Locking wheel nuts

[Eddy77]

No locking nuts on mine....didn’t come with them and I never felt the need for them. It’s garages and only comes out a couple of times a month. I wouldn’t remove them if it came with them but as it didn’t I never fitted them.

 

[merc85]

My cars are usually older vehicles, The locking wheel nut keys get worn, or done up with Air guns etc then you try and undo them and because they haven't been off for ages either rust tight, or the key slip's. There just a Royal Pain in the Ass.

I can how ever see why people use them on newish Merc's etc, On a 15+year old car im not so sure, thats even if when you buy the car you even remember to check that the car actually comes with the locking wheel nut key lol

 

[clk320x]

My cars are usually older vehicles, The locking wheel nut keys get worn, or done up with Air guns etc then you try and undo them and because they haven't been off for ages either rust tight, or the key slip's. There just a Royal Pain in the Ass.

I can how ever see why people use them on newish Merc's etc, On a 15+year old car im not so sure, thats even if when you buy the car you even remember to check that the car actually comes with the locking wheel nut key lol

Completely agree Gav

I had to get a new one for my E, £40 from Merc.. not bad actually as other places wanted £100 to remove the old ones without the key.

Clk has none, and guess what the wheels are still there

 

[PobodY]

This dealer bought a Peugeot 205 in a trade auction. After the auction, the chap that handed him the car whispered in his ear that there's another 205 in the back that has alloy wheels and brand new tyres, and that he'll swap the wheels around for him for £50.

The buyer agreed, and indeed the car was presented with the shiny alloys instead of the original metal wheels.

Next morning the buyer found the car on bricks and all four wheels missing...

Not quite the same story, but I know of a similar problem with cars bought in Japanese auctions and shipped to the UK. - When they are delivered, they're often missing some of the more "shiny" features that were on them in the pictures from the auction house.

 

[markjay]

No locking nuts on mine....didn’t come with them and I never felt the need for them. It’s garages and only comes out a couple of times a month. I wouldn’t remove them if it came with them but as it didn’t I never fitted them.

The cars are delivered from the factory without locking wheel bolts, i.e. they come with 20 standard bolts.

The locking wheel bolts that you see on UK cars are an after-market accessory fitted by the dealer as part of the PDI.

(And this also explains why there are 4 standard wheel bolts alongside the key inside the locking wheel bolt accessory box - these are the standard wheel bolts that where replaced by the dealer when fitting the locking ones.... )

 

[AMGeed]

My cars are usually older vehicles, The locking wheel nut keys get worn, or done up with Air guns etc then you try and undo them and because they haven't been off for ages either rust tight, or the key slip's. There just a Royal Pain in the Ass.

I can how ever see why people use them on newish Merc's etc, On a 15+year old car im not so sure, thats even if when you buy the car you even remember to check that the car actually comes with the locking wheel nut key lol

+1
I removed all my locking wheel nuts a few months ago because they were a pain to get off and had started to corrode. One done up with an airgun was almost impossible to remove.

 

[Benzowner]

If locking whell nuts are a deterrent, why do we only have one per wheel? Surely two per wheel would be even better.

 

[E53AMG]

If locking whell nuts are a deterrent, why do we only have one per wheel? Surely two per wheel would be even better.

Or 4 better still ?[emoji849]

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

 

[Will]

If locking whell nuts are a deterrent, why do we only have one per wheel? Surely two per wheel would be even better.

I can detect the sarcasm..but why do we only have one door lock or ignition key etc?

It may not be that common, but wheel theft does happen.

Why not just leave the car unlocked - after all a professional thief will have tools to gain entry, etc..

Each to their own and all that, but there’s a reason why the majority of UK cars come with locking wheel bolts, after all the manufacturers could otherwise save themselves a chunk of cash by omitting them

 

[Mattns]

Interestingly, on both a previous Boxster S and my current W220 I discovered that the alarm activates as I jacked the car up if I had not unlocked the doors first! so locking nuts seem to be belt and braces. On the flip side I recently had a major hassle with the two front locking nuts on my son's insignia, the key and nut seems to be made of aluminium I think and very shallow so no real purchase, result could not shift the nuts, bought new key, still no joy. bought universal extractor and impact driver and heat eventually won the day, car has now four nice Hex nuts.

 

[190]

Why not just leave the car unlocked - after all a professional thief will have tools to gain entry, etc..

The difference is that door locks don't get abused by some parts of the trade so there is no downside to using them. If locking wheel nuts were always tightened to spec with a torque wrench then there wouldn't be a downside to using them either. The reality though is different and some people are prepared to risk not having locking nuts simply because the risk of them being abused is higher than the risk of the wheels being stolen.

 

[cheddar]

Mine don’t cause me a problem, so they’re still on there. I like to think that of course if someone wanted to take my wheels, they’d come equipped and would likely leave with them.
However, the extra time taken combined with the noise caused by hammering sockets in etc, would give me time to arm myself with an appropriate bat or memory destroyer, I might get destroyed in the process but I’d like to have a go at disrupting a crime that would never even get investigated otherwise.

 

[E55BOF]

My XK has 20" wheels, and with four new tyres on, that's £800-worth of tyres as well as the wheels. It has locking nuts, and I'm glad it has, just in case...

 

[markjay]

Mine don’t cause me a problem, so they’re still on there. I like to think that of course if someone wanted to take my wheels, they’d come equipped and would likely leave with them.
However, the extra time taken combined with the noise caused by hammering sockets in etc, would give me time to arm myself with an appropriate bat or memory destroyer, I might get destroyed in the process but I’d like to have a go at disrupting a crime that would never even get investigated otherwise.

Same here (minus the baseball bat....)