Here’s how it happens:
Catalytic Converter Theft
61–70 of 155 posts
Re: Catalytic Converter Theft
#62The local metal scrapyards are far too lenient. They don’t bat an eye at someone bringing in stolen air conditioning condensers (they can even be brand new) You should have to have the tittle for the car to bring a converter in, since it’s a federal offense to remove them.
The article describes a ring that doesn’t involve scrap yards. It’s a different kind of hustle where precious metals are extracted from the inside.
Re: Catalytic Converter Theft
#63Easy to install shields like this one from catshield https://catshield.com/ can be a somewhat effective deterrent given the thieves have to be able to remove it quickly without making noise. Also hybrids are more targeted for cat theft because they have more of the metals than normal cars to compensate for frequent engine stops and starts from cold.
I don’t understand how this would prevent someone with an angle grinder from cutting through it anyway. Especially the aluminum ones
Re: Catalytic Converter Theft
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rhodium is so valuable you can fit tens of millions of dollars of it in a suitcase. And then you sell it to an actual rhodium mine who just so happens to be particularly productive that month.
> And then you sell it to an actual rhodium mine who just so happens to be particularly productive that month. Surely its easier to keep an eye on all rhodium mines, rather than trying to keep an eye on all scrap metal yards.
Yes the only thing in the way is a huge international lobby industry that pays politicians to turn a blind eye to systemic labour and environmental exploitation.
Re: Catalytic Converter Theft
#65Well I suppose this is one advantage of pure electric cars.
Came here to say that, and yes good riddance of the whole emissions cycle we've endured for decades. EV battery packs are certainly serial numbered and traceable, but these guys will just pivot to breaking up packs and selling cells or whatever.
> these guys will just pivot to breaking up packs and selling cells or whatever
I'm sure electric cars are being, and will continue to be, stolen, parted out, etc. But battery theft won't look quite like catalytic converter theft as batteries are much heavier and aren't as easily accessible. Check out the video of a catalytic converter theft posted by another commenter in this thread [0]. The thief slides under the SUV at the 1:37 mark, does some cutting from about 2:00-2:14, then slides out with his prize around 2:24. In and out in less than a minute - no need to jack up the vehicle (SUVs and trucks are often already high enough), no need to enter the vehicle. And the catalytic converter weighs something like 10 pounds so he can just walk away with it. Stealing an 800-pound battery pack out of a Tesla would be a much more involved operation.
Re: Catalytic Converter Theft
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
$150 cat? I don't buy it. It costs $50 to turn the welder on for cheapy aftermarket units that fail fast, the clamp type arent compatible for most exhausts and cats are more that $50 even for older vehicles. Recent models can be hundreds of dollars on parts wholesalers. Your mechanic will charge list price. https://www.walkerexhaust.com/products/light-vehicle/catalyt... It won't sniff within spec at the tailpipe with…
I think you misunderstood the OP. > what cat you put on what as long as it sniffs within spec
I don't think so, but I'm open to be educated about a $50 fifty state downstream catalytic converter.
Cali cats are often more $ but, where in the USA is there a $50 catalyst? More over, which shop charges less then $100/hr labor?
The down stream cat cleans up the photosmog producing tailpipe emissions.
California learned how horrible the smog is, we knew about the causes almost a hundred years ago. Letting people install mystery cats, possibly made from real cats, is going back to the era of "west side story"
Re: Catalytic Converter Theft
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then they can show their mechanic's license. There's no reason for Joe off the street to come in with a backpack full of these things. Especially ones that are brand new. Here's 20 stolen from a dealership the other night - https://abc13.com/la-porte-car-dealership-theft-catalytic-co...
>Then they can show their mechanic's license. Scrapyards already need licenses (permits). Adding licensing requirements will just result in the people with licenses buying from the thiefs. It's just another middleman in the chain. If anything it makes the problem worse because scrapyards often do turn away obvious thieves. A mechanic showing up with ten legit converters and forty stolen ones he bought off the thief g…
Adding another middleman makes the thefts less efficient and less profitable for the thieves. Sounds like a win to me. Sure, it doesn't stop it completely. So what?
Re: Catalytic Converter Theft
#68Re: Catalytic Converter Theft
#69Well I suppose this is one advantage of pure electric cars.
Wait till you find out how easy and profitable it is to bust off Tesla mirrors.
Re: Catalytic Converter Theft
#70Cat theft would be a $200 problem ($50 for the cat, $150 for someone to put it in there) on the order of a cracked windshield instead of a $2k problem if CARB would pull its head out of it's butt and stop caring about what cat you put on what as long as it sniffs within spec at the tailpipe. I'm not condoning theft but CA state policy is a large part of why this issue hurts as bad as it does.
Cat install costs way more than that. But aside, would you really be okay going back to the days of photochemical smog choking away your sunlight and skyrocketing rates of asthma and acid rain dissolving your ancestor's gravestones?? Federal law requires the catalytic converters. Everyone is definitely better off for them.
> But aside, would you really be okay going back to the days of photochemical smog choking away your sunlight and skyrocketing rates of asthma and acid rain dissolving your ancestor's gravestones??
You're missing the point: new CA-legal catalytic converters cost 200-400% the price of 49-state legal ones because of the CARB certification. Most vendors won't even ship a new 49-state cat to a CA address, and selling used ones is technically illegal.
This isn't about cat vs. no cat. It's about CA creating a lucrative black market while simultaneously strictly requiring cats be kept in good working order via regular smog checks.
If the smog checks are worth a damn it shouldn't be necessary to certify the catalysts; if the cat isn't working, the vehicle should fail its regular smog test.
CA is fundraising here, and it's no doubt a contributing factor in catalyst theft within the state.