[Acura4Life]

Yes....yet..another sad story from Acura4Life....

I came out of my office building, ready to go down to my shore house, as I do EVERY weekend, when I found a post-it note on my driver's window. The note said, "Dear owner, your rear right tire is missing 3 lug nuts. I did not know if you knew but it has been like that for 2 - 3 days now."

First of all, WHAT ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

It was true.
As enough of you know me, I lost it !!!
I called Montclair Acura and they said bring her in right away. I drove DIRECTLY to the dealer from work.

I arrived at Montclair Acura, where once again I was treated like GOLD. Their service & parts Dept. was closed but yet they went out of their way to help. As soon as they saw my right rear wheel they said, "hands down, someone tried to steal your wheels, NO QUESTION. The only thing that kept them from getting them were the wheel locks."

Well, needless to say, THANK GOD I GOT THE WHEEL LOCKS.
Montclair Acura gave me 3 new lug nuts and tightened and checked all the wheels. I gave the guy a big tip for helping me after service hours.

I feel violated. I don't know where or when someone tried to get my wheels, but the wheel locks STOPPED them.
Montclair Acura said that they probably didn't even notice there were wheel locks on the MDX until they removed 3 of them and THEN realized they were screwed when they hit the wheel lock. It makes sense. The wheel locks really do look like the regular lugs.

Montclair Acura also told me that it has been somewhat of a common occurance, in NJ that people are trying to steal the wheels off of MDX's. They said they had a MDX in the back that they had to fix because someone tried to steal the wheels.

Just wanted to share my terror with you all.
Maybe my story will make some of you think TWICE about getting the wheel locks, if you don't already have them.

Because of my paranoid state, I'm NOW seriously considering LoJack.

Happy MDXing....but beware, especially if you live in the NY / NJ / Conn. area !!!!

 

[roadrunner]

Bummer - Acura4Life

Wow, that was a close one. I have to feel a little sympathy for you big city folk way up thar in Yankee-land with having to worry about both security and lousy mileage. I've lived here in Charleston for over 27 years and so far (knock on wood) the only theft or vandalism I have ever suffered is some cheap hub-caps (Halloween mischief) and one CB antenna. Still, discretion is the better part of valor so I think I will move the wheel locks to the top of my wish list.
One question, where do you keep the key? On your person or in the car?

Meep Meep

 

[ufbz]

Acura4life,

Sorry to hear about your sad story but glad it had a happy ending. And you were driving your car with only one lug nut locking in your rear right wheel for several days!!!

Now I feel a bit better that I was forced to buy the "protection package" from my dealer with the wheel locks, though I still would rather order them from Tim at Hondacuraworld than to pay ridiculous price to my dealer.

When my salesperson showed me the wheel locks and put the key in the rear compartment, I was thinking: why bother? if the thief wants to steal your wheel, he might as well break into the car and get the wheel lock keys anyway. If I leave the key at home, then what happens if I had a flat tire?

 

[Acura4Life]

Thanx for the love.

I keep the wheel lock "key" in my glove compartment.
For an emergency tire change. If they break in, they are going to take the WHOLE truck, not just the wheels.

Other wise I would have to carry it on myself.
No way.

Happy ending to the story yes, paranoid MDX owner because of it? YES !!

 

[saracami]

Those b*st*rds(Edited by Acura4Life) - life in (or near) the big city!. Say can we buy the locks from hondacuraworld.com?

 

[Acura4Life]

hondacuraworld

Yes...Tim has them for ONLY $35.50 !!!!!!!

Everyone should have them for that price.

Just my paranoid opinion.

 

[saracami]

This brooklyn girl would agree. Are they easily installed?

 

[mogur]

Alas, the only thing that would have helped is a motion sensitive alarm system.
Lojack would be of no value unless they stole the whole truck first...

Tom

Yes....yet..another sad story from Acura4Life....

Because of my paranoid state, I'm NOW seriously considering LoJack.

 

[lmeans]

Alot of bad luck

Gee Acura4Life your luck never ends does it. Too bad it's bad luck. What a bummer that this had to happen to you. First your MDX gets wrecked and now someone tries to steal your wheels. No wonder we haven't heard from you for a while. You have to sit out by your baby with a gun. Always on guard. That sucks. I said it before and I'll say it again, people have no respect for other peoples property. IT SUCKS. Why can't people just keep their little paws to themselves and admire what other people have.

The solution, you need to move. O.K. so it's not that easy, but wouldn't be nice not if you didn't have to worry about thieves. Good luck Acura4Life. Hope this is the last bad thing that happens to you. The next thread you make I want to hear something good O.K.?

Lmeans

 

[mr1margarita]

This brooklyn girl would agree. Are they easily installed?

Just take one lug nut off a wheel and put the lock on in its place. You really have to look close to even see that it is a lock. The "key' part is actually a pattern sleeve that fits over the installed section which allows you to remove it. You might want to hide the key part somewhere other than the glove box, since that is the probably the first place someone would look. Side arm rest storage compartment for 3rd row seat?

 

[SoCal MDX]

Where were the lugnuts that were removed from your MDX to put on the locks?

Hey Acura4Life, Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Glad you had the wheel locks. When the dealer installed my wheel locks they put the four lug nuts that they removed into the package where the four wheel locks had originally been and then sealed the package back up with the key. It looks like a brand new package of wheel locks and is in the little compartment under the cargo mat. I figured I would never need those lug nuts again, but now I see why they gave them back to me. I guess we should all be carrying those with us, along with the key. What happened to the four that were removed from yours originally? If your dealer is keeping them, they must have lots of lug nuts sitting around somewhere. Maybe you could get them to give you some extras to keep in your car in case this happens again. It seems kind of dangerous driving even a short distance to the dealer with missing lug nuts.

 

[MDX2theMax]

A4L,

Are you considering a trip down to Atlantic City for another big win? It's not that far down south from your beach house I guess, and maybe is just what you need to turn your luck around.

 

[Xtreme MDX]

Sorry to hear that.....

It's pretty sad that there are people out there that do these kinds of things. I was contemplating buying a set of aftermarket rims but it seems like I should just leave the OEMs since that was the reason they stole our other car. I did find some aftermarket rims that have an uncanny resemblance to the oem except it comes in a size 18 and 19. That might be an alternative. I think I might get additional locks for added measurement. By the way I hid my wheel locks somewhere in my car. Tip you can get a small plastic bag or a small sachet and hide it underneath the seat bases so it will be harder for the thieves to take the wheels off if they manage to steal the whole car. Having the wheels taken off and having the car towed to a shop once they find it causes more damage to the car than needed. Take it from someone that experienced it.

 

[donsev]

Rims

I did find some aftermarket rims that have an uncanny resemblance to the oem except it comes in a size 18 and 19.

Getting a little off thread here but could you post a link to those rims?

 

[kinmanc]

Q: If you take your MDX with wheel locks to a dealer, would they be able to take the wheel off without your key? I don't remember showing my dealer my key to my TL when I took it in for service, so they must have a way of taking the wheels off. Maybe they have keys to all locks, assuming that there are only so many different kinds of locks.

 

[hondacuraplanet]

Re: kinmanc

The nice thing about getting Acura wheel locks is that each dealer has a master set of keys, and if you need to have your Acura serviced, or if you happen to lose one, the keys can be reordered.

 

[Acura4Life]

Alas, the only thing that would have helped is a motion sensitive alarm system.
Lojack would be of no value unless they stole the whole truck first...

Tom

Yes....yet..another sad story from Acura4Life....

Because of my paranoid state, I'm NOW seriously considering LoJack.

I've been busy as all h*ll!
Sorry it took so long to respond. Much going on at work (Fiscal year end) & my personal life.

I would obviously not buy LoJack to protect my wheels.
If they tried and ALMOST got my wheelz....it's only a matter of time until someone tries to steal the whole MDX.

Sad by true.
Based on all of my bad experiences so far, I have to be PARANOID now.

 

[Acura4Life]

Re: Alot of bad luck

Gee Acura4Life your luck never ends does it. Too bad it's bad luck. What a bummer that this had to happen to you. First your MDX gets wrecked and now someone tries to steal your wheels. No wonder we haven't heard from you for a while. You have to sit out by your baby with a gun. Always on guard. That sucks. I said it before and I'll say it again, people have no respect for other peoples property. IT SUCKS. Why can't people just keep their little paws to themselves and admire what other people have.

The solution, you need to move. O.K. so it's not that easy, but wouldn't be nice not if you didn't have to worry about thieves. Good luck Acura4Life. Hope this is the last bad thing that happens to you. The next thread you make I want to hear something good O.K.?

Lmeans

Believe it or not I live in a VERY affluent town in North NJ, but it just so happens that I drive to some places that are not too nice,...I guess. This would never happen in my town....I think it happened at the d*mn(Edited by myself) mall.

 

[Acura4Life]

A.C. !!!!!!!!!

A4L,

Are you considering a trip down to Atlantic City for another big win? It's not that far down south from your beach house I guess, and maybe is just what you need to turn your luck around.

Actually I AM !!!!!!!!!
Probably July 27th !!!

My luck has always been HOT down there and I'm OVER due !!
Roll em' baby.....21 !!!!!!!

 

[TheWorm]

A4L,

You might want to consider this:

Flamethrower now an option on S. African cars

Dunno if Tim is stocking these, yet

(be sure and check out the quicktime video! can't post the link direct to that cuz it's javascript)