Terrible Night, need urgent help

[Aeris]

Hey Guys,

I'm hoping someone here can help me,

Last night whilst driving home, i had a blow out , alas i pulled over, jacked the side up and found that the wheels on the car have a lock nut, to which the previous owner did not give me on sale what i wanna know is, can i take it to a tire shop and show all the paperwork to state i own the car etc to get these locknuts taken off and replaced?

i ended up havin to drive on a flat , even that tire inflate foam stuff didn't work.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[MANWHORE]

not really. There are many different brands of lock nuts. In each brand, there are probably 500 combinations.

On the locknut key, there is usually a number, and you have to know which company it is too. You can't just go to the shop, because a) they won't know what key it is and b)they won't know who makes it.

i'm sure they'd do it if they could.

Your best bet would have to be to try and contact the previous owner. If not, the only way to remove it, would be the good old mechanical way? Hit it hard with a hammer to loosen it, then try to drill the lock nut off, or drill a hole in the back of the stud and use an extractor?

tough situation. Sorry I couldn't offer what you wanted to hear

Note to self - i've had a half worn lock nut tool. I'm gonna try and buy a new key, or change the locknuts before they get stuck.

Cheers

[MerlinTheHapyPig]

have a look everywhere througout the car, ie. in the boot around spare wheel, in map pockets, glove box, centre console. pockets behind seats etc. if you havent owned the car for long, the locknut key might still be there hidden away somewhere.

vicegrips sometimes work to remove locknuts, but if the bolt holes on the wheels are sunken in, then there that probably wont work. Or maybe you can make a mould of the locknut key with something? i dunno, get some clay or some shit - worth a try

If you still can't get it, you'll probably have to drill out the stud, but studs are pretty easy to replace

I had this problem on a friends car but we eventually found the locknut key. First thing we did after that was remove the locknuts for good!

[Birnie]

I had the same problem(except for the blow out)

Just foun different sized sockets that were close to the size, went to Cash Converters and bought some around that size for 50c each then bashed em on the lock nut.

(bought 2nd hand ones cause they were gunna get ruined anyway)

Was hard work but had to be done, and did finally get there in the end

[nismo33]

same problem...i had a blow out not very long ago..and that was my worst fear as i bought the car and had no idea where the lock nut key were as the previous owner now overseas...i tried all autoshops that sells them.

pretty much make a mould of it...and then take it with you and compare if the ones they have down the shop would fit...i hadn't had luck though.. got home and check all the compartments that maybe it was just hidden somewhere...and i found it in the glove box.. DOH...i should have looked first..LOL.

Anyways...a friend of mine had the same thing..he took it down to machine shop and had them taken off..pretty much what they did was stick a metal to the nuts and weld them.. i must say he done a pretty good job...and he made it look easy.

hope that helps.

[lang]

any decent tyre placeshould be able to remove the nut without the tool it came with. just call them up and say "i have a nock nut on my wheel but ive lost the fitting to remove it, can you remove it at the workshop"

i can pretty much guarantee you they didnt use my fitting and managed to take my wheels off change the rubber and put it back on within about 4 minutes.

[RedRocket]

Yeah, I dont think locknuts would be much of an obstacle to a workshop.

I think they just take em off as if they werent even there.

Dont think its too hard for wheel thiefs either...

[silver gts-t]

get a nice strong socket a lil larger than the nut, then get a nice tough hammer.

and put the the socket over it and start smashing it on!!

hopefully the socket is stronger than the nut though

then it will just wedge into shape and use the wrench to twist!!

kapish??

[Trust33]

Im with silver gts-t.That is exactly what i had to do to mine to get the lock nuts off after i lost it.Look everywhere for the lock nut key.

1st i found a nut that would go over it neatly then one just down from it's size that wouldnt go on,1-2mm undersize,maybee 1mm under cant remember

Then went to hardware house looked in their $1 socket boxes found the size i wanted and got 4 of them i rooted 1 and then i used 1 for the rest of the 3 nuts,lucky i guess.

just bash them on using somthing to space the nut and the hammer.I used another socket in between,so as to not damage the rim.

Another way is to pack the socket with bits of steel ie.pop rivet shafts/offcuts.To further wedge and give more grip on the lock nut.

I know for a fact that there are tools as stated above that are a 1 size fits all socket head and they are packed with 100 or so more rivet style shafts but are actually made for this sort of thing.

Does your lock nut have ridged bumps on it or is it flat on the outside?

[Aeris]

Hey

the "bashing" method worked fine.... the blowout was pretty bad the inner wall of the tire had a tear about 25cms long

not good... anyways thanks for the help.

[silver gts-t]

Hey

the "bashing" method worked fine.... the blowout was pretty bad the inner wall of the tire had a tear about 25cms long

not good... anyways thanks for the help.

no worries!! :headspin:

[Trust33]

See silver we make a great team..lol..

[unwritten law]

I am in the same situation at the moment. Went to get some new tyres today but couldnt find the fkn key. Was not happy. I bought the tyres but did not get them fitted. Spent about 15mins looking thru the car in the shop - still didnt find it. very p!ssed off, looked like a tool. Also got done 105 in a 80 zone ($250 4 points) on the way home. Havin a top weekend !!!!

Will try and find the combination for the key - I think remember the guy at the tyre shop recording the combination of the lock nut about 18months ago when I bought it. Might give them a call on monday morning....

I dont like the idea of smashing a normal socket bit over all 4 of my rims and buying a new set of lock nuts....

[xRHETTx]

I know with mine the lock nuts are the same brand as the wheels, if you have aftermarket wheels maybe try the manufacturer?

[justin911]

ok.... i know i am retarded... but whats this lock nut key thing ??

and wheres about does it go ? i had a look on my tyres... cant see key hole type objects... alltho the thing in the middle of the rims on my car is missing.. its like a round thing right in the middle..

perhaps it looks that thing up ??

[Cefiro_PWA]

weld a square rod to the lock nut and take it off.. be carefull not to damage your wheels , cover them up whilst welding!

[unwritten law]

ok.... i know i am retarded... but whats this lock nut key thing ??

and wheres about does it go ? i had a look on my tyres... cant see key hole type objects... alltho the thing in the middle of the rims  on my car is missing.. its like a round thing right in the middle..

perhaps it looks that thing up ??

You might not have lock nuts on your wheels?

One of these 'special' bolts goes onto each wheel (replacing a normal nut) and the socket bit is the 'key'. Capiche?

[justin911]

thanks for that.. yeeah i've got those on my wheels... only problem is.. the wheels i got for my car arent standard (there for a gtr or something?) and the thing you use to unscrew em doesnt fit (there was one in the boot)... evan one of those that looks like a cross (has a differant type of bolt remover thing on each side.. forget what its called ) i need one thats like EXTRA thin.. theres like 2mm between the nut and the rim

[Al]

thanks for that.. yeeah i've got those on my wheels... only problem is.. the wheels i got for my car arent standard (there for a gtr or something?) and the thing you use to unscrew em doesnt fit (there was one in the boot)... evan one of those that looks like a cross (has a differant type of bolt remover thing on each side.. forget what its called ) i need one thats like EXTRA thin.. theres like 2mm between the nut and the rim

Sounds like you need a 19mm spark plug socket. If you are still confused just go to your local tyre shop, they will help you. If you live in the western suburbs i could give you some assistance, just PM me.

[Starionturbo]

try finding a torx bit to remove a centercap in the dark.