If your a car owner with alloy wheels you may come across a locking wheel nut when you have had to have a tyre or alloy replaced. There primary aim is to deter the theft of alloy wheels from a car.
Locking wheel nuts are a relatively new entry in car security in the scheme of things. There popularity increased as car owners began to modify their cars with more expensive alloy wheels.
Car crime has always existed and there was a time when the theft of expensive alloy wheels was common place. Owners would return to there cars time after time to discover their wheels and alloys had been removed and stolen while the car stands there as an immovable body.
This kind of robbery is often under reported and often when a case is registered with the police very few of the owners will reach a positive conclusion of getting their alloy wheels back. This is not surprising since it is not easy to locate your stolen wheels once stolen, they are small enough to easily be hidden so can be hard to spot unlike a stolen car that has can be far harder to hide.
A little prevention is always better than cure. So having a locking wheel nut on a cars wheels should give a car owner a greater piece of mind when they park there vehicle up night or day.
Difference between Locking Wheel Nuts and normal wheel nuts?
Each locking wheel nut comes with a unique key that is required to open the nut. There are literally thousands of different patterns. For a thief to take a locking wheel nut off quickly they would need to have a matching key and this is very unlikely. Normal wheel nuts have no unique pattern and can easily be removed using a standard wrench.
This is why its important to know where you have kept the key as loosing it might lead to a lot of unnecessary stress.
Replacing your wheel nuts
If you need to replace your locking wheel nuts due to damage to a wheel then it is easy for you to buy a new set from most automotive parts shops or you could contact your cars manufacturer dealership.
The cost can vary but you can pick up a quality set for between £20 – £30. A set usually contains 4 locking wheels nuts with a matching key. To save some money you could use one locking wheel nut on each wheel rather then a set for each wheel. And then use normal wheel nuts for the remaining studs. Using this mix of nuts should provide you with the same security you get from using a full set of locking nuts on each wheel so will save you some money since the normal wheel nuts will be cheaper.
Lost your wheel nut key – What you can do?
In order to removed a locking wheel nut you will need to have a matching key, if you have lost this key then you have a few options.
If the alloy wheels on the care were supplied by the manufacturers then contact the dealership to find out whether they could get a replacement key to match the locking wheel nut.
If the dealership is not an option you can buy removal kits that will alloy you to remove the nut. You may search for tool kits that are suitable using the internet. Keeping such tool kit can be handy.
Finally if your a member of a Automotive Emergency service such as the AA or RAC then you may be able to use their locking wheel nut removal service to complete the removal.
Steps to remove a locking wheel nut
- Find the locking wheel nut key. This can usually be found in the boot of a car, the glove box, under the driver seat.
- Once you have found the key you will notice that one size of the key has a hexagonal shape, this side of the key will sit in the wrench. The other side of the key will have an indent to match the pattern on the wheel nut.
- Attach the wrench to the key and then the key to the nut. If your using a impact wrench the nut will be loosened in no time. When using a hand operated wrench it will take a bit longer and require some physical exertion.
Advantages
Protect your wheels
A locking wheel nut will certainly help safeguard your investment. You have certainly earned a lump sum amount of money and had planned to have a stylish alloy wheel to enhance the look of the car. A small locking wheel nut will certainly help you sleep peacefully at night as you have safeguarded both the body and the wheels of your vehicle.
Resale value of your car
Every person who plans on purchasing a secondhand car, the history and the appearance plays an important role. Keeping that in mind, the look that your cars will get with the help of your beautifully selected alloy wheels is worthy for you to have a locking wheel nut to safeguard the wheels.
Summary
Ensuring you have suitable locking wheel nuts should allow a car owner to plan on enhancing or modifying your car with whatever alloy wheels they like without having to worry about them being stolen with ease fy a thief.
Always ensure that you keep the key to open the locking wheel nut in the car and in same place whether that the boot, or glove compartment just in case you need it for an emergency wheel change.
