AllanB

Saw them hanging around near my car and ran down and check the car before sneaking up on them. One of them tried to deny it but once i pointed out his hands were ciovered in break dust they handed them back. I let them go this time but what would you do. Would you have called the police ?

I'm just a bit worried about them returning and nicking them again or scratching my car so I thought I'd be gentle on them but give them a bit of a warning.


AllanB

Phil

I had mine nicked yesterday

Theaving little toerags

Phil

bennetm

Should have asked if they wanted the "passenger" experience, that would scare the **** out of them, and maybe win a bit of respect...
They would then probably accuse you of kidnapping, sexual assault etc... Cant win. Wire the caps to the battery?

MB

father_jack

We've had 2 sets of valve caps nicked off the Cooper already.
They're only plain metal ones, nowt special... *****.

scooby nutter

Had lots of experiance of this!
my last scoob use to be parked at the front of the house,my bedroom window overlooked it.watching tv one night and heard some noise,it was 2 kids hanging around my car.I knew what they were after so i prepared to strike!
when i saw the hand go for the valve cap i shot out of the front door and grabbed the little B$£!ard.

told him to give me his bike and go get his dad!
10 mins later dads knocking at the door "HAVE YOU STOLEN MY SONS BIKE!!!" told him what i had it for and CRACK,his dad whacked him!!!

anyway the boys dad gave me a tenner because 2 had already been stolen and went on his way....

few weeks after and now with a new set, catch another lad about 14.
I've let others go but i called the police.They bundled him into a van and off he went.

The copper told me if i had caught him down the road with my dustcaps in his hand he could have been done with theft,but cos i was so quick at getting out the front door and over a wall he didnt have time to get them off!

Ive got plastic ones on my new car!

blf21

STI valvle caps..!

evo kid

i must have lost around 6 complete sets of valve caps in the last 2 years and have only caught them in the act once .
the lad was only about 9 or 10 and i did not lay a finger on him but i bolloked him so much he was crying his eyes out

i now have give up on valve caps and had a set of flush fitting valves fitted they look better and make the wheels easyer to clean
Dafydd

kevin stanton

where do you get sti valve caps from, apart from stealing them

Neil Barnes

Off of my P1,it seems like they go as soon as they are replaced

Neil

stevencotton

Did you tell the newsagent? Perhaps losing their job and pocket money might teach them stealing is wrong.

Steve.

blp

Yep, interesting one this. What do you do? I must say I would have held him there, (not taken him into the house). Then got the phone number of the lads parents. Get the parents to get round to my house. Ideally have a word with the parents before hand to tell them I was going to put on a real hard shouting act, and scare the bejeezers out of the kid (with the parent there)and maybe then get the parent to agree the kid should wash the car or something.

A few weeks ago I was driving along a 30mph road with a cycle way on it, and I watched 4 kids pick up a litre glass bottle, throw it in the air and smash it all over the cycle way. I checked the rear view mirror, hanged the brakes on and jumped out the car before the last bits of glass had stopped rolling! They nearly poo'ed themselves! Gave them a right verbal ear bashing. Then the kid that did the throwing ran for it. Shame, cause I was about to call his parents and tell them to bring a dustpan and brush!

wrx.co.uk

Had the same problem until I tightend the valve caps with the Subaru pliers, about a 1/4 turn, not too much to damage the valve but just enough to foil 15 year old fingures, none nicked since.

Keep them in the car with the spare wheel.

pwebb

watch out for this - a colleague at work had his tyres let down at the same time as the dustcaps were lifted - luckily he noticed one tyre was looking a little flat - otherwise he may have had a serious accident as one of his valves was actually loosened and there was only 15 psi left in.

I too have lost plain plastic dust caps before now - virtually no value so why do kids do this? no need to answer btw - I am familiar with the current generation of useless offspring + moron parents.

You may like to consider applying more than just a verbal ticking off - kids will soon pass the word around to 'steer well clear'.
Cultivate a mean image and they will leave you alone.

Paul W

MrData

Hey Guys

Get the machined alloy valve caps (from Halfords) that use a little spanner to tighten up.

There's no way that you can get them off by hand! Keep the little spanner in your coin tray for when you need it.

They look quite cool and mine are still there - after a couple of months. The previous sets got nicked all the time.

Regards
Kurt

Scooby-Duke

Theiving little ***** nicked mine a while back.

Bring back CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, hang the barstewards

Dukey [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

AJbaseBloke

Back in Oz I got blcak ones that did not stand out...none pinched after that "mod"

Markus

Allan,
if it was in the good old days when we were kids then you could have given them a clout round the head and that would have set them right, but try that today and they'll either knife you, or you'll be up on an assult charge!

I would have shouted at the *******, then found out where they worked, went round there and had a go at the papershop owner, then I would have reported it to the police as an act of vandalisim, not that plod will actually do anything, but they might, plus it'd be on record.

What i'd also do is give the caps a quarter turn with a pair of pliers so they are a little tighter, then maybe smear something nasty over them. Or just wire them up to the battery and shock the little *******.

I had my metal caps nicked and was not happy, never found out who it was, but I have my suspicions, went and got some plastic ones, never had a problem.

Jza

Anyone up for a group "go round knicking our dustcaps back off BMX's down the local park" rally???

Little buggers. I caught 2 lads from the local infant school having a go whilst i was IN THE CAR!! Tints and all that

Should have seen the little buggers faces when i got out!!!

Jza

Markus

I'd have hit the horn and then opened the passenger door on the little *******. Let's just say that I'm a might overprotective about the car!

mook

Little BB guns, plastic 6mm pelets, range about 12 meters, 80 rounds a minute. It's a toy with a nasty nip at close range. Nuff said!

PeeK

Had the same thing happen round where I used to live. There were lots of cars down one stretch of road that had their dust caps nicked and nobody knew who it was.

Then a day or so after all the thefts a small hand written sign was put up in the nearby phonebox window saying "dustcaps for sale, £1" or something pretty similar. Cheeky beggars!!

Yes, they were caught!

Shark

[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

^Gazzer^

Friend of mine with Z3 goes to a car cash and carry and buys packs of 20 at a time.

druddle

Smear dog **** on them. Then watch the fekkers nick them.

Not so much light fingered as brown fingered.

Crispin

I had experience of this with my Williams 3 about 3 years ago, but the worst thing was that the kids knew the car was alarmed, and wanted to see how sensitive the motion sensor was, so they (in the middle of the night) ran past the car first and twatted the rear quarter panel to see if the alarm would go off, denting it so badly it had to be filled! Incidently alarm didn't go off - so they had the dust caps as well.....

£300 to fix.....

Find out where they live and tell the police - you'll be right p1ssed off it what happened to me happens to you!

church_monster

At least they only nicked your valve caps, came out my house three weeks ago to find the buggers had removed the P Spoiler from the boot with a crow bar and the valve caps !! Anyone know how to wire the alarm to the spoiler ??

simon_prickett

My OZ caps have gone too, I now carry 2-3 sets of black plastic ones in the glove box :-(

Kuntz aren't they?

Simon.

TonyNesta

I've lost three sets at £6 a time.

Managed to catch the buggers once - saw them hanging around on their bikes when I parked, and when I returned the caps were gone. As luck would have it, I saw them 15 minutes later and gave chase in the car. They split up and I followed one, pulled up alongside and jumped out of the car screaming blue murder and demanding the caps back whilst doing my best psychopath impression. The lad proceeded to crap himself and denied all knowledge, then said it was his mates. I then proper lost it and went nose to nose with him, and told him I was going to teach him a lesson - slashed the tyre on his bike.

Not proud of it, but revenge was sweet.

Markus

Go Tony! go Tony! as you say not proud, but at least the little git knew that you were not best pleased.

thing is, in this day and age if you go after them you would be the person who gets plods attention not the kid who's the theif and therefore the criminal.

what a fcuked up little world we live in.

Bin Laden

What the heck do people want these caps for anyway? Whats the big deal? Are they some sort of fashion thing for kids like VW signs were in the days of the Beastie Boys or something?