Temple

I just got my 993 back after having its side mirrors stolen. The mirrors were taken at night when my car was parked in my condo garage. Apparently, you need a special tool to get at the bolt that holds them in place -- and my thief was professional enough to have it, as well as (thankfully) professional enough to not ding my door or wreck the electric connector during the theft. FYI, removing them will NOT set off the stock alarm.

Anyway, in the hopes of preventing this from happening again, my body shop and I came up with the following solution: there is a rubber plug that covers the bolt that holds the mirrors in place. Once that had been put in place, the rest of the hole was filled with a black urethane material that has sealed the hole completely. I'm assuming my new electric mirrors will provide me with years of maintenence-free operation. But if they do fail, the body shop can eventually scrape away enough of the urethane stuff to remove the rubber plug and then get at the retaining bolt.

We could have used something more permanent, but our goal was to simply make the task more difficult and time consuming. Hopefully, that's enough of a deterrent.

Just an FYI. I have no idea how common this type of theft is. For those of us in L.A. -- my condo is in Brentwood, and I had presumed my car was fairly safe. You might want to look into this ounce of prevention... Its approximately $1000 for parts, labor and paint to replace your mirrors.

Oh, while in the shop I decide to replace my original, slightly scuffed fender stonguards with new ones. Unlike the factory stonguards, which were silver, the shop used a clear stonguard and they look FANTASTIC. Much cleaner look. I think, but I'm not sure, that black, silver and white widebodies got colored stonguards, while the rest got clear. I'm quite happy with these clear replacements for my silver stonguards.

Very, very happy to have my 993 back in one piece

Bins

Thats sounds like a good idea but for one thought.
If this were to happen again (hopefully not) - If the crook finds that you have deliberately filled the plug to stop them from getting taken, he/she might not be so happy to leave the car without any damage.

Temple

I thought about that -- but if someone is going to damage my car because I've stopped them from stealing parts from it, I don't think I have any method of preventing that. At the end of the day, if someone wants to steal/damage my car I can't prevent it. The best thing I can do is to make my car less of an easy target. In that vein, I've started looking for a house with a secure garage

Gert

Those that want the mirrors don't take the time to remove them properly.
They just move the mirror upwards until the cast-iron clamp that keeps the mirror to the door breaks off.
Get a garage (and a dog )

Anir

Temple,

Or get out of LA. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Just kidding, but I haven't had to worry about such things since getting "outta the big city" (Detroit, Houston, Atlanta).

David in LA

What is the name/brand or the "black urethane stuff"??

TIA

Temple

Urethane. Seriously. I just called the body shop and the guy said that's what it's called. He said any body shop that works with glass (or glass shop that works with autos) will have it in stock. Apparently, its what helps hold our windshields in. If you are in L.A., email me and I'll tell you the name of the body shop I used. They'll do it for free (not much effort -- simply squirt a little in and wipe it clean). The owner thinks most any body shop would do the same. Hope that helps.