having problem with stolen tires...

Seems very strange that they would go to the trouble of unmounting the tire. This is not how thieves usually work. Are the not removing the wheel from the truck? Many rims have large enough holes in them that you could run a coated cable through and lock it. But last I remember Houston PD would be more than willing to post up and put a shot in their ###

 

Yeap. And I would have to guess a lot quieter than running an air wrench.

I did tires when I was a young pup. You can get a tubeless tire off a rim after it's deflated in about 45 seconds, if you are good.

I'll bet your thief is an ex or current truck tire employee. It takes time to learn how to dismount a tire off a mounted rim.

 

It is easy,alot of times if the outside tire needs replaced they will take the bad tire off and put the new on the rim while it is still on the truck. I have seen it done many times. It is alot quicker than taking the rim off and putting it back on,and also the tire by its self is lighter than the tire and rim together.

 

Also don't need to jack up the vehicle.
Break the valve stem, deflate, one hit with a tire hammer, pop the tire off. Not much noise.

 

You have 10 lugs that require a good 1" drive air wrench, which requires an air compressor, and would make a lot of noise. Plus you have to jack the truck up.

The rim isn't worth the money that the tire is.

So, all they do is deflate the tire, pop it off the rim and steal off into the night. It's a matter of speed and convenience.

Time for a bait truck and some security. Park something with a set of Michelins in a dark area and hire a security guard. It sounds like they'll be back.

 

Once the outside tire is deflated, the inside one works as a sort of jack stand. All they have to do at that point is break the bead and pry the tire off. Bummer this is happening to you. As said before, set up a sting. See if you can get local law enforcement involved. I'm sure the insurance company would be happy, too.

 

They leave the rim because it would take an air impact wrench to loosen the lugs which would be very noisey. Or they'd have to loosen them with a lug wrench and a cheaterpipe which would be very time consuming. With noise and time being a thiefs enemy they just take 2 prybars and pop the tire off of the rim in less than a minute and get away quick. If you're listening you should be able to hear when they're letting the air out.

 

I would use a 5-50 mm Camera with at least 40 ir bulbs on it, mount it as far away as 50 feet on a pole or even the truck. The IR would illuminate up to 50 feet away and they wouldn't see anything. naked light. Honeywell makes one with an SD card that fits into the camera.I used to make decent living doing this, but now you can get whatever camera you want online cheap.

You could also get a wireless vibration detector, mount it to the back of the tire with velcro or whatever, and install a small honeywell Lynx alarm panel in the truck. It's 12 volt and wireless to the vibration sensor. It can send you a text message via cell radio, and even a video clip or pic.

Send me a private message anytime, I'd be glad to tell ya what to order.