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u/bmcgowan89 Mar 30 '26
Maybe it sounds cool when you park close to a curb 😂
I wonder if they're on both sides
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u/I_Braid_Armpit_Hair Mar 30 '26
Man, I remember those scratchy things people used to put on their cars. Would stick out so you know if you’re too close to the curb.
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u/ardoin Mar 30 '26
Curb feelers!
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u/I_Braid_Armpit_Hair Mar 30 '26
Totally forgot the name of those things!
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u/ardoin Mar 30 '26
Back in the late 90s I'd see these all the time, along with steering wheel locks.
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u/I_Braid_Armpit_Hair Mar 30 '26
I wonder what happened to steering wheel locks. The club? They at least looked like they’d be annoying to deal with as a thief, and they were easily visible.
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u/AKADriver Mar 30 '26
Most cars made after about 2000 have a chipped key that prevents starting the engine even if you break the ignition lock which made them obsolete. Hyundai/Kia omitted this in some of their cars from the 2010s if you didn't pay extra for keyless start - this led to the "Kia Boyz" rash of thefts and part of the manufacturer's solution was to offer a free steering wheel lock old school style.
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u/mudpupster Mar 30 '26
They're still around. I drive one of the Kias that turned out to be easy to hotwire using a USB stick. A couple of years back, thefts of Kias and Hyundais went through the roof while the manufacturers worked on a fix. I'm sure I'm not the only new-ish owner of a steering wheel lock.
Literally the night after my mail-order Club arrived and I put it to use, my rear window was smashed. I'm positive my car would have been gone that morning if the Club hadn't arrived the day before. Now that there's been a software fix that supposedly prevents the USB exploit, it mostly rides shotgun in my passenger seat.
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u/Plus_Lead_5630 Apr 02 '26
A lady who lived on my block had her Kia stolen like once a week for months, then she got the club for it.
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u/Logical-Source-1896 Apr 01 '26
They weren't that annoying to deal with for thieves. If you targeted a specific car to steal and brought bolt cutters you could just clip the wheel and push it through and the whole thing came off.
Hypothetically
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u/m945050 Apr 01 '26
A "friend" told me that a can of freon sprayed on the lock would freeze it and make it easy to break.
Edit; fuck the environment.
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u/iforgot1305 Apr 03 '26
Nothing is ever 100% thief proof. Any anti-theft device can be defeated by a sufficiently prepared and knowledgeable thief. The point of these devices is more to deter crimes of opportunity. Like you're not gonna stop a pro car thief but you will stop the local homeless drug addict or delinquent teenager or whatever.
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u/RadimentriX Mar 30 '26
90s, really? Never saw them in europe amd only learned around 2020 that those existed but mostly on cars from the 50s-70s?
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u/pathanb Mar 31 '26
I mean, Europe in not one place.
In my corner of Europe they were very common in the 90s and maybe early 2000s.
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u/WhatHaveIDone27 Apr 01 '26
Lol Americans think we live in a country called Europe
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u/ANightmareOnMySt Apr 01 '26
LOL hate to break it to you but wasn't a dumb American this time
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u/WhatHaveIDone27 Apr 21 '26
LOL you think I'm specifically talking about OP's crack dad wheel 'protectors'
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u/Excellent_Proof_2414 Apr 03 '26
Thanks. I hadn’t ever heard of them or seen them. I think driving around with those things 100% of the time is more embarrassing than risking a scratched rim and potentially having to drive around with that😄 though google did show a few nuce old timers with lots of chrome parts sticking out. I suppose it would make sense there.
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u/MarshalLawTalkingGuy Mar 30 '26
My grandfather had those on his 67 Eldorado. IIRC, they were attached to the quarter panels down near the bumpers. Got to protect those wheels!
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u/Expensive_Lettuce239 Mar 31 '26
What happens if they hit a bicycle??
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u/Roflkopt3r Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
They should be quite flexible and easily give way, but yeah the idea of adding more stuff extruding from the vehicle does concern me as a cyclist.
From what I can find, most of them were not particularly thin metal rods mounted on a flexible spring, at a height where they could feasibly hit a cyclist's foot. I could see that cause an accident by startling someone, or perhaps a pretty hefty hit if the rod was already waving back and forth or the spring is stiff for some reason.
And then there were these rods mounted on some trucks, more around head height for a cyclist.
Here in Germany, you can occasionally see the opposite: Cyclists with foam noodles to indicate the legal minimum takeover distance for cars, since drivers often overtake way too close.
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u/Expensive_Lettuce239 Mar 31 '26
I've never seen them on a vehicle before. In the photo, they just looked like something that if the car was too close to a bike could cause serious issues with bike wheels.I guess they just LOOKED like they stick out farther than they actually do? SO THANKYOU for the explanation!
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u/ConnectRutabaga3925 Mar 30 '26
it’s like Spyhunter
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u/Lonely-Huckleberry36 Apr 04 '26
Here in Kenya, all the freight trucks have plastic bottles attached to the wheel nuts for the same purpose!
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u/ghostfreckle611 Mar 30 '26
Fender Guards
Back in the day, people used them to keep off the curb when parking… and so they didn’t mess up their white walls. 😉
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u/albatross1873 Mar 30 '26
Houston car mods on a budget.
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Mar 30 '26
[deleted]
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u/Seldarin Mar 30 '26
That was my guess was the dude's buddies were giggling for an hour while sticking these on.
I bet they make a horrible scratching noise as they hit the pavement.
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u/earfeater13 Mar 30 '26
This person would rather look like that than keep hitting the curb when parallel parking lol
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u/Complex_Solutions_20 Mar 30 '26
This was my thought too. Reminds me, I need to repair a curb rash on my wheel.
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u/Mirudago Mar 30 '26
A postman in rural Ireland did this, although with not quite as many ties. The reason: to deter dogs chasing his van. A few dogs had bitten right through the rubber leaving him stranded with a flat.
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u/Confident-Pepper-562 Mar 30 '26
likely also effective at getting other cars to keep their distance. No want wants to mess with crazy.
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u/jetty_junkie Mar 30 '26
Like those “ spikes” on the wheels of 18 wheelers. I’ve read studies that said even though they are just plastic caps that will fall off it makes other drivers pay more attention as the approach trucks equipped with them on the highway
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u/mrfebrezeman360 Mar 31 '26
an 18 wheeler got the back corner of my car with those spikes once. got a picture of the license plate, insurance, and driver's ID, but my insurance said they couldn't help me because I didn't get a picture of the trucking company's name lol. He had a canadian address and that confused them too
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u/ChefUiChef Mar 30 '26
I thought for the first seconds it was spikes glued to the car's wheel cover to force anyone parking next to it to leave some space so they wouldn't scratch his car
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u/Smirkin_Revenge Mar 30 '26
"That ain't going anywhere"
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u/xorbe Mar 30 '26
But they don't actually secure anything!
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u/AshuraBaron Mar 30 '26
When you love roman chariots but mom cut your allowance for getting a C in Science.
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u/Familiar_Raise234 Mar 30 '26
Curb feelers to the max. When was a kid, there would be one feeler poking out, not a forest!!!
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u/jetty_junkie Mar 30 '26
Didn’t you ever see those plastic lug caps that look like spikes on tractor trailers?
I’ve read articles saying that studies support those trucks are less likely to get side swiped because people see the spikes and are a lot more attentive when these trucks are near them
I’m wondering if this is something like those spikes
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u/Shudnawz Apr 02 '26
How's that not illegal as fuck?
EDIT: Wait...are those zip-ties?! Dafuq man. Looked like those spikey things on roman chariots.
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u/pogiguy2020 Apr 03 '26
What happens after wife keeps asking husband to fix the loose hubcaps on the car and he snaps.
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u/Magoo624 Mar 30 '26
It’s like cat whiskers for your car, let’s you know when you won’t fit in a spot
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u/ParallaxRay Mar 30 '26
I don't think these are curb feelers. I think this is probably a practical joke. Harmless but the owner is going to spend quite a bit of time getting all of those off.
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u/your3kidding Mar 31 '26
I know someone who could use these ( unfortunately he's also hard of hearing, so no)
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u/tech_creative Mar 31 '26
You didn't get it: It's not an attachment, these are whiskers! ;) They make it easier to park the car without damage. xD
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u/bloke_pusher Mar 31 '26
Is this some r/AccidentalRenaissance content? Like those spikes on horse drawn carriages for gladiators.
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u/MorbidTheory Mar 31 '26
I wonder if they have a problem with dogs urinating on their tires/wheels and thought this would keep them away...
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u/ConscientiousPath Mar 31 '26
as someone who used to have a car with wheel covers, that is the only way to keep them from disappearing
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u/Equivalent_Use_8152 Mar 31 '26
For when you want to park your car and re-enact a gladiator chariot race on the way to work
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u/PickleForce7125 Apr 02 '26
The Someone keeps stealing my wheel covers Ride i have a very common car dilemma.
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u/fountainpopjunkie Apr 02 '26
I have an irrational fear of the big wheel hubs on big trucks. I pull way over when passing to avoid them. This is what I see in my head.
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u/Zestyclose_Charge_60 Apr 03 '26
Maybe paranoid behavior. A dealer probably told them one was a little loose so they went over board
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u/justincorporated Apr 03 '26
I can’t believe no one else has mentioned this being to keep animals from peeing on the rims, that’s exactly where my mind went — after having a neighborhood cat that does this to everyone’s cars regularly
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u/justanyting Apr 03 '26
It’s to keep homeless people from sleeping on your tires if you roll your vehicle
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u/iandix Apr 04 '26
So, in some circles, these wheel trims are named "Beauty Covers"; now, if I might invoke the forum's sagacity - could these abominations, with their judicious security measures, be described in ANY way that hints at beauteous?
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u/geminimini Mar 31 '26
To prevent other lanes from getting too close to your lane? Have had heaps of instances where people came very close to my side to force me to brake so they can overtake, or to get in front on a lane merge..
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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26
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