Locking wheel nuts

About 4 weeks ago I bought a secondhand Nissan QX and stupidly I've only just realised that it has locking wheel nuts but there's no "key" socket for them. Assuming that they're factory fitted (because they look *exactly* like the ones on my old QX that I part-ex'd for this one), I went to Nissan main stealers only to be told that they can't supply just the key socket and I would need to get a full set - but that they don't specify one for that car any longer.

Whatever I decide to do, I have to get the existing ones out so my question is, given the range of tools and gadgets available to a mechanic in a well-stocked workshop (main stealers or not) is there a quick and easy way for a mechanic to get them off?

The only other thing I could think of is that I've looked at Autotrader website and there are two QXs for sale in Manchester (about 35 miles from me) so, again assuming that because they look the same as my old ones, I could see if they would be willing to let me try their key-sockets on mine.

Which is likely to be the most cost effective method?

Reply to
John
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Something along the lines of ordering a new set of McGard bolts with the correct length, thread and fitting (ball or taper) for your hubs and wheels. Then taking the car down to the nearest tyre fitters and giving them £20.

Reply to
Doki

Obviously if you can try someone else's key, try it, but I would suspect that it will NOT fit, though I do not know what kind of key it is. In the workshop to remove the bolt you can do one of two things:

1) use a bolt/screw removal tool (cleaner and no damage to surrounding parts) or 2) weld a std bolt/nut to it and use a spanner

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Reply to
free.teranews.com

Have you tried locating the previous owner. They may just have the key sitting in their toolbox !

Reply to
Andy Cap

Good plan Mr. Cap - I'll do it right now :o)

John

Reply to
John

Thanks Doki. If Andy cap's plan of contacting the previous owner fails to turn up anything then I'll do that. Cheers.

John

Reply to
John

Yes, a stud extractor. They'll be useless afterwards but that shouldn't bother you. You could do it yourself if you wanted to for a fraction of the price a dealer will charge. Third party locknuts are widely available as a replacement.

Reply to
Steve Firth

I recently lost the wheel key for an Audi after I went driving with the key in the wheel.

I phoned the parts desk at a dealer who said he had a complete set of keys. He said there are 20 or 30 different dealer fitted types.

He let me take the car in and he removed the offending bolts for me. I bought a new set of locking bolts from stock for about £20. He was prepared to sell me a key for about £25 but I'd have had to order it. I don't hear of people stealing alloy wheels so often these days, so I nearly just bought 4 plain bolts from a scrappy.

£20. Not my car. Saved me a journey. Proper job. (c:

I'm sure there are other ways of getting the bolts out. The people at Tyre fitting shops will have a technique no doubt.

Reply to
Douglas Payne

screwfix sell a set of removers for locking wheel nuts, so most tyre shops are likely to have a set

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Yeah. Most tyre fitting shops carry a set of special sockets to get them off. They're unusable afterwards but at least they're off.

Reply to
Conor

In message , John writes

You could try one of those gator grip sockets that supposedly grips anything - alternatively drill a hole in the centre of each nut and try a screw extractor. If the nut is proud of the wheel you could grind two sides flat and get a spanner on it. I've heard it said that some people have had success with an oversize socket filled with Araldite which is allowed to set over the lock nut. Maybe a diamond wheel could put a large slot in the face of it which you could use with a big screwdriver.

Reply to
leo

Charlie Brown's on Pudsey Rd. kept an old "spider" type universal wheelnut spanner for just this purpose. They used to bray it on one size down with a lump hammer.

Sorted.

Derek

Reply to
Derek Geldard

The sockets are inside out easy-outs with a corse helix, hammer on, be prepared to pay £20 for a new set if they crack one getting your nuts off.

Reply to
Peter Hill

As Andy-Cap said - try the previous owner. That's what I did, in exactly the same circumstance as yourself (after approaching main-dealer, who, after much-sucking-of-teeth and talk of thoasands of combos said that they usually can get wheel nuts off, about 20-30 minutes each wheel, and it'd cost the usual £70 labour per hour).

I wrote, politely (since it's not his problem), to the previous, who phoned back to explain that the locking key was given to the garage that sold the car onto me.

That was the ammunition needed to stop the garage fobbing me off, and they produced a "magic box" of a variety of locking keys; 20 minutes later and I was back on the way home, key in hand.

Reply to
Mike Dodd

Thanks to all who've replied. I phoned the previous owner yesterday but had to leave a message on his answering machine as he wasn't in. Hopefully that'll work but if not I'll get a set of McGards and take the car to my local tyre place for them to sort out.

Cheers folks,

John

Reply to
John

Do make sure you get the correct fitting. My VW/BBS OEM fit wheels are a spherical fit, but many aftermarket wheels are a taper fit (I'm talking about the flange below the bolt head here, not the thread) often people will send you the wrong bolts assuming you've gone for aftermarket wheels. Easy enough to check it out by pulling a non-locking wheel nut / bolt and looking at it.

Reply to
Doki

Cheers Doki, will do.

Reply to
John

A new set of nuts? Ooh er, missus!

Reply to
Graz

I also needed a replacement wheel key for an Audi when the original got rounded trying to get a wheel bolt off. Went to the Audi dealer - turned out there were only 12 or so possibilities for that model. The first one he tried worked. A tenner including a spare wheel bolt.

Reply to
Graz

If the "key" is on the inside rather than the outside of the wheel bolt, you may still be able to use it. When I had to get an overtightened one off, it cost me 20 quid at a specialist tyre/wheel place. Basically, they use a gadget that bites into the outside of the wheel bolt and turns it.

Reply to
Graz

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