Think somebody's breaking my wing mirror, options?

B@Th*nG

B@Th*nG

B@Th*nG

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
6,893
Hi guys,

I'm sure I'll regret posting this in here but here goes.

The road I live on is long, quite narrow and leads up to a school. Last week I had to park about 30 metres from my house, near a shop, down the road. As there was a truck parked on the other side I put the car about a foot onto the low pavement to leave space and went home. In the morning my drivers side wing-mirror was "bent down" and a couple of the less significant lugs holding it to the car were broken so now it was a little loose; I own a Vectra so the only direction the mirror moves is swung down like this so it wasn't a big deal, still annoying that some of the lugs were broken mind so they must have used some force.

It occurred to me then that it might be somebody trying to make a point about parking on the pavement outside their place, or just some drunk in the night, but it could also have been the kids on the way to school; although saying that I leave for work at 8:15 in the morning and not too many of them have gone through by then.

So fast forward to this morning. I've parked in the same place last night, albeit facing the other direct, but off the pavement - or so I thought. I come to the car and the same wing mirror is basically hanging off and the plastic surround which covers the motor etc... is missing completely. I look round the car and notice that the rear wheel is 2/3" onto the low pavement. I re-fixed the wing mirror as best as I could, but with the plastic surround missing I'll need to replace the whole thing.

I'm now pretty certain that it's somebody doing this to make a point and I'm not too happy about it. If you don't like it then leave a note, they can see my car's always parked near-by so they know I live in the road. But don't just break my car you petty ****. If it were kids or drunks I doubt they'd have bothered to take the plastic surround; if a car had knocked it off the plastic surround would be around somewhere.

Anyway, I digress, I'm going to leave the wing mirror on the car in the short term. Partly because it's currently operational and partly because I wouldn't mind finding out who it is and getting them to pay for it. So suggestions, what's the best way I can find out who it is?

I've considered parking the car there and just watching it until 2/3am say and then if nobody shows I'll just move it and go about my day. If nobody shows on the previous attempt then another day I'll move it there at 5am and watch until I need to go to work. I'll take the GF's camera and if somebody shows I'll take pictures and then confront them; pay for the damage or I go to the police.

I appreciate it might be a bit much when I could pick one up 2nd hand for £30-50 and move on, but if he's paying for it then I'll have it new from Vauxhall and it'll cost him a lot more and it might give him his comeuppance which would be considerably more satisfying.

Does anybody have any other suggestions?


****TL: DR****
Best way to find out who's breaking my wing mirror?


B@
 
Ahh the joys of on street parking, are you in a built up area? get some new ones and paint them in anti climb paint they won't like that
 
Cuchulain said:
If you can see your car from your house, get a cheap web cam and some free motion detection software.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I can't see if from the house. Although setting up something in the car isn't a terrible idea. Would a webcam work well in the dark?

maccapacca said:
Ahh the joys of on street parking, are you in a built up area? get some new ones and paint them in anti climb paint they won't like that
Click to expand...

hmm... it's worth considering. I have a white car though so it will be fairly obvious. Plus, if nobody does anything I will definitely have to replace the whole mirror/s :)

B@
 
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Laptop under the seat in the car + motion sensing webcam?

May need to tweak some settings so the laptop of battery lasts long enough though, or can you get 12v power supplies that work from the cigarette lighter??
 
What do you mean by "low pavement"? Are you blocking someone's drive? Or a parking area in front of a shop?
 
B@Th*nG said:
Unfortunately I can't see if from the house. Although setting up something in the car isn't a terrible idea. Would a webcam work well in the dark?
B@
Click to expand...

My logitech has an led light on the front for low-light/dark conditions, no idea on how quickly it'd drain a laptop battery though.
 
I'd go out every hour and check on it, if the wingmirror has been damaged again then you have the potential window within which the person doing it returns from work/operates. then go out tomorrow during that period with a G19 and have 'stand and bang' on one of the macro keys
 
Maybe someone just wanted the surround for their own car - first time they either got interrupted or couldn't get it off, second time they were successful?
 
Mr Jack said:
What do you mean by "low pavement"? Are you blocking someone's drive? Or a parking area in front of a shop?
Click to expand...
neither, the road has been relaid so many times that the pavement is less than an inch from the road surface on this side of the road. it's infront of 2 houses, but no driveway's. It is "parking area in front of a shop" low though.

Cuchulain said:
My logitech has an led light on the front for low-light/dark conditions, no idea on how quickly it'd drain a laptop battery though.
Click to expand...
it's not exactly inconspicuous though is it? ;)

kaiowas said:
Maybe someone just wanted the surround for their own car - first time they either got interrupted or couldn't get it off, second time they were successful?
Click to expand...
ye maybe! it's something I hadn't considered. Although it would be quite a co-incidence that it happened in EXACTLY the same place.

The best bet so far still seems to be just leaving it there and waiting it out. Is there any benefit from taking a camera? If i actually have to take it to the police will the photographs hold any weight? As much as I'd like to I'm not going to beat the guy up, but if he refuses to pay and the photo's are worthless then there's not a lot of point to it all. The GF has a video camera too so that might be better.

B@
 
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B@Th*nG said:
Unfortunately I can't see if from the house. Although setting up something in the car isn't a terrible idea. Would a webcam work well in the dark?
Click to expand...

Depends: fancy doing some not-very-difficult surgery on it?

Most digital cameras, including webcams, have an IR filter to filter out infra red light, allowing only visible light onto the sensor.

If you crack open the webcam and replace that filter with a piece of completely black exposed camera film (I.e. something black on the negative that would appear plain white in a photo). This means IR light can be seem, but visible light cannot.

Then if you repeat the exposed-film trick on a regular torch you'll create and IR torch. (You can buy IR LEDs if you want to be fancy, they probably work better, but this system should be producible from household junk). This is done because it will allow you to light the "crime scene" with IR light that won't be visible to the perp.

Congratulations, you now have an IR camera and light. As other people have suggested a laptop under the seat and a 12V converter with some motion detection software and you should be good to go.
 
griffo_001 said:
Depends: fancy doing some not-very-difficult surgery on it?

Most digital cameras, including webcams, have an IR filter to filter out infra red light, allowing only visible light onto the sensor.

If you crack open the webcam and replace that filter with a piece of completely black exposed camera film (I.e. something black on the negative that would appear plain white in a photo). This means IR light can be seem, but visible light cannot.

Then if you repeat the exposed-film trick on a regular torch you'll create and IR torch. (You can buy IR LEDs if you want to be fancy, they probably work better, but this system should be producible from household junk). This is done because it will allow you to light the "crime scene" with IR light that won't be visible to the perp.

Congratulations, you now have an IR camera and light. As other people have suggested a laptop under the seat and a 12V converter with some motion detection software and you should be good to go.
Click to expand...
ooo... interesting!
will that allow me to identify who the person is? If i need to take it to the fuzz then you'd have to be able to get a positive ID

B@
 
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B@Th*nG said:
ooo... interesting!
will that allow me to identify who the person is? If i need to take it to the fuzz then you'd have to be able to get a positive ID

B@
Click to expand...

This is basically what you'd end up with. See how the lamp is visible in the IR camera footage and not in the regular footage? That's the effect on an IR lamp :)


A quick google will explain how to do it for many different brands of camera. I'd make sure there was a guide for the exact model you have/are going to purchase before hacking anything to pieces :p
 
Righty.... I've assessed and made my decision!

The cost/effort of sourcing a car battery, the necessary leads and a webcam for my laptop outweigh the cost of a 2nd hand replacement wing mirror. Additionally, there's no guarantee they'll go for the same place and the camera might miss them completely.

So I've decided that I'll make up a temporary wing-mirror "cover" out of thick black refuse bag. I'll secure it to the wing mirror and paint it with that anti-climb paint then put the car in situ and wait it out with a stills/video camera. If he touches the broken mirror he'll have the anti climb paint all over his hands, video/pictures of him doing it and, assuming he lives very close to where I'm parked, his address.

How's that sound?

B@
 
That sounds like a great way to get in a fight...! You can pick up a webcam for under a fiver online, that's all you need surely? I would have thought a laptop will last for an evening if you turn everything off, and just had a webcam running.
 
Stupot_ said:
That sounds like a great way to get in a fight...! You can pick up a webcam for under a fiver online, that's all you need surely? I would have thought a laptop will last for an evening if you turn everything off, and just had a webcam running.
Click to expand...

the laptop battery is totally shagged, it won't last unfortunately.

It won't end in a fight, the sort of person who destroys property instead of just dealing with the problem isn't going to kick off. In any case I'm a big guy so I'm not concerned.

On the off chance he turns out to be the son of Hulk then I'll just give his details to the police and they can come round in the morning to look at his black hands.

B@
 
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