17 replies to this topic

[Jonesy1275]

Ive seen alot of chat about quick release steering wheels on road cars and thought i would throw my penneths worth in.

I was talking to a chap about these things who races Minis on Tarmac, and he asked me this question.

His reply's to my stupid answers are below highlighted.

 

1) Why do you need a quick release on a road car?

 

a) To make it look/feel like a racing car?

You aren't a racing driver?? why??

 

b) Because its a cool gadget?

Its your money - spunk it however you like - but..........

 

c) Security?

Yes, ok, not having a steering wheel might deter a thief, however, why dont you just carry a 37mm socket in the glove box and when you park up for the night, undo the nut and take the wheel in?? takes about 8 seconds, i do it myself and it works for me.

Alternatively, finger tight works just fine with a locking washer to stop the nut moving.

 

Another point on security, i hear alot of silly hysteria from head swaggering security nay-sayers who say, "well, if they lift it onto a trailer youve had it"

 

Ok, in 1973 thats true.

 

But this is the age of GPS. HFS and facebook being able to find you anywhere in the world on your smartphone, so Put a tracker on your car -for the same price it would cost you for a proper quick release steering boss,  you can buy and have professionally fitted, a battery cut off, autowatch tracker and ghost immobiliser which not only tells you if the car has been hotwired or started without the seperate "ghost" fob in the car, even if they nick your keys it does the same thing, but if the car moves more than 20ft without being started, outside its "electronic fence", i.e on a trailer,  it alerts you immediately and the police can find your car within minutes.

Bare in mind, most lorrys big enough to lift a car are limited to 56mph, so they cant get far can they.

 

So really, rather than blast £250 on a piece of tin crap whos novelty wears off after you realize it pushes your wheel towards you and alters your steering position, has play in it and wiggles about,  and unlike that chap from Worcester with tuned the 1380 cooper who bought a £100 quick release boss off ebay and had his steering wheel come off at 85mph on the M5 by droitwich, and ended up losing his right leg in the accident, and having his steering column through his right pec muscle,  youll have the knowledge that your wheel is attached, and if you want to remove it, you do it the logical way! take the flippin nut off.

 

I was looking at quick release wheels , and i suddenly thought, hang on, im going to pay a fortune on a mechanism, that will always leave play in my wheel, rattle like f**k, probably break, be a b**tard to fit, and be no more effective than just undoing the nut on my wheel and lifting it off.

 

Im no genius, but really, hes right.

 

 

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Thanks for this highly insightful and generally inspiring post.

 

People like them, let them enjoy them.

[Tamworthbay]

There is no play in decent quality ones at all. They are dead simple to fit, if you can't fit one then you probably shouldn't bother with an old car. There is no reason a quality one will fail and they have anti lift pins to prevent accidental release. I don't know of the incident you refer to, but there must have been something else at play for it to fail.

Your suggestion of continually removing and replacing the steering wheel will lead to wear in the splines which COULD lead to them failing and whilst your wheel will be tightly attached to the column it won't be connected to the wheels.

I use one purely for security. Yes they can nick it with a trailer but most thefts are opportunist scumbag thefts. In these cases no wheel keeps it safe whereas a GPS tells you where to find the burnt out shell or trashed mini.

[sledgehammer]

for security , chain the seat headrest to the steering wheel (fixed head rest type)

 

It's what I used to do with my convertible , & keeps the seat dry if hood not up

Edited by sledgehammer, 05 January 2014 - 08:42 PM.

[Jonesy1275]

Thanks for this highly insightful and generally inspiring post.

 

People like them, let them enjoy them.

 

Agree totally, each to their own. But it was a point of view, why are you in this thread if not to offer anything but a smart comment?

[Jonesy1275]

There is no play in decent quality ones at all. They are dead simple to fit, if you can't fit one then you probably shouldn't bother with an old car. There is no reason a quality one will fail and they have anti lift pins to prevent accidental release. I don't know of the incident you refer to, but there must have been something else at play for it to fail.

Your suggestion of continually removing and replacing the steering wheel will lead to wear in the splines which COULD lead to them failing and whilst your wheel will be tightly attached to the column it won't be connected to the wheels.

I use one purely for security. Yes they can nick it with a trailer but most thefts are opportunist scumbag thefts. In these cases no wheel keeps it safe whereas a GPS tells you where to find the burnt out shell or trashed mini.

 Again, agree, nothing protects you against a burned out shell.

But they do work.

And id rather have a chance of catching them than not have a clue, wouldnt you?

 

So your in bed, or at the pub, and your electronic fence alarm alerts you your car is on the move on a trailer, wouldnt you rather know, contact the tracking centre and have them live track your car with the police and stop them burning it out?

 

Also, a battery cut off and fuel cut off are fitted, how far will they get if they cant start the car?

 

 

Am i missing something? 

[Tamworthbay]

There is no play in decent quality ones at all. They are dead simple to fit, if you can't fit one then you probably shouldn't bother with an old car. There is no reason a quality one will fail and they have anti lift pins to prevent accidental release. I don't know of the incident you refer to, but there must have been something else at play for it to fail.
Your suggestion of continually removing and replacing the steering wheel will lead to wear in the splines which COULD lead to them failing and whilst your wheel will be tightly attached to the column it won't be connected to the wheels.
I use one purely for security. Yes they can nick it with a trailer but most thefts are opportunist scumbag thefts. In these cases no wheel keeps it safe whereas a GPS tells you where to find the burnt out shell or trashed mini.

 Again, agree, nothing protects you against a burned out shell.
But they do work.
And id rather have a chance of catching them than not have a clue, wouldnt you?
 
So your in bed, or at the pub, and your electronic fence alarm alerts you your car is on the move on a trailer, wouldnt you rather know, contact the tracking centre and have them live track your car with the police and stop them burning it out?
 
Also, a battery cut off and fuel cut off are fitted, how far will they get if they cant start the car?
 
 
Am i missing something?

I have a baby alarm, a fraction of the price of a GPS tracker. I don't need to know where they are taking it to - believe me they won't get into it let alone start it.

[Jonesy1275]

And to add

 

Yes they are simple to fit, hence all the people complaining on other forums and web generally about them.

The something else at play was his cheap crap quick release failed and he almost died - not much else to say is there.

[Tamworthbay]

It also does seem strange that most of the topics you start are saying how wonderful trackers are and how rubbish other forms of security are. Are you trying to flog them or something as it does seem a bit suss if I am honest.

[Jonesy1275]

It also does seem strange that most of the topics you start are saying how wonderful trackers are and how rubbish other forms of security are. Are you trying to flog them or something as it does seem a bit suss if I am honest.

Ok ill ignore the snide attitude and give you an example.

 

Theres also a chap at our club whos car was stolen off the pub car pack on a 7.5 ton flatbed in 2013 during February, the police located it in 12 minutes and caught them on the A449, this arrest led to a unit with 5 classic cars and 11 motorbikes in it, all returned to their rightful owners.

 

Now what do you think the owners of that gear thought of the mini with the tracker? do you think they made smart arse comments about what a ******* he was going on about having tracker, or do you think they were willing to buy him a beer for helping locate their previously lost vehicles.

 

Dont like it? dont comment.

 

Is this what people do here? when someone starts a thread, ******* who swagger their heads and smart comment have to descend on it and start making personal comments about someone because they dont like trackers?

Most likely, they dont have one, and will be the people posting sad photos online with comments like "whoever stole my prode and joy...i hope one day someone steals yours...etc etc"

Not me pal, i want at least to raise my odds if nothing else.

If you dont, whatever, its your business.

 

I have been starting threads about all kinds of stuff, including asking how to do things and getting good advice from the decent mini owners on here, the people who just troll and smart comment obviously have nothing better to do, but in my opinion, can ram it up their arses.

[Jonesy1275]

Also  "CLIVE", it seems ironic to me that a guy whos avatar is "george orwells 1984" which is about the all seeing eye and big brother, would have such a snide attitude about tracking and security.

People in glass houses sugar , people in glass houses.

[Jonesy1275]

 

 

There is no play in decent quality ones at all. They are dead simple to fit, if you can't fit one then you probably shouldn't bother with an old car. There is no reason a quality one will fail and they have anti lift pins to prevent accidental release. I don't know of the incident you refer to, but there must have been something else at play for it to fail.
Your suggestion of continually removing and replacing the steering wheel will lead to wear in the splines which COULD lead to them failing and whilst your wheel will be tightly attached to the column it won't be connected to the wheels.
I use one purely for security. Yes they can nick it with a trailer but most thefts are opportunist scumbag thefts. In these cases no wheel keeps it safe whereas a GPS tells you where to find the burnt out shell or trashed mini.

 Again, agree, nothing protects you against a burned out shell.
But they do work.
And id rather have a chance of catching them than not have a clue, wouldnt you?
 
So your in bed, or at the pub, and your electronic fence alarm alerts you your car is on the move on a trailer, wouldnt you rather know, contact the tracking centre and have them live track your car with the police and stop them burning it out?
 
Also, a battery cut off and fuel cut off are fitted, how far will they get if they cant start the car?
 
 
Am i missing something?

I have a baby alarm, a fraction of the price of a GPS tracker. I don't need to know where they are taking it to - believe me they won't get into it let alone start it.

 

 

Now lets put the swords down and tell me about this baby alarm, sounds more like what this thread was about.  Never heard of a baby alarm, what is it?

[Tamworthbay]

Please do not try to take on the role of the victim. You have harped on about trackers on several threads and complaints have been made by several members. Hijacking a wanted thread is rude, patronising other members is rude. My comment was not snide in any way, it was direct and to the point - are you involved with selling them? It seems strange that you attempt to turn to many threads to trackers if you do not have a vested interest in them. The only person who has made personal comments is yourself, you need to remember that this is a family friendly forum and abusive posts will not tolerated.

The members on here are intelligent people and will make up their own minds regards their security arrangements, they do not need one idea continually ramming down their throats.

[Tamworthbay]

Also  "CLIVE", it seems ironic to me that a guy whos avatar is "george orwells 1984" which is about the all seeing eye and big brother, would have such a snide attitude about tracking and security.
People in glass houses sugar , people in glass houses.

If you wish to start a conversation about George Orwell you are more than welcome, I would very happily contribute. However you seem to have missed the major point of 1984 which is anti the tracking of the population and control by the authorities, not pro as it would need to be for my post to be ironic as suggested. Just for your interest the reason that my avatar is 1984 is because it is the most widely recognised of his novels and I am a massive fan of his work. His true genius lay in his non fiction, if you haven't already I can recommend Homage to Catalonia and the Road to Wigan Pier. The lion and the unicorn is also well worth a read. His radio broadcasts during the war are also fascinating.

But back to the point, I do not have any attitude to tracking, either way, just to repeated attempts to hijack threads. You are more than welcome to start threads on all sorts of issues, including tracking, but please consider other members and do not take it personally when their views are different to yours.

[Jonesy1275]

Calm it down a bit clive, not hijacked anyones threads, only made references to trackers because they are a good investment, especially when used in conjunction with other immobilisers and alarms on the same vehicle, it is a good idea.

My example about the guy whos tracker helped find about 300k worth of other peoples nicked stuff was a big up for the classic mini owner with a tracker, saving other peoples stuff.

 

There does seem, and you cant deny this, a multitude of folk who seem to think that once a car is on a wagon and driven off, its lost.

It frustrates me beyond belief that these same folk are crying into their beer when theirs gets lifted when they could have at least raised the odds.

 

The only people ive gone off at, and i would face to face, are the ignorant who hijack MY threads and tell me that theres nothing you can do to find your car once its gone, along with the usual burned out car comments.

Well sure, mini or Maserati, once its on fire, as far as im concerned they can do what they want with it, thats tough isnt it.also thats what insurance is for.

 

To be fair, ive had it, every time i mention a tracker, in any way shape or form, some smart ass (and i dont mean you for the record) comes in with "blah, blah blah...i hate trackers..etc etc"  well ok, cool, so whats the alternative? facebook and mini forums?

"Please help me....so and so was stolen from here on such and such..."

 

Or

 

"Oh there it is, that flashing bleep on my iphone google maps, ill just alert the tracking centre and the police, lets get the nasty little people"