# Tire Boots=Good anti-theft?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tire-boots-good-anti-theft/52400>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 30, 2001, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tire-boots-good-anti-theft/52400 "2001-01-30T14:19:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![choosybeggar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tire-boots-good-anti-theft/52400/1 "2001-01-30T14:19:10Z")

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You see the car of some poor illegally parked sap, and there’s a bright yellow, car immobilizing tire boot attached. And you wonder to yourself, if these things are so great for enforcement, wouldn’t they also be effective as an anti-theft device? Being circumspect by nature, however, you wonder why if they’d work so well that there are no slick-haired infomercial guys hawking these babies at 3am on cable? So why aren’t they good as anti-theft devices?

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tire-boots-good-anti-theft/52400/2 "2001-01-30T15:32:40Z")

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Because the cops would come along & wonder why you have one of their thingys on your car??

There was a guy on tv, made one of them so it looked real but was just sort of lean-to & put it on his car so he could get free parking.

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**Author:** ![choosybeggar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tire-boots-good-anti-theft/52400/3 "2001-01-30T15:54:01Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by handy \*  
> \*\* Because the cops would come along & wonder why you have one of their thingys on your car??
> 
> There was a guy on tv, made one of them so it looked real but was just sort of lean-to & put it on his car so he could get free parking. \*\*

So are they illegal? Or simply ineffective as anti-theft devices?

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**Author:** ![Tymp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Tymp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tymp)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tire-boots-good-anti-theft/52400/4 "2001-01-30T16:24:48Z")

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They would prevent theft. So would burying your car in a salt mine.

The problem here is complexity. I think you don’t see these things on the market because no one would buy them. Who wants drag a big ass piece of steel out of the trunk, crawl halfway under a car to affix it to the axle, and lock it against the hub _every time the car is parked?_\* Even though it’s probably legal to own and use one, it’s just not a good consumer device.

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**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tire-boots-good-anti-theft/52400/5 "2001-01-30T16:35:25Z")

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I see them used alot on RVs and boat trailers and such things that don’t get moved too often, but for everyday use, I’d agree with Tymp that it is too much hassle.