Protecting catalytic converters?

[Rusty Nail]

My job has patrol cars posted up all over the city and one of em got its' catalyic converter stolen yesterday between 6 and 8 pm in a busy parking lot.

2020 Chevrolet Trax

Certainly some of you have experience with this trend? Anybody got any good ideas to guard against cordless sawzall assisted theft?

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[82sbshortbed]

?

 

[Midnightmoon]

We had an extensive conversation over on an RV forum about this recently since so many motorhomes are being hit in storage yards.

One of the things discussed over there was welding a cage of steel tubing around the converter to make it much more difficult to remove. In reality, the only thing it may do is discourage a would be thief to move on to an easier target.

 

[DoubleDingo]

1,000 volt electric pad

 

[DoubleDingo]

A gun set like a rat trap, pointed in the direction of the converter, the vibrations trigger the trigger....

 

[Slybeanx]

I see plenty of threads like these on reddit, the general consensus is try to discourage the theft by welding either a chain to the cat, a cage or some other reinforcement to create additional work for them.

 

[Bextreme04]

Don't have cats

 

[Grit dog]

From that pic, Appears they may have stole the muffler and left the cat! Maybe the best solution is to label the muffler “catalytic converter” for the thieves who aren’t quite as stupid as this one was...
Seattle’s solution is free heroin clinics. With the govt buying the drugs, the thieves don’t even have to work or get dirty to get a fix!

 

[Paladin]

I don't have no stinking Cats! Problem solved!!!

 

[Grit dog]

Don't have cats

Truth!
Or drive a car too low to shimmy under. You ain’t gettin the cats off my wife’s or sons car without a low pro floor jack.
In the case of the truck, the expensive parts are stored in my shop and there’s only 15’ of 5” exhaust pipe under the truck!

 

[Knight84]

Lmao. With a cage they will just go a little lower on each pipe and cut the cage off later. I don't see a way to stop a crackhead that needs a bump real bad. Maybe put a twenty in a zip lock bag and duct tape it to the frame near the cat. Easier to snatch the $20 VS. the cat and go get some drugs......

 

[Bextreme04]

Lmao. With a cage they will just go a little lower on each pipe and cut the cage off later. I don't see a way to stop a crackhead that needs a bump real bad. Maybe put a twenty in a zip lock bag and duct tape it to the frame near the cat. Easier to snatch the $20 VS. the cat and go get some drugs......

I think you guys are underestimating the value of Cats right now. You can get over $900 from a recycler for a 97-2001 Honda Accord cat. You can get anywhere from $250-500 for various GM factory cats on the GMT-400 trucks(I know because I sold the ones that were on my 97 K2500 454 for $300/ea). It's a crap shoot on the brand new cars... they are made out of cheaper materials now due to technology advancements and the limited availability of some of the rare earth elements. The older ones can have some very expensive elements in them though. For those kinds of prices, it is well worth it for some crook to go through a parking garage or storage lot and walk off with thousands of dollars in catalytic converters for an hour or less of work and very little risk.

 

[Knight84]

I think you guys are underestimating the value of Cats right now. You can get over $900 from a recycler for a 97-2001 Honda Accord cat. You can get anywhere from $250-500 for various GM factory cats on the GMT-400 trucks(I know because I sold the ones that were on my 97 K2500 454 for $300/ea). It's a crap shoot on the brand new cars... they are made out of cheaper materials now due to technology advancements and the limited availability of some of the rare earth elements. The older ones can have some very expensive elements in them though. For those kinds of prices, it is well worth it for some crook to go through a parking garage or storage lot and walk off with thousands of dollars in catalytic converters for an hour or less of work and very little risk.

Damn son, did not realize they fetched that price, maybe time to buy a battery sawsall, got a project that needs a motor.

Kidding btw, I hate a thief.

Maybe that's why I've been seeing so many posts from businesses on FB market offering to buy cats with a picture of a pile of cats.

 

[Markmx6]

Here in AZ used cats aren't worth ****. Recyclers won't pay you much for them, the emissions repair shop I used to work for sells them for $20 each to a recycler... You can buy a new cat off of Rockauto for $60. The only ones that are expensive are the ones that are unusual, Ford F-150's etc that are a pain in the ass and weird shaped. Even then they still have no resale value.

 

[Matt69olds]

The scrap metal dealer in my town won’t accept a converter without a copy of the registration or title from the car it came off off. They also require ID and they take your photo.

I found out about the new laws many years ago after scrapping a junk car. Since I was unaware of that law, and didn’t have the required papers, the guy asked for the registration to my 06 diesel Ram. Obviously, they aren’t to concerned with how accurate the paperwork is!! My truck doesn’t have a converter, and the puny converter I was scrapping was smaller in diameter than the tailpipe.


I would think anyone who walks into a scrap iron place with 6 identical high dollar late model converters would immediately be questioned pretty throughly.