Friend of mine owns a shop... this comes up far too often unfortunately. U sually it's not a lost wheel lock key but a lug nut that's been overtorqued and then left on for a year or two, head strips, uncomfortable call to own er, then carefully blowing the head of the lug off with a cutting torch (de stroying the finish of the wheel in the process.)
I've been around for a couple of these exercises; problem is that he's in a less than affluent neighborhood and the local parts/tool stores are worse than worthless; purchasing something that will work locally is not possible . I've tried using some of my Craftsman and Snap-On regular stripped bolt head extractors and while I think they might work, the problem is they are all 3/8" drive and I cannot find a 1/2" to 3/8" adapter that won't shear th e 3/8" drive before loosening the fastener, so I need something minimum 1/2 " drive and strong; will have to be mail-ordered. MAC LT-4200 looks good a nd is inexpensive on the 'bay. Is there a Snap-On equivalent and is it bet ter? anything else to look at?
thanks,
nate