lock picking the club

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com

Well you lost your car keys... So you should call a locksmith to either pick your club off of your steering wheel or he might use power tools to cut it off... Either way thats fine -- but you don't speak of having a spare car key around so I am kind of wondering how you intend to start your car once you have "picked your club" off the steering wheel...

CALL A LOCKSMITH... Don't be cheap about it -- it will teach you to pay better attention to where you leave your keys...

Evan the maintenance man

I have extra keys for the car but not the club :P

What don't you try it and see? The required investment is pretty small (especially for a car owner.) You'll find out much faster than waiting for people to write back to you.

Cutting it off isn't a big deal. Also a locksmith can handle this.

you should read the FAQ again.

the part: "0. Will people on this newsgroup give me information about picking locks, etc.?"

g'day

Cmon! I think we can answer his questions in this case... They were, for review:

Can the Club be picked? -YES

Is the Club any good? -NO

just wondering if its that easy -NO (not really a question but it begged to be answered)

about

They were, for

for review or not. doesn't matter. defeating instructions are still defeating instructions. there will probably never be an agreement here. however, my point a view still stands.

no flame intended

Speaking only for myself, my policy is that I don't teach picking techniques unless I've personally known the person for two years.

You can find many forums on the web, but that's out of my control.

When I was new at locksmithing, I was completely fascinated by picking. Now, after 20+ years in the trade, it's an important part of the job, but not totally fascinating. There is so much more to the job.

The reasons I don't teach picking are several.

1) There is no way to know who is the person asking. Most people asking (or lurking and reading the posts) are decent people, but a few are not. So, I've decided simply not to say anything to anyone.

2) Picking locks is a "trade secret" like many other trades which have their techniques and systems.

3) A very small part of the security of locks is that so few people know how to pick them. So, by teaching lock picking, I make all locks less secure for the world. Not what I want to do.

4) Purely selfishly, I learned lock picking the hard way, with lots of practice, and you can do the same.

I wish you well. Hope this doesn't sound unkind, but the world isn't a nice place sometimes.

Have picked several "The Club". I've been in the locksmith business since about 1985. No further instructions from me.

None taken. I'm just saying I didn't see him asking for defeating instructions... We all know they were coming, but they weren't present in that post... Hehe!

Use your favorite pick and a standard tension wrench. The locks are not high security. The last time I did one I raked it in a few seconds. I was probably just lucky. If I was nervous or being watched it would have taken much longer.

If you are doing this illegally you will find that:

1) If caught using the picks in someone else's locked car you will be convicted. There are no excuses. Car theft is one charge, posession of breaking and entering tools is a second charge. 2) The 1 to 15 minutes that you are opening it will look real suspicious to bystanders.

If you are on the level, you will find that you need a key anyway, so you may find it better to contact a locksmith so he can make a new key.

Daniel

"the club" has been become a generic term people use to refer to anti theft steering wheel bars from many manufacturers. There are many different types of locks in use on them. You aren't likely to get any specific info here about how to remove it in any case.

Wrong. Anything that causes a thief additional annoyance reduces the chances that said thief will mess with it.

Depends on the type of lock on the individual "club".

So tying a rope around the steering wheel would work for you? Go for it.

You get the lock that comes built into it.

Can I agree with both?

No, the Club isn't as effective as its manufacturer wants you to think; there are a couple of standard ways of defeating it.

Yes, it does pose an annoyance factor which may -- if all else is equal

-- cause the crook to bother the next car over rather than yours.

Is that enough benefit to be worth the cost? Not in the areas where I park. Your milage may vary.

This analogy is too lame to be worthy of further comment.

Which varies with the actual manufacturer. Most, actually all instances when I have been called on to remove the "club" the "club" in question was not actually the brand that term technically refers to.

So you retract your earlier statement?