Four Ways To Secure Your Rims

Look, here's the reality – when you buy these high-quality and durable rims for your wheels, it makes sense to be worried about theft and vandalism. But especially theft.

People really do steal rims. You can read about it on forums and elsewhere on the Internet, where people are being realistic about what happens on the street. You can see how some people are brazen enough to actually steal these parts off of a vehicle in broad daylight, with crowds around.

So what can you do to secure these vehicle assets?

We’ve heard a number of very good pieces of advice from individual car owners who are being practical about safeguarding their investments…

Wheel Locks

One of the first things you can do is buy a high-quality set of locking lug nuts. Get used to how these work, and keep the key with you, and you'll be deterring some types of theft. However, like some experts point out, thieves can get around these additional security devices, so you may want to use some of the other strategies as well.

Park Near a Wall or Barrier

Here's a very good piece of information we heard from a seasoned vehicle owner who's got a collection of late-model cars. He likes to buy the fanciest rims he can find, and he knows that thieves are after these items.

The idea, he says, is that you park the passenger side of the car right up against a concrete wall or some kind of formidable obstacle.

That way, the thief can only get two of the four rims on your vehicle. Thieves typically want sets of four, so with this deterrent, they’re likely to look elsewhere.

Tilt Switches and Sophisticated Alarms

Yes, you can actually buy complicated aftermarket setups where a tilt switch is going to generate an alarm if your vehicle gets jacked up. As soon as wheels start to leave the ground, the alarm blares out, and you can often catch these thieves in action. Don't give in to the temptation for vigilante justice – call the police and have this handled the right way!

Insurance Coverage

In some cases, you can get an insurance policy that will cover your high-dollar rims. You might still get these items stolen, but at least you can cover the cost. However, it's not the most convenient way to protect your investment in your wheel accessories.

Lower the Car

Now, we've also heard some solutions that we think are a little less practical. Yes, you can lower your car so that somebody can’t get a jack under it, but that's going to cause problems with your driving – namely, bottoming out!

In addition, some people say, cheekily, that you can damage your rims, and nobody else wants them. It's a sort of self-defeating strategy. Look at the above solutions to get theft deterrence in place that don't involve devaluing your assets!

That's a little bit about practical security for your rims – check out all of the neat alloys and materials we use to produce great-looking rims for your wheels.