How to Prevent Tire Slashing: 9 Very Useful Tips

Having your tires slashed is not the most pleasant thing that can happen. If it happens once, you may attribute it to poor luck. But if it happens twice, you probably pissed off someone really bad and they’re out to get you. Either way, it can be a very nerve wrecking and costly experience.

Unfortunately there aren’t any security devices designed specifically for protecting tires from getting slashed. So you’ll have to rely on some clever tactics instead to dissuade the tire slasher. Or at least catch him in the act and report it to the local authorities with some evidence. Here are 10 useful tips that can help:

1. Park wisely

Where you park is extremely important. The safest place is behind closed doors, presumably in your garage. If tire slashing keeps happening and you don’t have a garage, you may want to lay low for a while.

Park your car somewhere else. Perhaps your friend’s or your neighbor’s garage, or on a different street for a while. Or you can park it so that it’s visible from your home. Perhaps close to a nearby street light so that it’s clearly visible from your window.

2. Install motion sensor floodlights

Motion sensor floodlights are used in many driveways and backyards. When someone enters the radius covered by the sensor, the bright light turns on and illuminates the area. You can typically set for how long you want the light to stay on, and you can usually adjust the angle and positioning as well.

This is a great deterrent because most criminals avoid well-lit areas like the plague. If the tire slashing is happening at night, try to park your vehicle in an area that’s visible from your bedroom window. When the floodlights turn on, you’ll probably notice and be alarmed by it. Especially if you’re a light sleeper. Just make sure that the floodlights are strong enough.

I recommend the Sansi Led Security Floodlights which have solid motion detection range of 180 degrees and max 50 feet. The light is powerful enough for security purposes with 36W rated at 3,600 lumens.

3. Monitor your driveway with a security camera

This is another great solution. But since tire slashing commonly occurs at nighttime. So it’s important to get a camera with good night vision. This will help you and the police identify the criminal more easily. Floodlights (or keeping the regular lights on) can be very helpful for improving the video quality.

So if you can, keep the lights on or install floodlights in the area along with a security camera. Also keep in mind that bullet cameras have better night vision than dome cameras. Dome cameras have that plastic, round cover surrounding the lens, which often reduces video quality.

So I would get a bullet camera like Soliom Bird (link to Amazon) for this purpose. This camera has very accurate motion detection. It will send you a notification with a short video clip on your smartphone in case it detects any movement in the monitored area. Plus, it has two-way talk and it’s solar powered! If you’re worried about how to install it properly, you can choose the expert installation option to have an expert install it for you anywhere you like.

The Ring Floodlight Camera is another great option. As the name suggests, it’s a combination of a security camera and floodlights with motion detection and alert system similar to that of Soliom Bird. It’s the most popular device of this kind with over 4000 reviews on Amazon and it has excellent 1080HD video quality with infrared night vision.

While Soliom Bird is more affordable, the Ring Floodlight Camera already has a floodlight built in. So when you take that into consideration, it’s only costs around $50 more than if you were to buy a camera and floodlights separately. Of course, the price difference will also depend on how much the floodlights cost, but I’m considering security floodlights of respectable quality, which typically cost around $50-60.

Either option is great in my opinion, the only difference is the small price variation and the amount of footwork you’re willing to do in order to install them as one or as two separate devices.

4. Get a guard dog

I don’t recommend getting a guard dog just to protect your tires from getting slashed. But if you wanted to get a loyal furry friend this might give you some extra motivation. There’s no better protector and alarm system than a loud dog. It can protect your home from intruders and criminals who just want to do you harm.

Keep in mind that not every dog is a guard dog, nor can you train every dog to become one. It depends on the dog’s personality. Some are just too meek and friendly to strangers and that’s never gonna change. Others are more loyal and wary of strangers. That’s the type to go for. Obviously, park your car nearby so that your guard dog can react to any stranger that tries to mess with it.

5. Stay up and monitor your vehicle

If the tire slashing is happening every night or at certain regular intervals, stay up and monitor your car. Try to discover who the perpetrator is. It’s very likely that they wearing a mask, but you may be able to distinguish some important physical attributes, such as their gender, height, body type, clothes etc.

All of this information can be very helpful to the police and to yourself in identifying the criminal. Chances are that you’ve made an enemy recently so you’ve narrowed down the possibilities already. Seeing the person even while wearing the mask will narrow the options even further.

6. Avoid getting in a fight with the criminal

I strongly recommend not engaging in a physical tussle with the criminal. I’m not sure what the law is in your country. But attacking someone just because they are messing with your car usually doesn’t fall into self-defense laws. You could be seen as the guilty party if the other person got injured in any way.

More importantly, if the criminal is there to slash your tires, he’s obviously carrying a sharp and dangerous object which he could use against you in a fight. The best course of action to take it to chase the person away from a safe distance and call the police immediately, providing them with the direction in which the criminal went and his general appearance.

7. Get a dash camera

Dash cameras are placed inside the car. They’re generally used for monitoring the car’s surroundings. They’re really helpful when it comes to car accidents. But they can also be used to monitor the car for tire slashers or any other criminal activity.

It’s best to use two dash cameras at once, so that they can monitor opposite sides of your vehicle. These are also a great criminal deterrent since the recorded footage can help identify them.

I recommend the best-selling Chortau Dash Cam because of the pretty affordable price and two important features. First of them is the motion detector. If it goes off, the camera will lock the footage so that it can’t be rewritten. This is great for collisions and other accidents, so the camera can come in handy for future use.

However, the more important feature for catching a tire slasher is the excellent 1080P video quality and night vision. This is a good video made by a regular user showcasing the display quality:

8. Tips for parking in public

When parking in public parking lots and garages you don’t have the luxury of using home security devices. If you’re worried of having your tires slashed in public areas here are some tips you can use:

• use a dash camera to monitor your car’s surroundings
• use a motion sensor car alarm
• park in areas with security cameras and guards
• park in well-lit areas with a lot of traffic (rather than dark, secluded areas)
• park in tight spaces so that it’s harder to reach the tires

9. Car alarm with motion sensor

Unfortunately slashing tires doesn’t produce much vibrations. It doesn’t even require the person to touch the car directly. So it’s not very likely that a basic alarm would get triggered.

However, there are some alarms with a sensitive motion detector. Arguably the best one is the Dual Zone Motion Sensor. It works by creating two invisible detection fields around your vehicle. It detects moving high-density objects using RF field-disturbance technology.

When it detects motions, the alarm will produce either a “warn away” response or “full alarm” sound. You can set one or the other depending on your preference. This unique alarm can be used on any vehicle, cars, trucks etc. making it one of the best security options on this list.

Final Word: How to Prevent Tire Slashing

If someone is slashing your tires, you can probably narrow the perpetrator to a couple of names. If not, perhaps you’ve really stepped on too many toes at once.

Your best bet is to deter or catch the criminal by parking in safer locations and installing one or more security devices with the potential to record and alert of the criminal’s presence. Hope this helps!