Me and my wife went to go to the store this evening, I noticed an odd vibration with the car right away but figured it was some slush that had froze on the wheel and that it would fall off in time. After a few miles it was still there so I pulled in to a gas station to check it out. I looked at a wheel and was shocked to see only one the 5 lug nuts on, then I looked and noticed the same thing on another wheel, and another! 3 out of 4 wheels were only being held on by a single lug nut. The only ones remaining were the locking ones that required a key. It became clear some degenerate had attempted to steal the wheels last night while my wife was dropping off our son at my mothers. She was inside for 10-15min. I had my mom go look in the driveway and sure enough she found a couple of lug nuts. My mind is simply blown, almost feel sick. My wife drove from Maplewood to Ham lake, 20 miles, all freeway and hwy with speeds 60-70mph. I can't believe how blessed we are that nothing happened.

I hate criminals

Just blows my mind. Glad to hear things ended up alright!

Thank God all turned out well. Hope the cretin that did this gets his just desserts

an incident that would make anyone break out in a cold sweat.

a big thumps up for locking lug nuts! Been putting it off for awhile but now I'm definitely going to get locking lug-nuts for my truck.

Clearly he/they could see the locking lug-nuts were installed on all the wheels and, yet, still removed the unlocked ones. vicious mentality.

That is unreal. Thanks for sharing.

Yes sir you are lucky. Scum of the earth.........Hopefully they will get their turn someday.

What a bunch of crap........ So glad you and the Mrs. didn't get hurt.

quote mjmkjun:
Clearly he/they could see the locking lug-nuts were installed on all the wheels and, yet, still removed the unlocked ones. vicious mentality."

This is what I don't get. There is something else to this. Why would a thief spend his time risking getting caught for no reward? Maybe a kid playing a "joke"? Sick no matter what. Glad you are all ok.

I hate criminals"

I am with you I hate criminals. Here in Chicago we are surrounded by them. Many are our leaders. Glad you are safe. ~JOE~

Wow, glad all are ok.

Unbelievable! Glad you had the curiosity to check it out.

quote drnatus: "

quote mjmkjun:
Clearly he/they could see the locking lug-nuts were installed on all the wheels and, yet, still removed the unlocked ones. vicious mentality."

This is what I don't get. There is something else to this. Why would a thief spend his time risking getting caught for no reward? Maybe a kid playing a "joke"? Sick no matter what. Glad you are all ok. "

As someone who has lost the key to the locking lugs before I know that it is possible to get them off with a little finagling, I can only imagine a criminal who has done it a few times is even better. A quick You Tube search will show you that its very easy to do but does add a little more time. The 4th wheel had one regular lug removed and one of the front locking ones has tool marks on it. My guess is one guy came up with a cordless impact and started buzzing off all the easy ones while another guy was tasked with trying to get the locking ones off. My wife was just dropping the little dude off and likely scared them off while they were doing it. Normally when we drop the kid off we stay and visit for an hour or so but my wife was sick and I wasn't able to go so she basically just stayed in the entryway for 10-15 and then left.

Unfortunately they built some apartments on the other side of my moms block. They tend to attract the wrong type of people if you know what I mean. Its a very sad thing to see the neighborhood I grew up in be taken down by a bunch of trash. Sadly for my mother she is retired and on a fixed income so moving to a nicer area would require taking a bunch of savings out of retirement accounts or taking on a mortgage again, both options are less than ideal.

quote ozarkpaddler: "Thank God all turned out well. Hope the cretin that did this gets his just desserts"

+1

Glad you all are OK; that is damn scary.

quote Basspro69: "

quote ozarkpaddler: "Thank God all turned out well. Hope the cretin that did this gets his just desserts"

+1"

What kind of dessert you talking about... Pie with a little something special inside?

Luckily you had the locking nuts or it could have been a lot worse.

quote nctry: "

quote Basspro69: "

quote ozarkpaddler: "Thank God all turned out well. Hope the cretin that did this gets his just desserts"

+1"

What kind of dessert you talking about... Pie with a little something special inside?"

Yep lug nuts :-)

How do you steal wheels without using a jack to prop the car up in a few different positions?

quote Grouseguy1: "How do you steal wheels without using a jack to prop the car up in a few different positions? "

Well considering we didn't see them I don't know that they didn't have a jack with, my guess would be the Jack stayed out of sight and would have come out if and when the wheels were ready to go. It seems to make sense this way because it's pretty easy to hide as a person on short notice, not so much with a jack. With that said I've seen 3 guys take 4 wheels off with no Jack, two guys can lift up on the corner of a car enough to pull tires off.

quote OldFingers57: "Luckily you had the locking nuts or it could have been a lot worse.
"

It's hard to say what's better, had they just got them at least we would have known something was wrong and could deal with it safely.

Holy crap. So glad you are all ok.

Glad your wife and you are ok, someone was watching out for you.

I would guess there was than one perp. That's why all tires were affected. A group? @$#s

Amazing.....
would have been worse if a family member had surprised them and gotten hurt or worse.
Hopefully you didn't wreck the rims....holes often get egg shaped when a tire come lose.
stealing tires....that is a new one for me. The big thing in Green Bay is someones breaking rear windows in parking lots and stealing stuff.

dr bob