Dragroc

Well, I was at Books-A-Million looking at magazines with a friend of mine. We decided to leave to go get something to eat, and were walking out to my car...this was about 3:00 in the afternoon. My friend says, what the hell is that guy doing in your car, so I look up and see a black guy in between the driverside of my car and the passenger side of another car in the parking lot. I didn't think anything of it because I just thought that he was getting in the passenger seat of the car beside me. He started walking off to a car that was parked in between the lanes that was started with someone in the drivers seat so I said "What the f***!"...he took off, so I went to my car and went to unlock the door and it was already unlocked...got inside and there was a broken piece of metal on the floor so I picked it up wondering what it was. The two black guys were in a maroon new model Nissan Altima, so we got the tag # as they were slowly driving off...I tried to crank my car to chase them down, but I couldn't get the key to turn in the ignition. I then looked at the other side of the steering column and there it is, casing all busted up. I called the cops and filled out the police report, and they ran the tag # and it came up as a stolen car/license plate. I had to get the car towed, and it got it locked up in a shop...Well it looks like I will only have to replace the lower steering column cover and a piece I don't really know what to call...it is called something like a steering rack in my manual...it looks like a skeleton key that pulls the ignition rod when you turn the key to start the car.
I learned a good lesson about taking more caution in protecting my car. I have always hated alarms, but I think that if I would have had one that the steering column wouldn't have been messed up...I mean who would keep trying to steal a car in broad daylight with a siren going off. I have around $13,000 just in the car, and would have been devastated had it been taken away from me, only to be stripped of all the parts, then junked. I couldn't find the right forum to post this in, so I just posted here. My best advice to anyone is at least put an alarm on your cars, and if not that at least a kill switch so they can't take the car. I was lucky they didn't get the car, but they didn't even take my expensive cd player or the army issue knife that was shoved between the drivers seat and console in plain sight...so I will be out some cash, but at least I still have my car.

rezinn

Sorry to hear that man. I absolutely despise theives. I hope they get what they deserve.

Vader

Wow, that's a shock! Who would have figured they were in a stolen car?

The parts you need are the upper trim and bowl, rack and sector, and time.



There are polished or brushed (paintable) stainless steel reinforcing collars available that wrap the fragile plastic upper bowl and help prevent this kind of theft attempt. I happen to like my method: