CherryBomb

Actually, a wheel lock isn't a bad idea. Anything we can do to deter theft. Thieves want to get in and out of a situation as quickly as possible, and if there are too many barriers, they will be less likely to steal anything and will move on. I've watched a lot of shows and videos with interviews with former thieves (burglars and car thieves), and they all say that. They aim for the easiest targets. These days, car thieves don't need keys to steal your car, especially keyless cars like ours, which are actually easier to steal than older cars. There are these devices that are readily available online for about £60 that pick up the signal from your key fob and send it to another device, making it seem like key is near the car and therefore giving access. It's called 'relay theft'. What happens is, many people leave their keys by the door (as mentioned above) and the devices can pick up the radiowaves (or whatever they are called) from the fob hrough the door or wall. I watched a video in which a detective recommended putting your fob in a faraday bag to block transmission of the signal. You don't have to buy one of these, though. You can make them easily enough with aluminium foil and/or other materials. Plenty of tutorials on youtube about this. Also, there are trackers now that don't require a subscription, just a sim card wtih a monthly top-up, with no data required (just text messages). I think knowing where your car is located is more likely to help get it back than not knowing where it is. Having said that, you'd probably have to go get it yourself, as car theft is low on the police's priority list (though higher if it's aggravated theft), as they are seriously overstretched and have to use resources sparingly for more lethal crimes. I'm seriously considering a wheel lock myself, which is how I came upon this post. My car is parked in a locked car park where I live and it can't be seen from the street; however, I live in the borough of Newham, which has the highest car crime rate in London, so security is on my mind. And I do worry about it getting stolen in some of the places I go around east London, though I'm careful about where I go. For instance, I sometimes go to Westfield mall in Stratford, but I'll be damned if I'm parking my car anywhere in Stratford, even in the mall car park. So I take the bus when I go there. I love my car that much haha. Plus, my car is red, which makes it more readily spotted. That's a positive and a negative. I think a combination of techniques is a good strategy. Nothing is 100% guaranteed to prevent crime, but it's only sensible, in my opinion, to put deterrants in place in order to lower the risk. But everyone is different, with different needs and values. Some might just want to write it off and use insurance money to get another car. And as @Rich said, thieves could just kick the door in, and even hurt people, in a search for keys, in which case that requires a whole different set of security issues. But anyway, it's probably better to be safe than sorry.

LOLOLOL

@MartinT The Black Rabbit pub is still there! https://www.theblackrabbitarundel.co.uk/

I love that you took a photo of the breakfast, @Leevsfortyone lol

Yes, it does. I get it at least once every time I go out. I'm sure people are wondering "What the hell is that?" and "Wow, that's cool" simultaneously. lol

I have NO idea what @Rocket Panda was up to, but it was hilarious!

On the way home, I had a really cool experience. I was in the Blackwall Tunnel, so going slow obviously, and I saw this Bentley in the wing mirror coming up next to me, so I looked over as it came up beside me to have a look. Well, there was little boy in the passenger's seat, he couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 (and not in a car seat, and apparantly up on his knees). I smiled at him and he looked at me briefly, but for the whole 4 or 5 seconds that the car was beside me, he was looking at my car. I mean intently checking it out. I just grinned and thought, yeah, kid, you got it. You're on the right track. You might be in a Bentley, but forget that cumbersome thing, my car is FUN. It was just like one of those wistful car commercials with the romantic music in which a little boy dreams of driving a race car. If I were a film director, I couldn't have produced a more perfect moment. It was amazing!

Thanks for organising it! Nice to see everyone! Don't our cars look great. I can't stop looking at my car. I love it. And thanks to @GT86-Ian and @Leevsfortyone for taking me for spins in your souped-up cars! Especially to Lee for actually letting me DRIVE yours. Wow. 🤩

Nice to meet you, too, Martin! We'll forgive you for driving a BRZ haha. Nice pic of all our bums!

I'll have red in large.

Ewwww, nooooo, sacrilege. I have actually seen photos of that prototype, and I'm so glad they didn't go into production. A convertible version just seems so out of sync with what this car is all about. I have to go wash my eyes now.

Congrats on the new car! You will have a blast. Sorry about the damage.

It's so great of him to meet up with the owners. It shows true dedication, and passion, and concern for customers. I'm really impressed. You guys must have had a trememdous day!

Hopefully newbies will see this conversation and express some interest!

Should be able to make this one. Will let you know closer to the time.

Are these still available?

Thanks, Keith. Yours was the first face I noticed by the way. I was just listening at first and then looked up, and there you were. I yelled at the monitor lol. So I rewound and watched closely, and saw several of you. Woop! Woop! So cool. But I'm so envious, awwww. Wish I could have been there. Oh well. So glad some of the gang were there.

Ah, so cool. Work just has to get over these sorts of things, these important life events, eh? It almost would have been worth getting fired over lol. Did you ask him about the torque dip, by any chance?

I don't have access to a hosepipe, nor the space to store a machine to properly spray foam onto my car, so I bought a pump bottle sprayer, using the correct ratio of 1-5 as indicated in the instructions on the foam. I knew it wouldn't be the same, but figured at least I could spray the foam on there. Well, it really didn't foam up at all, it just came out in a fine mist, but I figured it was ok. It didn't really coat the car thickly as it should. It just sort of dripped. So, I let it sit for about 10 minutes then rinsed it off with a jet wash (there is one at a Sainsbury's near me). The effect was that it left streaky/veiny marks in my paint and the black bits. I rinsed it again, and wiped it down with Meguiar's Detailer spray and a good microfibre, but the marks are still there. They do seem to have faded on the body, except for the door handles, but the black parts, especially on the wing mirrors are ruined. I'm rather pissed off, needless to say. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is there any way to rectify this or is it a lost cause?

Thanks, guys.

Fair enough, though I wasn't necessarily blaming them. I did say that I used a hand pump sprayer, etc. Do you have any suggestions how to fix the problem? Should I just wash it as normal, or use some special cleaner?

Yes, makes sense. I will get some later and pop them on.

Well, it had started evaporating, actually, because I had to wait for someone to finish with their car.

Yeah, I did rinse it off first. It was still wet when I applied the foam.

I'm hoping to be there. Will know more closer to the time.