Cat converter thefts

J

Jamturbo

Member
Hi, does anyone know if the E85 cat converter is a target for thieves. Thefts are on the rise and only yesterday a family member had theirs stolen (not BMW). Only happened at 10pm, can't believe no one heard the cutting.
 
Older ones are not worth so much so they target hybrids primarily and newer cars with fresher CATs first.
 
I'd quite like it if they came round and nicked all the cats on my street.
Stop the effin' things sh*tting in the flower beds and sleeping on my Z4's roof!
 
I think the main targets seem to be more recent Japanese cars, especially Toyota and Lexus, as they seem to contain more of the precious metals.

And at least access from below is pretty limited on Z4s!
 
The culprits were caught on the Ring video door bell, three of them including driver. Going about their business like they had a f...... right to. Recording not enough to see faces.
Talking of cats, yup, got one who likes sitting on my roof. I am holding up the lint remover industry on my own lol
 
Some Zed’s, older BMW’s and other manufactures are high risk unfortunately. Had my Clio cup cat nicked last year and know of many E46 BMW’s and E90 BMW’s which have had them nicked too.

If they are easy to get too, most older cars are then they are fairly high risk!

Never turbo cars have primary cats usually in diwnpipes which makes it much harder for them to get.

Prius, Jaz and other Hybrids are high risk too.

Rockhopper said:
Older ones are not worth so much so they target hybrids primarily and newer cars with fresher CATs first.
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The cats on my 2005 E85 are on the manifold headers so dont see how they can be nicked without a lot of dismantling. I thought it was cars which still have the cats placed on the exhaust pipes under the car which were most at risk.
 
Mike6 said:
The cats on my 2005 E85 are on the manifold headers so dont see how they can be nicked without a lot of dismantling. I thought it was cars which still have the cats placed on the exhaust pipes under the car which were most at risk.
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To be fair you are correct it would seem only Z4M’s have the cats towards the centre of the exhaust so non M zed’s should be ok :)
 
Neighbours 2003 CRV had theirs extracted outside their house by some of those people who live in homes on wheels. I was expecting it to be written off, but its fixed and working again. So, even older cars are susceptible to the scumbags ..............
 
pvr said:
And the M should be parked inside so not at risk :lol:
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Mine is but the issue is when you take it out for a drive and park it somewhere. After it happened to me on the Clio it’s proper worries me about the M3 now :(
 
Another family member had his stolen about 8 months ago on a Lexus hybrid. He didn't realise what had happened until he switched on and he thought his engine had grown into a V12 overnight lol. Defo a lot happening around South London.
 
My Z4M has been parked outside the house (on the road) in Liverpool for 14 years, as were the e34 M5s before that, and none have been touched.
 
To get to the cats on a 05 plate that is lowered would be impossible unless they carry a low bed trolley jack around with them. The cats are attached to the manifold, plus they are mostly inside the engine bay.
 
This thread has really intrigued me! Is there a M54 (intermediate) cat? Or are the cats attached to the manifold? (Or maybe the answer is both?)... with that being said surely they would target the e46 platform over the e85?

I know the issue is present with the hybrids (so the likes of Lexus, Honda and Toyota) but not known it to be a BMW type of issue too?

In regards to getting the car jacked up, you can pull the front wheel arch up enough to get a regular jack to clear - but obviously this needs 2 people... alas these thefts have at least 2 people involved anyway.
 
To get the Cats off on either the 4 or 6 pot E85 is rather difficult as situated on the manifold….ask me I have removed a few.
As said it is the newer Models and Hybrds etc they are after.
The Thieves will have a list of what cars and vans are most viable
 
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