Catalytic converters

[Poundy]

It's worth noting that newer Lexus vehicle convertors are produced with less of the valuable metal content, so theoretically the will have very little scrap value. Of coarse we can presume it may take a while for the thieves to realise this, before they stop taking them

[Obertelli]

On 8/10/2020 at 10:01 AM, -Rich- said:

Has anyone fitted these? A bit of a price difference between it and the Lexus one!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283939250162

That one and it’s variants appears to be made of steel which is as thin as a biscuit tin. No real deterrent at all.
 

The Catloc is of thicker steel and is a far more secure design. 
 

But also bear in mind that cat thieves don’t pause to look for stickers saying “Catloc fitted”. The first they know is after jacking up the car, and as they’re not worried where they position the jack there will usually be an insurance claim even if they abandon their attempt. 
 

Also even a Catloc won’t help if the car is parked somewhere the thieves feel safe enough to spend extra time. My brother’s Prius had a very secure cage around the cat but the thieves just resorted to an even bigger cutter to remove a chunk of the floorpan complete with the cat and the cage. That particular theft caused his car to be written off by the insurer as there was so much additional damage caused.

[diabolik]

@Obertellido you have some pictures by any chance with your brothers stolen underside cat? I wonder the further damages they've done to the car. 

[LenT]

I thought I’d try to get a definitive answer regarding catalytic security for my Lexus, a 2015 IS250.  So I asked my local Lexus dealer from whom I bought the car.

The After Sales Manager of the Service dept. confirmed that my model had three cats but Lexus did not have any security system for them.  The first one is pretty hard to get at anyway, but the other two are further down the exhaust system and, I would have thought, vulnerable.

However he stated as reassurance that they had not had any such thefts from IS250s to date.

Whether that was Lexus UK or just Lexus MK, he didn’t clarify.  Or comment on why criminals might ignore the IS250.
So I might get some security etching done, as with my other cars.  And maybe consider an aftermarket product.

 

[stormchaser]

Just got a Catloc fitted to mine today at a Lexus dealer Paid £250 total.Its a great product.

[Las Palmas]

On 12/2/2020 at 8:59 PM, Poundy said:

It's worth noting that newer Lexus vehicle convertors are produced with less of the valuable metal content, so theoretically the will have very little scrap value. Of coarse we can presume it may take a while for the thieves to realise this, before they stop taking them

Do you know when this "newer" less valuable content happened?

[Poundy]

2 hours ago, Las Palmas said:

Do you know when this "newer" less valuable content happened?

Think it is an on going process this was dated 2019, nice to see they have reduced the replacement cats to more or less cost now. Trouble is the thieves nost realising they have much less value until the try and sell them on.

https://mag.lexus.co.uk/catalytic-converter-theft/

 

[Las Palmas]

3 hours ago, Poundy said:

Think it is an on going process this was dated 2019, nice to see they have reduced the replacement cats to more or less cost now. Trouble is the thieves nost realising they have much less value until the try and sell them on.

https://mag.lexus.co.uk/catalytic-converter-theft/

So, for all with bad luck losing their cat can have one of the new with less expensive metals installed instead and still be having the same effect?

Do you think they will be cheaper then?

[Obertelli]

On 8/10/2020 at 10:01 AM, -Rich- said:

Has anyone fitted these? A bit of a price difference between it and the Lexus one!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283939250162

Those are as useful as a chocolate teapot.

The photo is from the seller’s listing for the CT200 version selling for £30. 
 

It’s made from stainless steel of comparable thickness to a biscuit tin, and is held in place by just four bolts. 
 

A portable grinder, or even a set of tin-shears, would go through it in no time. Even if the four securing bolts were changed to security bolts, a grinder would cut the the heads off in seconds, and only needs to cut two of them to allow this thin bit of steel to be bent back out of the way.

Total waste of money; they’re no deterrent at all.

[DrShockr]

6 hours ago, Obertelli said:

Those are as useful as a chocolate teapot.

The photo is from the seller’s listing for the CT200 version selling for £30. 
 

It’s made from stainless steel of comparable thickness to a biscuit tin, and is held in place by just four bolts. 
 

A portable grinder, or even a set of tin-shears, would go through it in no time. Even if the four securing bolts were changed to security bolts, a grinder would cut the the heads off in seconds, and only needs to cut two of them to allow this thin bit of steel to be bent back out of the way.

Total waste of money; they’re no deterrent at all.

I'd like to counteract the above, I have two of these installed, one on the CT and another on an Auris hybrid. We recently had a theft of a neighbor's catalytic converter from a Prius, we looked at the CCTV footage and saw the miscreants look underneath both my CT and Auris before moving on to the neighbor's Prius. The neighbor had no plate installed. 

Yes, the metal may be thin and not as 'secure' or theft proof as the original dealer catlock, but to say 'it is no deterrent at all' couldn't be further from the truth.

If they are really determined to cut through all the metal and take the cat, then they will do so, just like they would with dealer fitted lock, perhaps it might take a fraction of the time longer than it would with the aftermarket one, but at that point it's almost a given that the cat's gone anyway.

In addition, I know in London, thousands of private hire taxis (usually Toyota/Lexus hybrids - Auris, Prius, CT200h) use the aftermarket plate as the place I had it installed told me they do tens of installs a day, my local independent garage has also started installing these - clearly these must work otherwise these guys wouldn't be selling so fast.

At a fraction of the cost, I will definitely take the aftermarket one over the official cat lock. To each their own.

[JPG]

Me personally would go with the one from the Lexus garage,as I have done.

The reason is because that way you know you did all you could to prevent it being taken by fitting a higher grade of protection and if I would have fitted the £30 one and it had got stolen I’d be left thinking I should have gone for the better one.And to be honest the cheaper solution does cheap and flimsy.

I just think you get what you pay for and it’s you car at the end of the day.you may fit the dealer version and still get it stolen but least you know you did your best to prevent it.