mis3

I replaced my winter tires today and the wheel lock key broke. The ribbon-like metal of the key just sheared off in the lock lug. I did put on all my winter tires and when I torqued the first wheel, the key broke.

I called my buddy in the dealership and he asked me to go in tomorrow. He will use their master key to remove the other 3 lock lugs and replaced them with a new set of lock lugs.

How about the broken lug? The master key will not be able to remove it. My buddy told me that it would be expensive to remove it in the dealership. They would have to drill out the lug and may have to re-thread the hub. I better go somewhere else to remove it.

I googled and found a YouTube video that someone hammered in a smaller socket into the lug and removed the socket with the lug. Is this a workable solution?

Louie D

From the looks of the You tube video it does not seem hard at all. I would go for it before you spend any money on it.

mis3

Problem solved. I examined the locking bolt and he metal pieces were wedged into the groove. I used a small screwdriver and with some efforts, pulled out the metal pieces. Then I used MB master socket to remove the locking bolts. My buddy lent me the box of master sockets and there must have 40 sockets inside.

The dealerships does not have the locking bolts in stock (my car is too old) so they would have to order it. I bought 4 regular bolts and replaced all the locking ones.

All OK now and I now have to decide if I still want the locking bolts. I did my research on net and most people don't think they are worth the money and effort. I even went through a tire store and although they sell locking bolts, the guy recommended against it. He said if the thief wants your wheels, locking bolts will not stop them.

Rudeney

I despise locking bolts. I park in a high crime area, so I'm really not worried about it and the hassles of keeping up with the key, hoping it doesn't break, etc.

mis3

I agree. I read on and the only problem in this method (smaller socket and hammer) is to remove the bolt from the socket. The thief will probably need 4 sockets to steal the 4 wheels. A cheap socket is a few dollars and a MB wheel can cost close to $1k each.

More and more I think these wheel locks do not work well at all.