Hi all. The Fit being my first car I'm a little clueless about car alarms. Life without a garage sucks. I am starting to invest more and more into aftermarket parts. Does anyone have a favorite brand/model alarm system that they would recommend? I'm not looking into a remote start, as I believe that adds more to the cost and I think simple would be better. The kind of security I seek the most is against window smash and grabs, and wheel/tire theft. Give me a testimonial if you have one, and help this old geezer out.

Oh yeah, are all wheel locks the same? For instance, spline vs. hep vs hex? As in are they all equally defeated by rookie thieves? I bought Muteki SR35 thinking they have a lock system but it doesn't appear to--thinking of returning them for the spline version, or just forgo them all together.

 

For wheel locks I went with the McGard splline drive with wheel locks. That gives the thief the most trouble possible with both a special wrench needed and sockets they are willing to destroy to get the locks off. I used part 65457 which are chrome, but you might find the black, gold, or red better for you.

I haven't bought a car alarm in a really long time, but I used to like Code Alarm products the best. My one suggestion is to make sure it has a battery backup. Without a secondary battery it only takes a good thief a split second to open the hood and disconnect the battery. My last alarm system that I had in the late '80's included a hidden battery backup and a second siren mounted in the rear. No thief expects to have both a second battery and second siren. I only had one attempted theft at a car show in Daytona, Fl and the thief gave up after cutting the wires to the first siren. It also paged me so I knew what was going on.

In short, I say either get a real alarm or don't bother. Cheap ones can be defeated so easily that they aren't worth having.

 

I forgot to add....the other two things that you want are a shock sensor and a glass breakage microphone. I found the best place to mount the sensor is to the steering shaft. It gets the most input from the chassis.

Oh, and I have to add a HUGE disclaimer. My car alarm knowledge is 20 years old

 

Thanks for all the info, GAFIT. That's basically what I want to do, make the thief work more to get my wheels. I going for the combination of wheel locks and an alarm until I can sleep easier at night.

I just realized that I need an alarm system like you described, that will notify me that the alarm has been tripped from out of ear shot. I like to park in ideal areas, and they can sometimes be more than a block away.

I looked into McGards. I will have to consider the red tipped ones. How are they holding up for you? Any rust?

I saw some Rays that was a two part key system, but it is $400. If I had some expensive wheels I guess I would get those but I'm going to be rolling on wheels that are worth a 1/4 of a set of Volks.

 

The McGard's look new after 1 1/2 years and I suspect they would for a really long time. I've run them on multiple cars and never had a rust or wear problem. The only downside to them is they are heavy. Paying more gets you lighter lugs.

 

I also got the McGard's & kept the Honda one on also. (3 McGards, and 1 OEM lock per wheel).


As for the alarm, it's a nuisance that the factory alarm doesn't detect movement, or glass breaking, apparently it's a common complaint for many other car brand owners. The solution for those owners was to add on an aftermarket DEI sensor such as:
506T Audio Glass Sensor
504M OEM Shock/Impact Sensor
504K Motion Sensor

I never got this done YET, as I would have no idea which wire to tap, but definitely plan on doing this as soon as I finish a few other things first; this way I can have a pro installer do it along with some other electrical goodies (reverse side mirror tilt , and all windows up when locking ) . That might be a good option for you. Personally I'd be happy if the alarm goes off when the glass breaks, or from motion of someone jacking the car up to steal the rims. Really like the remote start, and beeper function, but .... doh... more remotes

 

Did you ever do this?

 

Nope didn't do it yet....

This member did https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...ml#post1162684
but they had a shop do the install.

But after reading several DIY's on other cars, along with the installation guides from DEI (for various units), plus the GE8 ESM, I think I will attempt this as soon as the weather warms up here... If I fail, I'll just have the shop that's going to install my sunroof finish/complete that install too.

Same with the KP technologies boxes... install looks quite simple, just a matter of tapping the correct wires. Since I'm going to have my door panels off for my auto-folding mirrors installation, might as well get the other units installed too..