Just taken my T5 for a service and it was pointed out that my spare wheel (which should be bolted underneath the van) wasn’t there any more.

Seemingly they steal them and replace the cradle so you don’t know it gone. No ideal when it was stolen.

Just bought a replacement one which will be locked AND have the van registration sprayed over it.

Bugger.

In my experience when you actually need it the cradles rusted solid anyway. I junked mine and got a couple of those aerosol sealer/inflater tins. Its not like i’m crossing the sahara.
Bloody annoying for you tho 🙁

I don’t have one.

this is common problem, especially as premium brands have a proper alloy as a spare. Easy money

I carry my spare tyre round my waist… 🙁

At least no-one will nick it.

Mine’s in the boot.

Made me go and look, still there, now how to secure?

I lost one once trying to launch a Citroen BX over a hump-back bridge. Thought the exhasust had fallen off at first from the scraping of the cradle on the road! Had to go back and retrieve it from a ditch when it was light enough to see the next day. 😀

just be a tick….

phew. still there on the T4

and I know I regreased the frame bolts when I fitted the tow hitch so it should come down easily enough.

Not sure how Id lock it though.

I’ve had mine stolen too, before. I used a bike lock to secure the next one, but the lock seized with all the crap that comes off the road. Hrumph!

VW sell a bolt kit but it’s not meant to be that good.

off ebay? £40

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/T5-V-W-Transporter-spare-wheel-anti-theft-device-spare-safe-uk-/151059581711?pt=UK_Car_Accessories_Safety_Security&hash=item232bda4b0f

I’ll most likely get the ebay one and spray paint my reg number across the wheel.

I have a can of gunk and a compressor.

£40 is a bit pricey. I wonder if a security wheel stud would fit?

http://www.t4srus.co.uk/vw-t4t5-spare-wheel-locking-bolt-biaa-1417-p.asp

£12

I’ve gone with the security bolt thing, to deter the casual thief, seen some chat about if you put one of those expensive locks on they will just break the cage off to get it and that costs more than a wheel to replace but I’m also going to spray the steel wheel pink and spray ‘Stolen – my Reg number’ on the tire it’s self in pink (obviously not going to write ‘my reg on it’ I just cant remeber what my reg is at the moment’

Hopefully they wont fancy the idea of having to clean/paint the wheel to sell it

Had this in the 80’s with a Pug 309GTI.

Had been at a works do in the centre of Leeds and had parked on the street (just south of Park Square for those that know it). Wife was driving and we got in a drove off – to the sound of scraping.

They’d just cut the back of the cage off and nicked the alloy. 👿 Gits.

I once had a puncture on my pug 306 on the way to meet some mates near one of the Lakes for a stag do. I didnt have the locking nut adaptor nor did I have steel studs for the spare (had never checked they were there on the s/h car) so called the RAC.

He said I was up the creak without the steel studs when I remembered another guy at the stag do had a 309 with steel wheels. SO RAC man and I drove over but the guys were already half way across the lake on rafts. So we went round his car taking one bolt from each wheel 😀

For some reason he was a bit unimpressed, but I did post them back to him the next week….

Leeds used to be notorious for this – Crown Point Retail park in particular was a hot spot. Going back a few years now – I wonder whether the paint spraying etc. is much of a deterrent these days – I would have thought the scrotes would get about as much weighing in odd wheels for scrap as they would selling them down the pub?

Had the spare nicked from under the back of my old Citroen. When I bought a new wheel the bloke at the garage told me it’d been happening a lot, so I bought an official security kit from Citroen. Fitting it required me to lift out the boot carpet and drill a hole through the boot floor in a very specific place.

Bit drastic, and the keyed bolt created a mildly annoying hump in the boot floor, but the spare never went missing again.

The kit came with a little sticker to go on the rear bumper warning that a wheel security device was fitted. I suspected the sticker alone would have been enough.

happened to me in london in old Citroen, they came back the next night to steal the jack they left. ended up just keeping it in the boot.

Mine is mounted on the rear door so obvious if its nicked, but I secured it using an eye bolt set to the right depth, and then a round padlock after the wheel goes on. The 73mm padlock is a tad too big to fit through the centre hole of my wheel, and prevents any access to bolt crop anything.

Suspect you could do similar with a short length of chain passed through a suitable hole in the chassis (or bolt through floor) above the wheel cage, then pass the chain through the centre hole and lock. If they cut the cage the wheel will still be locked to the vehicle 🙂

Still there on the T4 nicely greased up to be nicked easily. Is this just alloys or any old spares. Heard of catalytic converters going but not wheels.