www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

What helps with the stealing car thing is that Teslas allow you to enable a 4 pin number, so even if thieves broke in and somehow had your key card, they can't just drive off without the pin.

Sorry to hear about your Mondeo. Was it put on a truck, or did they just drive it off?

Thanks, this was back in 2014 at Lakeside shopping centre in Essex. The thief broke the drivers window and plugged a device into the ODB port to reprogram his key into the ECU and simply drove away. I was amazed as the insurance paid out in seven days at a very good settlement. I did all the reports to the Police and forgot about it but a year later a Detective turned up at my house and told me that they had arrested the thief by tracking his movements on his phone records and getting a CCT image from the car park of him driving my car away. They had nicked him for beating up his father which gave them the phone and found a load of cut up cars and parts at a yard he rented. Since then I have had four cars and I use the extra steering wheel clamp which is a nuisance but my theory is any thief willpass on to an easier target. I am not sure if the ODB ports are so easily accessiblenow and there is an internal security movement detection scanner in the cabin when the car is locked.

I think that your wheels have a very tight group of stud holes that do not match on even every Tesla as they do 4, 5 and 6 stud patterns. I do not think most are compatible with ordinary cars and there is a limited grey market for stolen Tesla wheels. The weight of the car means you can't lift it and put it up on bricks to nick the wheels and you need two hydraulic jacks and lift stands to do it. A thief would have to be very well equipped.

DWD

dewaltdisney wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 8:43 pm The weight of the car means you can't lift it and put it up on bricks to nick the wheels and you need two hydraulic jacks and lift stands to do it. A thief would have to be very well equipped.

As far as I'm aware, just one low-profile jack (to support 2000kg) is needed to lift a single side to access both wheels. And they won't care about putting it on bricks (presumably so they can remove the jack after wheel removal), even it damages the car.

Maybe you're right about there being a limited grey market for stolen Tesla wheels, though that might change as Tesla get more popular.

twinbee wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 9:18 pm as Tesla get more popular.

- given the proliferation of manufacturers coming onto the market with infinitely better quality (not difficult apparently) and reliability (not difficult apparently) I don't think Tesla have much of a future unless they can serious undercut the opposition on price.

I hold no malice against EV's (other than with EV's politically) but there is a reality to face - Musk may have been first but he can't compete against the big players.

kellys_eye wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 10:22 pm - given the proliferation of manufacturers coming onto the market with infinitely better quality (not difficult apparently) and reliability (not difficult apparently) I don't think Tesla have much of a future unless they can serious undercut the opposition on price.

Lol, that's fighting talk where I stand ;) The earlier models had their issues, but Tesla has upped their game since. Consumer Reports even said:

The Model 3 is now the fifth most reliable out of 12 luxury compact cars in CR’s ratings of predicted new-car reliability, just below the Audi A3 and above the Acura TLX and Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

Personally, I've had nothing go wrong with my own Model 3. Some rattles which I'll be taking to service tomorrow - that's about it. Maintenance is almost zero other than tires and topping up window cleaning fluid.

I love the comfortable seats, clean look of the dash, low latency non-stop acceleration and GIANT Satnav map. I'd usually feel exhausted after a 5 hours journey with my old Celica, but autopilot on the motorway makes it a cinch, and I feel refreshed afterwards. Despite poorer handling, I hear the steering is tighter, and acceleration is smoother and more linear in the Model 3 compared to even the Taycan.

FWIW, just to give an update on this. I actually tried sandpapering the key myself, and to the best of my measurements, was making progress at around 0.01mm per 5 minutes!! Would have taken hours to finish the job and I was already getting nasty blisters in my hand after 20-30 minutes.

In the end, I went to a key cutter shop in town, and he took about 0.1-0.2mm off the surface of the key. Took him just a few minutes, using a freestyle spinning/grinding tool. Turns out that was all that was needed for the key to fit into the lug holes!