What's the best way to protect my car stereo equipment?

[BigToque]

What are the best things I can do to help protect my equipment from being stolen?

I want to get an alarm system with a pager that will alert me when the alarm goes off and make sure that there are loud horns to make getting the equipment a painful experience.

Is there some way to properly secure the headunit to the car? As it stands now, it doesn't take much to rip the dash off, undo a few screws and pull out the deck/wiring harness.

I know that anyone that REALLY wants my stuff is going to get it, but I want to deter the smash and grab kinda thieves, which is what most theft is anyway.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

buy a real ****** car that no one would bother looking at. But hey, you'll get the block jumpin

 

[mwmorph]

http://blackarmor.com/Cars_Index.htm

Lets see them smash through 1" of bulletproof glass to get to that headunit now.

They are actually pretty cool. Were working on Donald Rumsfelds bulletproof Lincoln Navigator at work. The car is so heavy it popped the airbag suspension. The door is incredibly heavy and I'm personally scared to touch the thing.

 

[imported_bum]

I have a friend that unhooks this stuff and hides it somewhere everytime he leaves the car. But otherwise, don't have any suggestions for ya

 

[Baked]

Don't live in the ghetto and don't leave any valueables in your car for everybody to see. Taking the face plate off your headunit is the 1st step in theft prevention.

 

[kt]

Originally posted by: mwmorph
http://blackarmor.com/Cars_Index.htm

Lets see them smash through 1" of bulletproof glass to get to that headunit now.

They are actually pretty cool. Were working on Donald Rumsfelds bulletproof Lincoln Navigator at work. The car is so heavy it popped the airbag suspension. The door is incredibly heavy and I'm personally scared to touch the thing.

They will just slim jim your door lock or bend the door frame. No need to break window.

 

[MrPickins]

The absolute best way is to keep it turned down in your neighborhood and around parking lots so as not to advertise that you have a nice stereo. Next, get a headunit with a detatchable face, and actually take it off (A lot of people don't).

Most headunits have a sleeve that they slide into and clip in place. A good thief will have the tools necessary to unclip it and slide it out. Since the clip is the only thing secured by screws, they can have it out in seconds.

An alarm is also a great idea, locks just keep an honest man honest.

 

[apinomus]

Originally posted by: mwmorphWere working on Donald Rumsfelds bulletproof Lincoln Navigator at work.

pics.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: apinomus

Originally posted by: mwmorphWere working on Donald Rumsfelds bulletproof Lincoln Navigator at work.

pics.

I will tommorow when I go back to work. Hopefully itl still be there(I dont work saturdays so i hope they didnt finish it yesterday). It looks stock except for the police red and blue flashers behind the grille and the 1" thick headliner and glass.

Originally posted by: kt

Originally posted by: mwmorph
http://blackarmor.com/Cars_Index.htm

Lets see them smash through 1" of bulletproof glass to get to that headunit now.

They are actually pretty cool. Were working on Donald Rumsfelds bulletproof Lincoln Navigator at work. The car is so heavy it popped the airbag suspension. The door is incredibly heavy and I'm personally scared to touch the thing.

They will just slim jim your door lock or bend the door frame. No need to break window.

Well the door/frame/pillars is filled with ballistic steel and the lock is replaced. It uses this crazy looking key.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

The only way to protect a car stereo is to remove it from the car. Alarms are useless. Too many morons with too many car alarms going off constantly have made the entire world tune them out. People hear an alarm they don't even look, they just think "shut that thing off you jerk". A pager is likewise useless. Unless you're within 50' of the car they're going to have the stereo and be gone before you get there. A removeable faceplate is nice, but get real here. NOBODY bothers with that after the first 30 days. You're either going to stop removing it entirely or you'll just stash it under the seat and it'll go with the rest of the head unit. If you religiously remove the faceplate and carry it with you without fail that will be the biggest help, but it's by no means foolproof.

If the thieves want your car stereo they are going to get it. Hope for the best, but don't invest more than you can afford to lose.

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
The only way to protect a car stereo is to remove it from the car. Alarms are useless. Too many morons with too many car alarms going off constantly have made the entire world tune them out. People hear an alarm they don't even look, they just think "shut that thing off you jerk". A pager is likewise useless. Unless you're within 50' of the car they're going to have the stereo and be gone before you get there. A removeable faceplate is nice, but get real here. NOBODY bothers with that after the first 30 days. You're either going to stop removing it entirely or you'll just stash it under the seat and it'll go with the rest of the head unit. If you religiously remove the faceplate and carry it with you without fail that will be the biggest help, but it's by no means foolproof.

If the thieves want your car stereo they are going to get it. Hope for the best, but don't invest more than you can afford to lose.

To me, the whole point of the alarm is to make getting equipment a stressful experience. I know that most pedestrians ignore the alarm, but when the alarm is going off and you're inside the car trying to work as quickly as possible, that alarm is going to be hurting your ears and it'll definitely get your adrenaline going and make you worried that you've drawn at least some attention to yourself.

If you can secure your equipment so that it can't be taken in under a minute, you've just stopped a very high percentage of would be thefts.

 

[0roo0roo]

don't buy expensive headunit
keep speakers hidden under stock grills
somehow install the headunit deeper than normal and slap a crap ass headunits face plate on top when parked.

 

[nutxo]

Originally posted by: MrPickins
The absolute best way is to keep it turned down in your neighborhood and around parking lots so as not to advertise that you have a nice stereo. Next, get a headunit with a detatchable face, and actually take it off (A lot of people don't).

Most headunits have a sleeve that they slide into and clip in place. A good thief will have the tools necessary to unclip it and slide it out. Since the clip is the only thing secured by screws, they can have it out in seconds.

An alarm is also a great idea, locks just keep an honest man honest.

These are all good tips. Especially the bumping in your local area and around parking lots.

As for the person that commented about living in the ghetto, It's just as bad in the good parts of town. Little rich kids love to thieve for some reason.

 

[WENEEDLIGHT]

Originally posted by: nutxo

Originally posted by: MrPickins
The absolute best way is to keep it turned down in your neighborhood and around parking lots so as not to advertise that you have a nice stereo. Next, get a headunit with a detatchable face, and actually take it off (A lot of people don't).

Most headunits have a sleeve that they slide into and clip in place. A good thief will have the tools necessary to unclip it and slide it out. Since the clip is the only thing secured by screws, they can have it out in seconds.

An alarm is also a great idea, locks just keep an honest man honest.

These are all good tips. Especially the bumping in your local area and around parking lots.

As for the person that commented about living in the ghetto, It's just as bad in the good parts of town. Little rich kids love to thieve for some reason.

AGREED - good advice

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: mwmorph
http://blackarmor.com/Cars_Index.htm

Lets see them smash through 1" of bulletproof glass to get to that headunit now.

They are actually pretty cool. Were working on Donald Rumsfelds bulletproof Lincoln Navigator at work. The car is so heavy it popped the airbag suspension. The door is incredibly heavy and I'm personally scared to touch the thing.

Dude, that is awesome! I would love someone to try and car jack me in that BMW.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Remove face plate
Ensure sub+amp are hidden
Don't bump in neighborhoods/parking lots (common courtesy anyway, also turn the ****** down at a red light so you don't give someone a migraine)

In all reality if someone wants in, they'll get in. What you've got to do is deter them from wanting to get in. No faceplate, locked doors, maybe security system stickers, etc will make them prefer to hit another car that has a faceplate in & looks like an easier job than yours.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Take it out of your car when you're not in it.

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
don't buy expensive headunit
keep speakers hidden under stock grills
somehow install the headunit deeper than normal and slap a crap ass headunits face plate on top when parked.

I forgot that excellent piece of advice.

Nobody wants stock headunits/speakers. I know it's far from the best as far as sound quality (whatever, I have other things to spend money on), but I still have my factory headunit powering the system in my Ranger. With the sub and the amp behind the seats, nobody is interested in breaking in to my truck.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

You can use plumbing strap to anchor the deck behind the dash and you can install horns under the dash to make the experience very uncomfortable for the idiot.

The only problem with anchoring the deck is that the guy will likely trash your entire dash trying to get it out.

 

[SilthDraeth]

If you can somehow hide the whole unit under some plastic that matches your dash pretty well, sort of a snap on cover, so if anyone looked inside the window, all they would see is straight dash, they wouldnt even be tempted to try and steal it.

 

[effowe]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
The only way to protect a car stereo is to remove it from the car. Alarms are useless. Too many morons with too many car alarms going off constantly have made the entire world tune them out. People hear an alarm they don't even look, they just think "shut that thing off you jerk". A pager is likewise useless. Unless you're within 50' of the car they're going to have the stereo and be gone before you get there. A removeable faceplate is nice, but get real here. NOBODY bothers with that after the first 30 days. You're either going to stop removing it entirely or you'll just stash it under the seat and it'll go with the rest of the head unit. If you religiously remove the faceplate and carry it with you without fail that will be the biggest help, but it's by no means foolproof.

If the thieves want your car stereo they are going to get it. Hope for the best, but don't invest more than you can afford to lose.

You're right about removing the faceplate isn't foolproof, but I think of it this way. If a thief looks into your car and sees that there is no faceplate, he has no idea if you had taken it or stashed it away somewhere in your car. I would think that they would go for an easy target (IE a car with the faceplates on) where they know they can get the stereo, rather than breaking into a car with a chance that he will get nothing but the deck without a faceplate.

 

[RaiderJ]

I have an old beater that camoflauges my stuff. Then I have an alarm that will hopefully give me enough time to get outside with a 12GA.

That said, I'm actually wanting to sell my setup (BIG sub). I don't like having anything that makes my vehicle a target.

 

[blert]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
don't buy expensive headunit
keep speakers hidden under stock grills
somehow install the headunit deeper than normal and slap a crap ass headunits face plate on top when parked.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Went to a friend's apartment complex one night and saw a bunch of cops around. Asked what was going on, it seems someone had broken out a driver's side window, opened the door, and reached under the driver's seat to unbolt something (I think it was an amp). Turns out the owner of the vehicle had soldered a bunch of double edged razor blades to a coat hanger and wrapped it around the thing, and the cops followed the blood trail back to where the would-be thief had gotten into a vehicle, and they later picked him up at the ER.

 

[DougK62]

DO NOT ADVERTISE. I see people all the time drive through the bad parts of town blasting their expensive stereos and then immediately park it to go into a store. I just shake my head at how stupid it is.