ler0y

Is anybody here familiar with vehicle armor at all? Its getting pretty dangerous where I live and I'm seriously contemplating armor (I'm actually paranoid too). Theft of high end SUVs is pretty big here and car jackings are fairly commonplace. The last time I looked at armoring the glass, I think it was around $15/sq foot for lexan, but unfortunately I can't find anybody who provides that service here anymore. Its a sad situation, but we have 15 yr old kids with handguns running around with chips on their shoulders

2010mRXsh

Where are you located?

That is quite a bad situation to be in. Sorry to hear it--I have been in similar situations, I think.

I don't know much about armoring, certainly not firsthand. But, I do know the price of totally armoring a car is really expensive. I only checked out one or two sources, but it was looking like at least $40k for a conversion.

You could possibly do just the glass, but there are so many ways for a bullet to enter a car...doing just the glass might provide a false sense of security.

So keep in mind:

Don't hang out in high crime areas
Crime is more likely to occur at night, so don't hang out then
If they want your car, just hand it over--it's just a thing

Find a way around town that avoids high crime areas.
Or of course, move...

Good luck

bob2200

Maybe with the high price of gasoline, the theft and car jackings of SUVs will drop

Lil4X

It all depends on the level of security you want. Simply installing bullet-resistant glass won't do much, the body, firewall, floorpan and critical components like the fuel tank and battery must be armored as well. You can protect against regular ball ammo fired from a handgun, but will be very vulnerable to assault rifle fire, particularly those using AP ammo. At the extreme cost of these vehicles, not to mention the fuel and maintenance required for a vehicle carrying an additional 2-3 tons of armor plate, you might be better off selling your house and moving to a better neighborhood.

ihatekimch

Maybe, it will be cheaper if you move outta there.

ler0y

Haha... they are stealing gas here as well. Here you don't have to pay before you pump, so ppl just take off. They are also opening up gas tanks so ppl are buying locking gas caps now.

Well, I was looking at the pros and cons of lexan laminate, but in the event that something happens, first responders need to get through windows, and that will slow them down. So its a tough call as to what would be more likely.

The armor doesn't have to be too thick. The stupid little gangbangers here don't carry rifles. I wish I lived somewhere where civilians could arm themselves and shoot back as well, but its only the criminals here who are armed. I'm just concerned because it seems that the apparent rate of random violence is increasing and our court system coddles the little rat bastards and lets them go home to their mommies with the promise that they behave like good little boys.

Just recently a young guy was out at a bar with his friends watching a game. When he left, he was carjacked and they stole his mom's Audi. Ok, they took the car fine, but they shot him in the head twice after he gave them the keys. This was only about 10 mins from where I live which is a nice area upper middle class area. The problem is that the thugs are mobile now. One fellow was caught in a mall with a concealed weapon. He was arrested then released on probation. Later he went to a car dealership and shot and killed a salesman. It turns out that he had leased a car, but couldn't make the payments, so the car was repossessed so he had to go and kill the salesman.

It just upsets me because this is the first nice vehicle that I've owned. I was always a bit wary about owning something that might be an attractive target for thieves, so I got the boomerang installed. I wish they'd had armor options too. I'd even considered getting the Ford Escape Hybrid because it would be less attractive, but it really didn't compare. I never go to bad areas, but these recent shootings happened in good normal areas. I just wish the courts here would get a clue and do something about these criminals instead of letting them go home to their mommies with the promise of behaving like good little boys.

NeoNz

wow thats pretty F-ed up!! you need to move out of there ASAP or get yourself a gun ASAP, just make sure you don't tell your govt so they can't trace it back to you only way to be safe is to arm yourself learn from the south gun controlling laws will never work because criminals will always have guns regardless of what the govt does leaving the law abiding citizen with his hands tied behind his back. sorry to hear that but i would highly suggest moving somewhere else if you can't get a hold of a gun or some window tint at least

Tony

It would be cheaper to move out of the neighborhood because to armor a RX and load it down would make it not functional anymore and cost you at least 50k - 100k to do it right. Take that money and move out of that state or town for cheaper.

Faymester

dude, ler0y, where in canada are you?

ler0y

I'm in Toronto, I dunno if you heard or not, but 2 young guys were shot sitting in their Range Rover downtown in pretty expensive neighborhood in the theater district. I know because I was shopping for a condo down there just a block away from that shooting. An 800ft condo there sells for over $350,000. But the thing is, the random violence isn't confined to any area really, its all over the place. And our stupid mayor is calling for a universal handgun ban in the city, as if the criminals, whom I'm sure don't legally have gun licenses, are going to listen to him. It would be nice if we could shoot back at the little punks.

But like I said, if it would cost just a few thousand maybe, I'd laminate the side windows with Lexan, and armor the side doors, but I wouldn't bother with anything else. It doesn't have to be armored like a humvee, it just have to be armored enough to survive something like what happened. Its getting really bad here, but if we have to start worrying about IEDs then its game over.

NeoNz

IED's are you nuts? give your local drug dealer a couple grand tell him to go get you a few guns and call it a day

ler0y

My point is that I don't need to armor the whole vehicle, just the side windows and doors, and maybe perhaps the back window and door.

Armoring the whole vehicle is overkill and prohibitively expensive. I don't need protection from IEDs, but just enough to survive bullet calibre rounds fired at the most likely points of entry.

Tony

Just move to Iraq you would be safer Point is no one here that owns a Lexus vehicle lives in that kind of enviroment and would be looking into modding cars for amor. Usually if you can afford a luxury brand you don't live in neighborhoods with that kind of action unless you are in Iraq. You should have black Water give you a quote.

ler0y

It has nothing to do with the neighborhood where I live, or even go. The problem here is that the little thugs are mobile. Random violence is precisely that, it is random, and it is increasing here. The only thing that is not random seems to be the type of people who are doing the shooting. Again, it has nothing to do with where I live in my city.

2010mRXsh

Yeah, I wouldn't agree with that. In every big city, I think, the "nice" spots are only blocks from the nasty ones.

These criminals may not have high powered rifles, but handguns are of course very efficient at the tasks they are often put to...

Thanks leroy for explaining where you're at. I was really curious. For some reason I had a feeling that there just wasn't a lot of violence in Canada, I think it's some kind of impression I've gotten from Canadians (on the internet).

I read the story on those guys in the Range Rover. Incredible what violence has been going on up there. I would have never thought. Especially in a city where yeah, small apartments can go for a half million(!)

I still must restate: yes, it would in fact be helpful to bulletproof the glass, but seriously...there's so many ways a bullet can enter a car.

You could get a bulletproof vest!!! They're only like a thousand bucks (only). But it could be worth it to you. Annoying to carry around, though, and probably not completely effective. You'll also need head protection, so...yeah, complicated.

You should look into prevention before protection. There's a lot of resources for that. Like, be aware of your situation, for one.

Good luck