UKC

Whilst investigating options to remedy a lost locking wheel nut key for my car, the chap at the shop (Halfords) suggested to 'hack them off and replace with normal nuts, no one steals alloys anymore'. I just wondered if any victims/non-victims of alloy theft or indeed retired alloy wheel thieves had a view on this?

In reply to djwilse:

Nooooo!

far far too much work and too much risk of messing it up. i've used these folks twice now (as recently as jan) and it's so much easier. they may require a close up photo of the nut to match it up if it's not a factory fit standard
https://www.lockingwheelnutkeys.co.uk/

In reply to djwilse:

They've moved onto bigger stuff: https://www.outsideonline.com/2168646/how-does-entire-shipwreck-disappear-b...

In reply to djwilse:

My mate had his spare done 6 months is so ago.

I've still got steel rims. I'd like them on any new car I get too.

Do alloys make any sense at all?

In reply to wilkie14c:
Thanks, I had found them and in fact (surprisingly) the local Skoda Garage was a similar price. I was more curious with the idea that locking wheel nuts where no longer 'needed'.

In reply to djwilse:

well alloys certainly aren't as fancy pants as they used to be, prob worth nicking if they have decent tyres on or scrap metal value.
Believe me though, drilling bolts and re-tapping threads is miserable with the right tools and virtually impossible to do without them

In reply to djwilse:
I genuinely saw a Volvo XC90 up on bricks in a car park the other week. Guy in a recovery truck was there looking at it like he'd seen a ghost. Took some photos and went home for more gear.

This was in Merseyside, though.

It sounds like your mechanic wants to sell some wheels.

In reply to djwilse:

Once I had to go through my metric, A.F and whitworth sockets until I found one that I could get to engage the locking nut with the help of my persuader.

I would not consider hacking them off, ever.

These days I just preemptively replace locking nuts with normal ones.

Then again I drive 10 year old cars that have all had cosmetically knackered rims when I bought them...

In reply to stewieatb:


Probably a National Heritage initiative. Keeping local culture alive and all that.

In reply to Dave B:


A relative once spoke to a BMW engineer who commented that the rotating weight of a car tyre means that having an alloy wheel doesn't make any different to performance or fuel figures, or not enough to make them worthwhile.

In reply to Timmd:

Alloys just seem like a liability to me. Never saw why the driver of an average car would ever aspire to having them. And normal wheel nuts are just so much less agro

In reply to djwilse:

I'd agree with comments about alloys being more common than they used to be, you won't find many new cars sold without alloys as standard and both the wheels and tyres are far cheaper so less attractive when you consider thieving scrotes can just mug someone for an I phone and make twice as much money with much less hassle

In reply to stewieatb:


Volvo probably deliver them like that up there.

In reply to djwilse:
Alloys have almost become a standard nowadays, so they are far more prevalent and the price of them as original equipment has come down. I have to say that steels with wheel trims seem like a contrived option to the now more affordable alloy as original fit.
PS When I had a company car with wheel trims in Coventry I replaced them three times over in the 90's.

In reply to GrahamD:

They are shiny. They appeal to the magpie instincts.

In reply to marsbar:


Right up to the first time you clip a kerb with them.

In reply to djwilse:

I wouldn't be the least bit concerned about having relatively common factory alloys nicked for the wheels or the tyres but I live somewhere fairly low crime. That said, I know someone living nearby with a bog standard VW van who's wheel studs were all loosened, probably as a result of a disturbed theft attempt rather than an attack so it does still happen.

If I had custom wheels or rarer factory fit units I'd worry more.

Locking nuts can generally be removed pretty easily with universal tools anyway.

The 'point' of alloy wheels on a road car is they look nice, on a racer they can save weight and double as a heat sink.
jk