Wheel Nut Locking Key. Keep it Safe.

[carebabe]

My car had a slow puncture over weekend. When OH went to pump it up with our air compresser it wouldnt pump up tyre. On taking out the spare wheel he realised the wheel nut locking key was missing= no way of getting wheel off. After sleeping on the dilemma we had a final search of the inside of the car today and the key was found. Worthwhile checking on this now especially if you have recently bought a pre owned vehicle. we were so glad this didnt happen when the car was parked at airport carpark. would have been horrid to come back to.

[Waterfall]

Good advice Carebabe :) Have to admit to knowing very little about cars but will get DH to check :whip:

[Dominic]

Another one on this theme - spare ignition key....

Where do you keep yours? What would you do if a long way from home and you lost your car key?

[Deedee]

hot wire it!

lol, seriously, I have done this and the local "Copper" did it for me.


cb, good advice about the locking nut. it's the first thing I do when I get a new Vee hik cle! (yes, experience made me!)

[Dominic]

Lol Dee, you car theif!! Newer cars have deadlocking tho? I know old cars you could do the old coathanger trick, but if I deadlock mine while sitting in it (stupid I know but had to see what happened, curiosity killed the cat lol) you can't open the doors!!! Also a lot of more modern cars have codes from the key to the ecu?

[Deedee]

you aint been to Ely Bra!!! lol


***Apologises to my Ely friends, but I am sure they'd agree!

[Floosy]

Another one on this theme - spare ignition key....

Where do you keep yours? What would you do if a long way from home and you lost your car key?

Ermmm I lost my spare ages ago in the house somewhere and I think its sainsburys locally that can cut spares. I am the worlds worst for mis-placing my keys.

[Deedee]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=49126 Floos, these things have saved me "hours"

***must remind Santa I need a new one

[Floosy]

I so need one of those lol

[Deedee]

I first discovered these "Beauts" after my brain hemmo, I had loads of them, for everything. And I do, on average, spend about 30 mins a day looking for keys/purse etc.

[BritBrat]

My car had a slow puncture over weekend. When OH went to pump it up with our air compresser it wouldnt pump up tyre. On taking out the spare wheel he realised the wheel nut locking key was missing= no way of getting wheel off. After sleeping on the dilemma we had a final search of the inside of the car today and the key was found. Worthwhile checking on this now especially if you have recently bought a pre owned vehicle. we were so glad this didnt happen when the car was parked at airport carpark. would have been horrid to come back to.


Get a spare.

I have two one is where they normally are in the glove compartment and the other is attached to the wheel brace.

What is the Make of car and do you know the nut maker and do you have the code for the nut?

Do not go to a main dealer to get one.

I got my mcgard key from here:

http://www.mcgard-europe.de/englisch/service.htm

Direct from Germany and what a good service it was.

PM me if it is mcgard and you do not know the number as I may be able to help but do not want to post it in an open forum.

[dingaling]

We removed ours as dh damaged one somehow, we figuerd, none was going to nick them off a ravaged 807 anyway!! Hopefully getting a new car soon and will have to think what to do with the nut then!

Oh and we lost our £100 spare key about 3 years ago!

[carebabe]

helpful suggestions from both Dom and Britbrat. on a similar theme would be if you have the keycard type for ignition would be to keep spare batteries handy. cheaper to buy these at poundshops or boots rather than main dealer usually.

[suesmith]

top tip if your battery does give out - rub it furiously, insert back into remote and do a jermy clarkson - hold it against your head and then blip - should be enough charge then to unlock your car - oh is a mechanic and came to the rescue of a poor woman in (of course its got to be) Tesco's car park! she had small children and was upset, she asked at customer service but they said they couldnt help so i volunteered oh.

then go and get another battery

[BritBrat]

Or if you can connect the battery to another good 9v battery for a few seconds it will put enough power in it to last quite a while.

You can get the alloy wheel security nuts cut off but you may damage the wheels, it is an expensive job for not having the wheel key.

As for imobilizer/remote and ignition keys get them off Ebay so long as you are sure of the correct one, normally you can program them yourself in a few minutes.

[carismacab]

I wouldn't have locking wheel nuts on my car... I'd just replace them with normal ones.

In my opinion they are not a good idea, what I've found is that the locking nuts (wear with taking wheels on and off) and become increasingly difficult to get off with the alloy locking key provided, also as others have pointed out if you lose or misplace the key that can cause big problems too.

Recently my DD2's boyfriend and I tried to get the alloys off his 7 year old Astra, when we did manage to get the locking studs out which took some persuasion they were stuck fast in the socket of the key and it took me ages with a vice and a flat bladed screw driver and hammer to persuade the key to give up the studs, we didn't dare use them again.

Any pro thief that wants to steal your wheels will have a universal key and will be able to use that to steal them, so they don't really offer that much extra security.

G