81 thoughts on “Hacking A Car Boot

  1. couldnt they have used bolt cutters on that lock there? its been said that theres more than one way to do something, and there all right in their own way. but if one requires less work/less time im going with that

  2. Uh? Would it have been cheaper to pay the fines and not need a new tire and rim at the same time. Parking fine may be, what $50? new tire and rim cant be less then $100 together can they. I think he should have tried to pick the lock or something instead of leaving the tire.

    Damn gutsy though

  3. yeah, shit or get off the pot.

    i’m glad this is here, where i live they use the boot liberally, i’ve been sitting outside a Togo’s eating a sandwich watching a person park at the 15 min. zone, in the time it took them to enter the door (15 feet away) their car is booted by these two a-holes that loiter around and extort innocent people for their own sadistic amusement. i guess you’re unstoppable with a badge and a gun.

  4. ok first off its not a perfect hack…the guy lost a wheel..but its not a bad start over here in the uk we can practically legally slice the things off. second the sarcastic guy..this sites doing a good job of bringing a very assorted ‘hacking’ guide under one url..i dont know any better ones..not to mention this site is still in its infancy with a bit more input from its readers (ie some hacks from u usarcastic loser) it can only get better

  5. Just because everything on here isn’t hardcore hardware hacking (say that 3x fast), doesn’t make it neccesary to critisize these people. Their website is amazing and I have learned countless things from here. Something like this is interesting even if it isn’t that technologically involved so STFU

  6. IMHO there is more to be done here. Now that he has the tyre and boot as a seperate unit it can be taken home and looked at more closely with better tools. If it can be mounted loose enough to fit a lugwrench in (AND have room to swing that wrench) then its gotta be loose somewhere else.

    On a related note there is a gentelman over in England who will bicycle over and use a gasoline powered saw to hack your boot off.

    Parking and speeding violations are little more than a massive, albeit disorganzied, public disobedience. Few cases lead to an innocent bystander being hurt, many people get fined for doing it and then continue to do it, and many of those enforcing the laws are displeased about it.

  7. IMHO there is more to be done here. Now that he has the tyre and boot as a seperate unit it can be taken home and looked at more closely with better tools. If it can be mounted loose enough to fit a lugwrench in (AND have room to swing that wrench) then its gotta be loose somewhere else.

    On a related note there is a gentelman over in England who will bicycle over and use a gasoline powered saw to hack your boot off.

    Parking and speeding violations are little more than a massive, albeit disorganzied, public disobedience. Few cases lead to an innocent bystander being hurt, many people get fined for doing it and then continue to do it, and many of those enforcing the laws are displeased about it.

  8. Put the fake boot onto the tire, and it will slide open or close when you’re going to park.. And create a fake parking ticket with a right time when you’re going to park .. So, that way you can park anywhere you like to park.. this will trick the traffic police thinking it already handle it, and will pass by away.. (I’m not sure much about this.. The Traffic officer may already know about this method..)

  9. The fake boot idea, doesn’t work. Traffic cops only work one specific area…so if they show up to a car and it already has a boot and they didn’t put it there it’s a dead giveaway that it’s a fake.

  10. i agree that this hack isnt the best that ive seen on here but i just love the end solution…

    DAMN THE MAN!!!

    i would love to see the parking enforcement guy that actually booted the car when he comes back to find that the boot and tire are still in the same spot but the car is gone!!!

  11. They dont use the boot around here in my small town, but boltcutters, hacksaws, and other assorted goodies from my trunk will certainly help should I get booted next time I’m in the city.

    The boot was a dumb idea to start with. Oh look! That guy’s suv is getting in the way where it’s parked… I know! let’s put a big clamp on his wheel so the car has to stay there until the ticket is paid.

  12. bit of an overly-complicated hack. he had the lug wrench in his hand and it never occured to him to jam it into the lock and step on it? broken lock, no more boot on the car, and maybe even his very own boot for the trouble.

    i put the “lever” in leverage, baby.

  13. If you read the whole thing, you’ll notice several points that nobody has mentioned yet.

    1) He left to wheel so he wouldn’t be guilty of stealing the boot. (A much more expensive offense.)

    2) The boot was installed improperly, that’s the only reason he could get it open far enough to get in a wrench. (The person who installed it was worried about damaging the stem, we know this becuase…)

    3) He was caught. He had his real name and location in his site profile, and the name of the community college was printed on the boot in the pictures. Somebody emailed a link to discussion to the college security office.. who looked up his address in their records, drove to his place and saw his car, and then pulled up his class schedule and met him at one of his classes. They were good natured about it, and the fines were less than $200 (which is probably just a little more than a new rim/tire would cost anyway.)

    More disturbingly, once it was thought that somebody on the discussion board had ratted him out (actually.. probably just a visitor), a few people starting throwing around some very violent threats.. to shoot the snitch, rape his g/f or daughter, etc. This was VERY disturbing (though it’s not too suprising in an arena as testosterone drenched as that.)

    Remember folks… anonymity on the net is an illusion, both for the guy who tried to game the system, and for those throwing around threats. Though it’s seldom prosecuted on the ‘net, saying you’re going to kill/maim/rape somebody counts as “making terrorist threats”, and can land you in jail for a few years.

    1. once upon a time in retaliation to dpt stealing peoples cars and money i would go out a couple nights a week and spray paint over the windows of said parking meters about two blocks worth at a time so by the time they realized then fixed situation they would be out of pocket money for a full dats worth of parking a lot of money lost to see how they like getting screwed

  14. Did they take the boot with them? If not they should have as they could have used a cuting torch on the pad lock and then sold the boot on ebay for some hard cash. Just got to make sure and scratch the “call if found” number off it.

  15. It’s a fake.Look at the rear tire closely, notice how it’s sticking out past the wheel well? Also notice how it’s placed, seems that wheel would rub on the back of the fenderwell if driven.
    I call bullshit.
    Boot a spare tire, take tire off of car, leave it jacked up,stand booted spare tire against hub, take picture, generate more hits on website.
    lame.

  16. Instead of thinking of ways to defeat things like this wouldn’t it just be easier to not park or drive like an ass. Seems to me that someone going to college should be able to read parking signs, follow simple direction and use a little common sense and courtesy.

  17. Man! A tire is an awful price to pay – the ticket would be less expensive. Tell me you didn’t really leave it and the boot there on the pavement. Tell me you brought it home and have it mounted over the fireplace.

  18. If you frequent an area that has tire booting fascists, why not carry a battery powered circular saw with a metal cutting blade? The look on their face when they find the cleanly cut boot would be priceless.

  19. C’mon. Lame.

    I’m in the engineering program here on my campus, and a buddy of mine ‘contracted’ me to get a boot off his car. I took some measurements on the boot, went to the college machine shop, and machined a key to loosen it up. It’s a pretty stupid key actually, anyone with access to a drill press can make their own if they really wanted to.

    Bottom line, after a half hour in the machine shop I manufactured myself a tool to remove those, every time. Without any damage to the vehicle or the boot. You drive away, leave the boot in the space, and it’s a done deal. ;)

  20. I wish we got booted around here. Instead you get like 10 tickets, and if you don’t pay them, and get ticketed again you have to find out just which dip-shit company was cauled to haul your vehicle off.

    And who uses power tools? Get technical about man…. go get some liquid nitrogen, pour it on, and then, just for fun, beat the lock off with a plastic toy hammer.

  21. My RA last year told me about what his uncle always does to keep from getting booted. He has an old junk truck so he just welds sheet metal over the wheel wells so it is impossible to get a boot on the truck. Simple as that.

  22. Liquid nitrogen would be work to be sure but the saw can be kept on hand, there is no “go get”. Besides, you might want to move out of your mother’s basement one day and the saw would be handy for building a house.

  23. “Posted Feb 24, 2005, 5:38 PM ET by Hal Hockersmith
    Uh? Would it have been cheaper to pay the fines and not need a new tire and rim at the same time. Parking fine may be, what $50? new tire and rim cant be less then $100 together can they. I think he should have tried to pick the lock or something instead of leaving the tire.

    Damn gutsy though”

    What college kid has $50 in their pocket, let alone to pay fines? Those parking people are nazis anyway. They’ll forego writing a ticket for someone parked in a handicapped spot, but they’re write someone a ticket for being a millimeter outside the white line. I say good on him. (Although, I would’ve just cut the lock off, go to the hardware store, buy them a new one, then drop it off at the campus security station with a little note)

  24. (I have my doubts about authenticity here)

    I wonder why everyone says it is like a $20 or $50 fine and was not worth the loss of a tire and rim.

    I never been booted, but in this area you need something like a minimum of $500 or $1000 worth of back tickets to get booted. I have seen a few cars that were not even worth recovering, so the car and boot stays for a long time.

    Sign the title and throw it with the keys on the dashboard.

  25. Actually, when they screw up and attach a parking boot this loose (loose enough to almost slip off but not quite), all you have to do is jack the car up and let air out of the tire until the boot slips off. You may have to put on the spare till you can refill your tire.

    If they put the boot on right, you usually can remove it with a cold chisel and a small 5 pound sledge hammer. Oh, and safety glasses because chips will fly. The weakest parts of a boot are the welds, and one or two good blows should break the weld. Just identify the part that looks like it is holding the boot on, and break the welds. Should take less than a minute for someone with metal working experience.

  26. you know what would be really cool? Carry your own collection of boots around with you and randomly put them on all of your friends cars while they are at the bar or in class or at church or at the strip club, etc.

    yeah. huh. that would be priceless. oh, and your friends would love you for it.

  27. They probably have your plate # and vin # you are responsible for the boot and ticket ,you are only getting a quick fix from messing with the MAN !
    I suggest to install a anti theft shocking device
    any one who cant read the warning sign in the window takes a chance touching the car .I would use a strong electric fence unit no deaths and lots of fun to watch in action,hay you are smarter right?

  28. Wow, what an embarrassing waste of bandwidth on that forum. It comes as no surprise that a car enthusiast (i.e. dick swinging) forum would be as uneducated as this.

    This guy parked illegally. There are reasons for the rules. He was a hardheaded jackass and didn’t pay his first ticket. He continued to disobey the rules that his campus spends money to hold up, and got more tickets. He still didn’t pay.

    You are not better than anyone else.

    He should have paid his tickets and had the boot removed by the authorities. I’m really glad someone busted this dickhead and that he was caught and forced to pay the tickets.

  29. there is another way and you get to keep the boot and tyre. you let teh air out of your tyre and the boot will just slip off with a little help, then put on your spare and after putting the flat tyre and boot in your car you drive off to the service station to reinflate your tyre and your away laughing

  30. Well, all I have to say is thank god for the redneck who came up with this idea to take off the boot, and my cool ass neighbor who gave me the link! I recieved one of these lovely boots about 4 days ago and managed to take it off, BUT I chose to keep it and dump it in another state on my way back to my home state. Luckily I had an out of state license plate. I still lived there but I had to take my vehicle back to the home state in fear of them sighting me again and maybe face an even worse senerio. So, back to my home state I go to leave my vehicle with my family and return with no car. Hey, it’s better then loosing it, RIGHT?

  31. in regards to it being a fake, did you consider the possibility that he had removed the tire before having the wherewithall to take pictures, so he placed the booted and removed tire back onto the car for the pictures? Seems plausible to me. Also, while the “damn the man” aspect in this method is very high, it really could have been done much more efficiently. The dome tire idea is intriguing. That seems the most effective method. if i lived near boot nazis, i’d do that.

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