Headlight's stolen off 2007 RX350
08-09-07, 05:42 AM
#16
Now, I do not feel bad that I have regular Halogens....not much interest for the crooks. Still, nothing feels worse than being violated.
08-09-07, 05:45 AM
#17
08-09-07, 06:07 AM
#18
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One of my neighbors has Porsche 911 and has had his lights stolen twice. He is trying to rig something up so anyone who tries gets a zap (hooking it up some line to a battery).
08-09-07, 09:49 AM
#19
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PS. One question. Is your headlights the HID version or the regular halogen headlights? The reason being is the halogen headlights have no value since it is the HID projector the thief wants.
08-09-07, 09:56 AM
#20
i remember this was a common problem in maximas and they had the recall the cars to fix the headlight housings. sorry about ur car, newark is in some deep crime right now and in addition with the murder of those 3 kids. and if a thief wants something in ur car, they will take it no matter what so there is no way to prevent it, unless u park it in a enclosed area.
08-09-07, 10:03 AM
#21
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Your Dad is a smart man. I've been living in Newark for 43 years and now I am seriouly looking into moving. I have heard the city was making a come back for the past 30 years and it's worse than ever. I need to sell my home and hit the road to a better place.
08-09-07, 10:10 AM
#22
hmm come to buffalo new york, we need more cl memeber here lol, but gas in jersey is cheaper 
but yea r relatives live in jersey city and trenton, so far all of the emblems on their hondas and acuras have been stolen, and my aunt with her benz has been lucky so far, but one time she did park her car on the street and when she came out, whole side was just ruined someone sideswiped her
but yea r relatives live in jersey city and trenton, so far all of the emblems on their hondas and acuras have been stolen, and my aunt with her benz has been lucky so far, but one time she did park her car on the street and when she came out, whole side was just ruined someone sideswiped her
08-09-07, 10:14 AM
#23
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Anyway, the data dots and reinforcement plates that Lexus uses does not address this problem. The idea as someone mentioned is to allow tracking of a stolen part. If the part is believed to be stolen, they can check for the data dots and determine if that part (The headlights) are from the car in question or are from a car that had headlights reported stolen. The problem is these data dots are NOT on the projector. So, basically after the thief steals your headlights they discard the portion that has the data dots on anyway so it is useless.
From what I can tell, if they were going for the projector it's looks like Lexus
has placed them in a metal box, which can not easily be taken out and reused in another vehicle.
I will post pictures of the damaged lights tomorrow
08-09-07, 11:49 AM
#24
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RX350KL I’m sorry to hear about your theft. I've heard of this type of theft on many other cars that have HID lights. I myself just recently replaced my driver’s side headlight and man it’s a pain in the butt when you are being careful and trying not to damage anything. The headlight housing is only held on by 3 bolts and a retainer clip that wedges itself under the front bumper, hence why they remove the front bumper.
However CK6Speed makes a good point, you may not want to add additional security brackets it will only cause more damage since the thief won’t know about it until after the fact. Kind of like installing a car stereo, yes you can secure it down real good but the thief doesn’t care if he cracks your entire dash board to get it out. I know that some vehicles have headlights that can be more easily removed then others but if the thief doesn’t care how much damage he is going to do there is only so much the manufactures can do to prevent it.
The problem is the plastic brackets on the RX headlights are just too easy to break off. I would like to see the headlights redesigned so that the bolts screw into the actual headlight housing instead of using small easily breakable plastic brackets to hold them down. You could then round the bolts off with a Dremel so sockets won't fit which is a bit of a permanent solution but you could always cut them off if it really came down to it. This would not prevent the theft but would slow the stealing process down long enough to put a foot up the thief’s ***. I had a tail gate stolen off of a pick up truck and when I replaced it I rounded the bolts off so no wrench sockets would fit - its been working like a charm.
However CK6Speed makes a good point, you may not want to add additional security brackets it will only cause more damage since the thief won’t know about it until after the fact. Kind of like installing a car stereo, yes you can secure it down real good but the thief doesn’t care if he cracks your entire dash board to get it out. I know that some vehicles have headlights that can be more easily removed then others but if the thief doesn’t care how much damage he is going to do there is only so much the manufactures can do to prevent it.
The problem is the plastic brackets on the RX headlights are just too easy to break off. I would like to see the headlights redesigned so that the bolts screw into the actual headlight housing instead of using small easily breakable plastic brackets to hold them down. You could then round the bolts off with a Dremel so sockets won't fit which is a bit of a permanent solution but you could always cut them off if it really came down to it. This would not prevent the theft but would slow the stealing process down long enough to put a foot up the thief’s ***. I had a tail gate stolen off of a pick up truck and when I replaced it I rounded the bolts off so no wrench sockets would fit - its been working like a charm.
08-09-07, 12:03 PM
#25
Excellent idea about rounding off bolt heads.
The best anti-theft is a fuel pump switch which is hidden. Have you heard about this? A lot of guys I know have done this. Can not start the car....and he's scratching his head. Then again, they probably know by now, too.... so the game is to find the switch.
The best anti-theft is a fuel pump switch which is hidden. Have you heard about this? A lot of guys I know have done this. Can not start the car....and he's scratching his head. Then again, they probably know by now, too.... so the game is to find the switch.
08-09-07, 12:28 PM
#26
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Sorry for your mishap. There's nothing that you and I can do w/ those moron they don't care about damages on your suv they are focus to get what they want, up to the extent of hurting someone who will stop them.
Good that you are not there while they are doing it.
Just make sure you ask around for a reliable shop who can paint and put back
all the accessories as if nothing happen to your ride. It's always a pain and
hearthache waiting for your ride and on the day you get it you don't like the
outcome. If they will change everything try to ge the old parts you may never
know may be one of this day it will be of use for you or somebody (sell it).
Good that you are not there while they are doing it.
Just make sure you ask around for a reliable shop who can paint and put back
all the accessories as if nothing happen to your ride. It's always a pain and
hearthache waiting for your ride and on the day you get it you don't like the
outcome. If they will change everything try to ge the old parts you may never
know may be one of this day it will be of use for you or somebody (sell it).
08-09-07, 01:46 PM
#28
Nope, but the cops found the lights......
08-09-07, 02:54 PM
#30
There's no way of stopping these perps....one of these days, somebody will just pump a .45 on one of them and maybe, just maybe, it will stop them. But why do we have to resort to violence?