Spare wheel theft prevention

[Tonyash]

Hello, any suggestions out there for securing the spare wheel against theft?  I suppose any determined thief would overcome most locking methods but any is better than none. 
Thanks

[paul.warwick.587]

Hi, I found the best way was to drill a hole above the u bracket that hooks under the cage and put a padlock through it.
Just make sure it's well greased as the salt and rainwater will corrode it otherwise

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[ffrenchie]

Years ago a friend of mine got a Berlingo as a mobility car option, he has a leg off and his wife drives. They parked the car and went shopping and when they set off there was a scraping and the wheel had been stolen with the carriage left down. It looked like all the thieves had done was force the hook so the carriage dropped. Get some big tie wraps and fasten the wheel in the carriage but remember to carry some side cutters in your tool kit to release it.

[Solent]

I don't know about earlier versions but my MkIII '08 the hook is closed off by the threaded rod when in place. It would take a lot of effort to remove the wheel even with a flat tyre.

If they really want it badly enough they would have to come equiped with tools.

[twobob]

I took mine off for the first time recently (64-reg B9) - after it had been undisturbed since new 18 months before, and with no grease having ever been put on it.  I put the wheel brace on the bolt and merrily turned.  But the bolt had (already) corroded, to the extent that it wouldn't go beyond a few turns - but I didn't know this at the time.

The effect of the bolt not being able to unscrew through the hook was that, after it had slackened just a few turns, the hook span round a bit, and the cradle and wheel fell to the floor with a crash.  I think the cradle edge fits between the hook and the protruding bolt no problem.

Obviously I've put some grease all over the bolt now, but my point is that by slackening it slightly you can rotate it and the thing just falls off, with the bolt still well threaded through the hook.  You just need enough slackening so that the cradle can raise about 5mm to get it out of the hooked part.  I've read elsewhere that letting the tyre down does give plenty space for this to happen.  The procedure is...

• Let tyre down
  
• Lift cradle and spare wheel just a few mm
  
• Unhook the hook
  
• Lower the cradle, take the wheel
  

I'm a bit wary of giving theft advice, but this is common knowledge among the scumbags.  My point though is that if they can't access the valve then this can't be done.  But that's not much of a victory, because you then just need to clamp mole grips on the end of the bolt and turn it a few turns.  But at least you need to come prepared for that, and they might prefer to take one where they can access the valve easily instead.

I don't think anyone's actually that bothered about taking steel wheels anyway, but I could be wrong.

I don't know how the official lock kit works in detail, but it looks pretty flimsy and I'm not keen on either drilling a hole through the floor or having a lump under the carpet.  I often carry flat boxes, so a lump would be a big annoyance.

Believe me they are bothered about steel wheels, my mates transit got done few months back. Turned out 15 had been done that night in the wider area..