Car wheel clamps?

[Julian]

Hi Guys

First off - great forum - I stumbled across it last week - purchased a set of picks from a UK store and spent far too much time this weekend trying various locks with differing degrees of success.

My neighbour is a biker and he lent me a few expensive padlocks used to secure his bike.

To date I have only managed to open one (by scrubbing) and once re-locked I haven’t been able to open it again.

Anyway, great fun.

My question,,,

Has anyone tried to (legally) open the locks used on car wheel clamps (i.e a clamp that you own)?

In the UK I believe that it is an offence to remove a clamp placed by the police force, although it may possibly be legal if the car is clamped on private ground and not locked by the police etc.

It would be funny to see a 'clamper' return to the vehicle only to find his clamp present (and still locked) with no sign of the car.

I suspect it would take a great deal of restraint NOT to remove the clamp if you had the skill to do so (which I dont)

In the UK, recently in the news there was a guy in London going round with an angle-grinder removing clamps. Obviously the no-skill method

[Varjeal]

Any chance you can get some pics of these locks or perhaps an on-line link showing the actual locking mechanism. It would be interesting to see what type of lock is actually used on these devices.

Much appreciated. Thanks.

[The Key Maker]

Hehe, now i know this is TV and anythin could just be a setup but it looked pretty genuine, it was on Channel 4 about 2 months ago a program called Solaman and he was a lock pick ( to be honest it was watching that that made me get interested again ) anyways genuine or not, that was for the viewers to decide but he did seem to open these with no problems.

tbh, i live in a busy town centre and i would do nothing to a lock that wasn`t my own so i can`t say i would ever try but i have had a close loook at 2 locks and 1 was a pin tumbler, looked like a standard 5 pin tumbler, like on Car gear Stick locks, and one was a tubular lock, i didnt count the pins but i havent ever seen an 8 one!!!!!!

I think picking one of these would be just like picking any other medium security lock!!

[Julian]

Hi Varjeal

A google search on wheel clamps reveals lots of manufacturers of this type of device.

In the UK 'wheel clampers' are often employed to clamp cars parked on private ground without the landowners permission. I.E you own a shop and 'clamp' cars of 'non-customers' . The private clamping companies are often seen as very over zealous and sometimes have dubious methods such as clamping cars first and then putting up no parking signs after.

Obviously I am not advocating any illegal practices, but I suspect that it would not be illegal to remove a clamp owned/operated by a non-government body, provided that you did not damage it in any way. But I am NOT a lawyer.

Check out http://www.anglegrinderman.co.uk/ to see a guy who has taken this to an extreme. You can see a few pictures of clamps on his site.

I have only been picking for a week so I am not sure what type of locks are used on wheel clamps, but I bet they are cylinder 'Yale' type.
Next time I see a car clamped I will have a quick look.

Julian

[Chubby]

My God! Angle Grinder Man is Michael Douglass's alter ego!...

[Julian]

I bet he doesn't have such an attractive wife

If he has a wife at all

[Varjeal]

Did you say "life" or "wife"?

[Jlo]

Hi,

Some Wheel Clamps like the Bull Dog use an Ace type tubular Cylinder that I am sure could be picked with a tubular pick.

Many Wheel clamps I have seen in the UK allow a padlock to secure it. Some Wheel clampers use cheap padlocks (Under £15) and I have seen some padlocks with Ingersoll Inpregnable Padlocks etc with cost near £100 and would present as more of a challenge to remove them.

Cheers

Jlo

[Varjeal]

I could see the padlock type being popular, except that it would give people something distinctive to aim at when trying to forcibly remove. Thanks for the heads up though...

[scientist]

The ones on the University of Alabama campus are orange and are secured by a square bolt head in a tube. By turning the head, the clamp slowly undos via screw action

-sCi

[Nose_Picker]

Did I read that right? A $100 padlock? That seems like overkill...

How secure can a $100 padlock be? If I wanted to open it, I think I would just use my favorite pick... Bolt cutters.

Unless this thing has like, an anti-opening deathray, I would not pay $100 for it, when a $15 will provide just as much protection from 'average joe'.

[mcm757207]

Not $100, it's £100 ... different currency.

[Chucklz]

Ill challenge you to open say a 70 dollar Abus granit with your favorite bolt cutters. The ~130-160$ padlock probably will be even more secure.

[CitySpider]

Not $100, it's £100 ... different currency.

Different currency, same idea. As of 12:39EST, a hundred pounds is a little under one hundred and eighty four ($184) dollars.

So his point is even MORE valid.

[Varjeal]

Yeah, well...he wouldn't be opening any of the Master Pro Series with the guarded shackles with bolt cutters either. Hehehe..