I got hated on...

[Arnold2006]

That sickens me to hear. I'm uneasy everytime I park it in a public lot. Speaking of which (to the larger audience here) - what is safer - far away from other cars (as you did on an upper level, our further out in an open lot), or right in the middle of a full lot?

[LotusLamberti]

Originally Posted by robains

Statistically, people that do this type of stuff, don't live very long anyway - rarely make it beyond their 20's (often killed by other "bad boys").

If I walked in on that, i would kill the person with my bare hands and feel no remorse; some people would call that sociopathic. I'm fine with that.

[ewalberg]

THis is gonna sound stupid but i think parking it all alone on the 3rd floor is part of the problem (albeit a small part of the problem). It "looks" like you think the car is that special that it needs to be parked alone, which makes it more of a target.

I personally have a mild annoyance with people parking there cars off in the outskirts of parking lots becuase it says "i care too much about my car"... but i sure as hell am not going to mess with anyones car becuase its fundamentally wrong. I'm in the "it's just a car" camp.

You may not have been slashed had you been parked with all the other cars. That said, if someone is gonna slash you, they aren't gonna care where you are. I had all 4 slashed about a year ago?... but it was slashed with anothe 150 cars... blocks upon blocks of cars all had between 2 and 4 tires slashed. At least then i didn't feel targeted and luckily the general grabber UHP's i keep on the car are cheap... although they were damned near new.

The 33" tires i keep on my G500 (5 of them with the spare on the back) are much more expensive per tire so i was glad that didn't get slashed... then a few months ago the g500 was targeted and 2 tires slashed... now i pay for parking in an non-secured lot, but it's still safer i think and it's easier to park during peak restuarant hours which is a pretty big window around here.

I feel for you man, but in the end i wouldn't stress too much about it... a lot of this stuff is fluke events that happens rarely. I have a 15/16 wheelset now for the elise and i'm definitely keeping the original rims so i have an easier time of dealing with a flat or slashing if it happens again. My car isn't lowered but it is on LSS so it's lower than a base car, and if it gets slashed when i'm on 15" rims up front i don't think i'll be able to get it on a flat bed... it was bad enough trying to get it onto a flat bed with 16's up front... luckily the tires actually held air for a few minutes so we could inflat them long enough to lift the chin off the ground. I don't think we could have done it otherwise, even without lowering.

hope it doesn't happen again. It's super lame and super frustrating that's for sure. Great way to have a day wasted trying to figure out what to do with your car and get a fresh tire set on your car...

[Noisycow]

From the perp's perspective I have to wonder what someone like this is thinking. He is exposing himself to arrest, assault or worse - for nothing. At least a thief gets a reward. I know many people that would literally kill a person doing this to their car. For what? Just some vandal thrill? Does not comprehend.

[DeepAmpeg]

I agree that parking on the third floor with only a few other cars probably didnt help the situation any. I always park in a high visible area. Granted I dotn have an elise, yet, but parking your car away from the crowd is asking for trouble. Being an elise is so small if you were parked amoung other cars if someone were to scan the parking garage they probably wouldnt see it unless they were next to it. Then again people that do this kinda crap tend to go looking for trouble. Our laws are to leniant. Soemone steals your car and wrecks it they get a month in jail. Ooo woopie. Hands need to start beign cut off. Im pretty sure it'll be hard to steal a car with no frikn hands. I tell people your better off killing somone then just beating the crap out of them. You'll do less jail time if any. Karma will come round to the punk that did this to your car. Always does just a matter of time. Should make an alarm for cars that if a tire looses air pressure quickly a 200 db alarm goes off for 3 seconds instantly deafening the vandalist. Be pretty easy to find out who the bad guy is with blood dripping from his ears.

[Monsi]

Originally Posted by ewalberg

THis is gonna sound stupid but i think parking it all alone on the 3rd floor is part of the problem (albeit a small part of the problem). It "looks" like you think the car is that special that it needs to be parked alone, which makes it more of a target.

I personally have a mild annoyance with people parking there cars off in the outskirts of parking lots becuase it says "i care too much about my car"... but i sure as hell am not going to mess with anyones car becuase its fundamentally wrong. I'm in the "it's just a car" camp.

You may not have been slashed had you been parked with all the other cars. That said, if someone is gonna slash you, they aren't gonna care where you are. I had all 4 slashed about a year ago?... but it was slashed with anothe 150 cars... blocks upon blocks of cars all had between 2 and 4 tires slashed. At least then i didn't feel targeted and luckily the general grabber UHP's i keep on the car are cheap... although they were damned near new.

The 33" tires i keep on my G500 (5 of them with the spare on the back) are much more expensive per tire so i was glad that didn't get slashed... then a few months ago the g500 was targeted and 2 tires slashed... now i pay for parking in an non-secured lot, but it's still safer i think and it's easier to park during peak restuarant hours which is a pretty big window around here.

I feel for you man, but in the end i wouldn't stress too much about it... a lot of this stuff is fluke events that happens rarely. I have a 15/16 wheelset now for the elise and i'm definitely keeping the original rims so i have an easier time of dealing with a flat or slashing if it happens again. My car isn't lowered but it is on LSS so it's lower than a base car, and if it gets slashed when i'm on 15" rims up front i don't think i'll be able to get it on a flat bed... it was bad enough trying to get it onto a flat bed with 16's up front... luckily the tires actually held air for a few minutes so we could inflat them long enough to lift the chin off the ground. I don't think we could have done it otherwise, even without lowering.

hope it doesn't happen again. It's super lame and super frustrating that's for sure. Great way to have a day wasted trying to figure out what to do with your car and get a fresh tire set on your car...

I ALWAYS park my cars out away from others because people are stupid and oblivious, and I don't even want my yaris to be clobbered by other people's doors, it has less to do with the car being special and more to do with just wanting to take care of the most expensive thing someone owns outside a house

[mrcarcrazy]

That's complete BS. There's no excuse for this, I can say you likely did NOTHING that contributed to this jackass's actions. other than owning something nicer than he has.

I hope that I'm able to catch someone messing with my car, if and when it happens. This irritates me beyond belief.

I'm in a strange situation, I'm terrified to drive my Lotus to work due to some of the women I work with...They are 60 and yet they have the mentality of someone still in highschool...constant BS and drama. Yeah I'm looking for a new job.

[dickedup]

Originally Posted by ummagawd

Just need to vent...

Got all 4 of my tires slashed

Car is lowered, so it was impossible to tow... luckily I had a friend that lived `1 mile away and just drove it there to keep for the night.

But man I hope whoever did it dies a slow death, and I mean it

It's a shame that I can't park my car and not worry about it, this is starting to feel like my DC type R


For those who want to know... santa ana, CA at a public parking garage (and I parked on the 3rd floor where there was only 2 other cars)

Were you down by the Federal Building by chance?

Replace that rubber with Goodyears.

[tko211]

I truly hate hearing that things like this happen to good people. I just replaced my 2 rear tires and so I know how expensive it is to replace them. The knowledge that you have to do it because someone was acting like a total a$$ makes it all the worse. I feel for you, and while it doesn't sound like much of a consolation hopefully what goes around will indeed come around. Hopefully somewhere, sometime this joker will get his car vandalized and then he will know exactly how it feels and what it can cost.

[Sleazy E]

i try not to even drive through santa ana let alone park anywhere in that city.

sucks that happened to you though but it isn't surprising

[lotusport]

Originally Posted by tko211

Hopefully somewhere, sometime this joker will get his car vandalized and then he will know exactly how it feels and what it can cost.

Yeah, when he trades his '84 Tercel for the Gallardo...

[tranquility]

There should be automatic death penalty for this kind of unsolicited, blatant jealousy and hatred. Damn annoying.

[EliseAtLeast]

Originally Posted by tranquility

There should be automatic death penalty for this kind of unsolicited, blatant jealousy and hatred. Damn annoying.

I'm for that. I'll personally carry that sentence if I ever catch these punks in the act.

[MikeinAlexandria]

Sorry to hear about this. Someone got into my garage and actually used a knife to cut into my hood paint/star shield. Honestly, if I ever catch them, they will never write another thing much less be able to hold a knife. But without security cameras, the chance of catching them is slim.

<rant>
The trouble with our country right now is that we have no draft, no requirement to serve, and liberal city governments that choose to house and support people that need to be busting their butts to survive. If you grow up in a household with a dad in prison for drug dealing and various felonies, have a mom who has children with five guys other than your dad (and is being paid a tax rebate for each kid) and have never even finished high school, your sense of respect for anything nice, much less respect for anyone is going to be pretty limited. (and yes, I do know some families like this in my neighborhood.)

Stop paying parents to have more children, require anyone who is not going to college to spend four years in the Marines, Army, Coast Guard, etc learning a skill, then send them to two/four years of college. We'd have more educated kids, more discipline and less 25 yo nere do wells living in the inner city causing everyone grief. There really is no excuse, but we are letting it happen all around us.
</rant>

Meanwhile, refuse (like I am) to live in fear of having your shiny car damaged. Drive it in spite of the bastards, rev the motor, go fast where safe and remind yourself why you have a Lotus in the first place. Don't let domestic terrorists force you to change your habits! Yes, as far as I am concerned people who would seek to vandalize something out of spite are no better than terrorists.

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by MikeinAlexandria

people who would seek to vandalize something out of spite are no better than terrorists.

Much less than terrorists. Terrorists are at least doing what they do because they believe in something (however misguided and ridiculous that is), what vandals do it for no reason at all other than their joy (???) in causing harm.

[Bgwilly31]

I dont understand why they did the tyres. They must really be idiots about cars. Tyres are nothing.

Now if they would have ran the blade down the entire length of the car or stabbed the clam or what not. They would be way bigger of a deal.


I always park my car away from people as well. But sometimes. Its a better idea to park amongst the rest. Kind of hiding your car instead of parking it in plain sight for couchebags like this to see it.

[MickOpalak]

BTW, it's "I've been hated on."

/grammar Nazi/

[ewalberg]

... or they could pour sugar in the gas tank...

in the end, on this kind of stuff... i try to look at the bright side... you could look at it as a karma burning for you too... you could have received a DUI for the time you were out with a friend or wife and only had a couple drinks and could still drive a hell of a lot better than the monkey's on their cell phones or the guy falling asleep at the wheel... or you could have been caught driving an excessive speed on that twisty road... or worse you could have hit a deer and totalled it and killed your self while you were at it... or you could have ran off track and it'd be a total loss...

things could have gone much worse... tires sure are inconvienient though...

[txdude]

Isn't there a thread on here where someone installed a video camera inside the car to monitor d-bags outside it? Or was that another thread? I may try this.