeed a special type of key to take them out. i'll see if i can find them

heres the link
http://www.selectproducts.com/frameindex.htm

pretty expensive, but its better than getting your subs and amps stolen

Originally posted by 94civic
heres the link
http://www.selectproducts.com/frameindex.htm

pretty expensive, but its better than getting your subs and amps stolen Nope, wrong... try...

http://www.selectproducts.com/product/screws.html

:cool:

But, notice they sell JUST the head to that... some people, like me might just happen to have one of those.

Man thieves will take anythng.. Mo Foo's took mine a couple months ago. and i thought what i did deter or slow any mo fo down. But was wrong.. They took ECLIPSE deck and indash Changer.. It has a ESN (eclipse security Network) the deck won't work unless u have the CD u used to program it.

Mo Foo's broke everything in my ride.. I routed wires from the deck to the changer behind the glove and wrappd it to the cross member. The Thieves broked the glove to relize the couldn't get it the by wire wire so they left it..

To get ot the deck u you have to pull the mid console out.. the Mo foos just Cracked my dash in halve and took the whole dam piece.

I always lock the trunk release next to the driver seat. DAM theives cracked sucker in half to pull the wire.

So they now had access to the trunk.. I thought my box woul be kinda safe or slow tem down cause they were bolted to the floor board and to my rear strut bar.. WRONG.. MO FO"S took the time to un bolt from the board and took the dam bar (but left the be brackets)

too my whole system maybe less than 10 mins.. i was only in class for less than a hr too...

IF someone wants ur sh#t.. they's get it.. only way to deter a thief is not have anythng they want..

but that will never happen.. So i'm investing kind of deadly pet like a pit viper... or that chemical that the ancient Egyptians used when they sealed tombs.. I think it's like antrax or something.. it kill u a couple days later..

you wanna completely deterr stereo thieves? every time you park, take your head unit completely out, take the subs out and the amps out and carry them with you wherever you go.

Originally posted by Swonder67
you wanna completely deterr stereo thieves? every time you park, take your head unit completely out, take the subs out and the amps out and carry them with you wherever you go. Hahaha! Yeah there you go... but what about your speakers? Gotta take those out too... but what about the wiring? Shit my RCA cables by themselvs are probably more expensive then some of your guys subwoofers -- better yet, if you are this "paranoid" about your stuff getting stolen, then maybe you shouldnt have a stereo to begin with... or do like me, just get a Jensen headunit, hey whos gonna steal a Jensen :finger: :devil: