Preventing Catalytic Converter theft

By any chance anyone do this DIY steel expanded mental sheet Catalytic converter protector mod? I was wondering if you have done mod and had anyone stole your Catalytic converter ? Or done mod and successful still have your CC?

My DIY mod and Catalytic converter after 4 years is still protected. Just want hear any follow up.

My block has been hit 10 times in the last 3 month. My neighbor's 2002 Grand Cherokee has been hit 4 times in the last 2 months but they never was able to steal the Catalytic converter because a neighbor woke up everytime to stop the theft. They got as far as cutting his pipe in half and they used reciprocating saw every time.

SM-J737T1 ?

 

What balls to go at it with a sawzall in there driveway...the noise must be outrageous.

Its a 3 man team....driver stays behind the wheel in the get away car another guy brings a floor jack over to the car and starts jacking while another guy slips under the car. Then when the neighbor comes out the getaway takes off and they run like hell down the street to catch it and jump in.
License plate obscured.

My X10 motion sensor system will wake you right up when somebody scoots under the car. I'm building one right now I know it will work as I have used the same thing in another house for cats jumping on my cars at night. Caught all of them every time.

I'll have to show you guys the system its really easy to install and cheap and works.

 

Will thieves who steal these in 60-90 seconds actually check first to see whether it's an OEM cat or a cheap aftermarket cat? Especially if they're working in the dark? I would think that they wouldn't take the time to bother to look. Yes, the aftermarket cat isn't worth as much, but will they really skip it?

If the part arrives in time, I'm getting the Millercat Cat Shield installed on Monday.

 

I would assume that they will take the cheaper one. They won't know what is on the car until they have already jacked up the car and slid underneath. At that point they have already sunk costs into the job, and are 60s away from having a cat to sell, so even though the replacement may not be worth as much it will still be worth something. This assumes that they can even tell in the bad light under the car that it isn't an OEM cat to alert them that there is a decision to be made. As opposed to unknowingly handing it to the shady buyer who throws it back at them with "you guys trying to rip me off?!"

 

Has anyone had an aftermarket cat stolen?

Aftermarket cats have a lot less precious metals in them. They are built to catalyze only enough HC emissions to keep the check-engine-light off and that's it. We're talking less than $100 worth of precious metals.

Compared to an OEM catalytic converter with well over $1,000 worth of precious metals.

I'd suspect that as soon as a thief tries to sell an aftermarket cat and realizes they aren't worth a dime he's probably going to pay more attention and not waste any time ever again on an aftermarket cat.

 

I'm now considering installing an alarm system, in addition to the Millercat shield. The alarm system would need to sense the car getting tipped up to steal the cat, and also when bears try to break in when I'm camping! (Yep, a family of bears tried to break into my Prius last summer while camping at Rocky Mountain National Park -- unfortunately for them and fortunately for me, they failed. The Prius is well built!)

 

When I was in college (the Paleolithic era), my friend had a Corvette that had been stolen, The thieves cut a hole in his fender and disconnected the battery to disable the alarm. When he recovered his corvette (and restored all of the missing parts), he asked me if there was something that I could do to prevent another occurrence.

I installed a secondary 12v battery in his trunk an rewired the alarm to work off the secondary battery (It was charged through a diode from the primary battery). Sure enough a week later the thieves struck again. they cut a hole in the fender, disconnected the main battery and jacked up the car. When the alarm went off, they dropped the car and ran. My friend complained that they cut a hole in his fender again, but at least he still had his car.

 

Great story. Too bad about the hole. The thieves knew what they were looking for.

I already have a second 12V battery installed, and think I would attach an alarm system to that one.

Is there a thread here about alarm systems for the Prius Gen 3? I've seen some regarding the Gen 2. I found the RS3200+ mentioned on the Toyota parts website. I want something that senses when the car is tipped up (like to steal the cat), as well as when bears are trying to bust in. Last summer when the bears were climbing all over my car, trying to get in (there were many bear prints and scratches), my daughter heard people yelling and other car alarms going off, so she started calling, "Dad, dad!" but I slept through everything! I want an alarm to scare off bears and cat thieves.

The RS3200+ just honks the car horn? And has a glass break sensor, plus door sensors? No tilt or "jostle" sensor?

 

I'm not sure about a thread but there does exist the CatEye Product that uses a motion sensor installed underneath the car and a very loud alarm that supposedly deters thieves by the painfully high decibel levels.

 

I doubt it either unless the person puts a sign near the bottom on both sides, AFTER MARKET CAT

They're in a hurry and likely done in the dark

 

In the meantime I already sold my oem cat for $1350 so if they get my aftermarket cat oh well only out 125.

If you have a g2 cat in good shape not all rusted to hell and no codes sell it on eBay. The bidding was crazy for it. Like 40 bidders.

The $125 Amazon cat I got works great more than 3 months now no codes and car runs better.

I painted my new cheap cat bright orange with header paint and they will quickly realize it’s not the same cat as the welder added a collar where they usually cut it so much harder to sawzall through.

after market cat is worthless my welder already had a huge pile of cats in the corner of his shop worth so little not in any rush to recycle them.

 

Where do you think nobody steals Prius cats in Florida

 

Brother-in-law had a pretty nice Saab 900 turbo with a massive stereo system in it. Everyone knew when he was comin down the block. 15" sub in the trunk driven by a high watt amp will do that. Even with a high end alarm (but no backup battery) it will also get your whole system stolen from the car overnight while the car is sitting 20ft from where you are sleeping. Whoever it was knew cars, drilled a 1/4" hole through the inner fender and into the side of the battery, low enough to drain out most of the battery acid out, so no power available for the alarm. Easy peasy after that.

 

...just sayin

 

Thank you for the summary. I need to research custom car alarm systems. There are side-mirror cams now. Most thieves hide from front cams. They jack the car from the side. They slither under from the side. I want a tilt alarm that activates side-mirror cams instead of cabin cams. I want the alarm to be smart and send a call with video to my phone; like the "Ring" system does on houses. Then I call the police. Then I let my dogs loose. Can anyone recommend a smart alarm, with video recording, and with extra hookups for a tilt sensor? I will ask a custom shop to add a tilt sensor. I'll ask the custom shop to swap out the cabin front and rear cam for the two side-mirror cams.

 

I'm planning to do this in the next 2 weeks. I ordered the Expanded metal sheet from Grainger. If anyone is interested, here is the . item number -5PCR3.

Couple of other changes. I plan to use Tamper resistant screws (alternate Torx center pin and one way). I plan to paint it with BBQ paint and then undercoat spray to keep it from rusting.

Any thoughts, suggestions and feedback on my approach will be appreciated.

 

I've now installed a Viper 3105V alarm with 507M Tilt sensor, against possible cat thieves, and a 508D Field Disturbance sensor to scare off bears who try to break into the car while camping. I did not integrate the alarm into the car's system, because I wanted to have two fobs to give flexibility of setting or not setting the alarm when the doors are locked. That way I don't need to hear it go off inside my garage at night (the doors are locked with the car's fob, but the Viper alarm is not activated), and only arm it when I'm parked outside.

The Field Disturbance sensor is a bit touchy, so I have that set up so I can easily unplug it when not needed. For example, when parked in a store lot, I don't want the alarm going off just when a person parks or walks next to my car. The tilt sensor is active though, in case someone tries jacking up the car. I want the Field Disturbance sensor triggering when a bear gets too near while camping. If sleeping in the car, I will not set the Field Disturbance sensor, but if sleeping in a tent I will.

 

Car crushes man suspected of trying to steal its catalytic converter - Los Angeles Times

 

What Canadian web site sells a good , middle of the road, aftermarket Catalytic Converter? TIA

 

Who did you get to install it? If you don’t mind me asking, about how much did they charge you?