Locking Wheel Nuts...yay or nay

[Conundrum]

I just was wondering what everyone's opinion was on using locking wheel nuts to protect your tires and rims....I never got them when I purchased my car, but now I am thinking I should call the dealership and pick up a set.

To me, they sound like a good idea, however I have read that in a lot of cases they tend to strip or the tool/key attachment they give you gets ruined when trying to remove the tire. I live in Canada, so I'm planning on having a winter set of tires and a summer set, so not being able to swap tires would be a big big issue for me...

Also, I was thinking that if they do strip easily, why not just leave them a tiny little bit looser than the other 3, that way it takes a bit less force to get them off...would this cause the tires to be slightly ubalanced, or would having the 3 tighened fully and the 1 security tightened 75%-80% be enough...

Thanks in advance

[mwmcginn]

I dont use the honda ones. I used the gorilla ones. http://www.gorilla-auto.com. I had these on my Subaru and was really impressed with the quality. Better than other OEMS that I have dealt with and very easy to lock into and avoid stripping them. Not as common either so its less likely that someone would just have a match. They also have a coapsible lug wrench that actually gives you some leverage. I dont know if you have been stuck trying to get a lug off after its been put on with an impact wrench, but I have.

[Spades]

http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5606

[RTexasF]

Don't buy from the dealership, they buy the same type/key for every car they equip with wheel locks. When the customer forgets the key there are spares everywhere. Too easy to get hold of in my opinion.

I've witnessed this first hand at the dealer in Austin where I bought my car. I do think they're a good idea though, just buy them elsewhere.

[Conundrum]

Originally Posted by RTexasF

Don't buy from the dealership, they buy the same type/key for every car they equip with wheel locks. When the customer forgets the key there are spares everywhere. Too easy to get hold of in my opinion.

I've witnessed this first hand at the dealer in Austin where I bought my car. I do think they're a good idea though, just buy them elsewhere.

I've read that Honda actually has 10-15 sets of locks, and if thats true they would still have to be fairly safe...I mean even if someone bought 50 sets, whats the chances they would get 1 of every type...

Plus I do only have the OEM 17" Alloys on my Accord, so I'm not as worried as I would be if I had aftermarkets on the car.

[BenjiBoy650]

But if Honda had 15 different lock sets, dealer tech's would go crazy. I really think they only have one...

[AccordSEx2]

for what it's worth the gorrilla ones are the only ones I would use. however all these concerns of losing keys and such, that's what wheel lock removers are for, pound them on and there off. I personally don't think it's worth it if someone wants them that bad they'll do what they have to do to get them. If not just take the whole car. just my 2 cents

[NeoStreetRacer]

It is absolutely worth it to get Lug Locks. Let’s do a little cost/benefit analysis:
A good set of lugs will set you back what, 10 - 40 bills depending?

Now weigh that against the experience of coming out to your car and finding it on blocks.

You can’t get it towed, so AAA is useless, you got to call a friend or a cab to take you to where you need to be. Rims don’t usually get lifted in your driveway, more often you’re going to see it happen in large, poorly lit parking lots while you’re at the bar, club, show, movie, or whatever. This means your going to be stranded till you get a ride, and that’s assuming you have a phone, that’s charged and gets reception where you are, without that your truly screwed.

So you gotta wait, taking time from whatever you wanted to be doing with your car, i.e. going home to sleep, or work, or class, or on that hot date that’s now fubar. That risk alone is worth the locks, but there’s more.

After you get out of wherever you’re stranded, you gotta worry about your ride being further stripped down sitting there in that exposed location, I’ve seen nothing but the bare frame of a car sitting on blocks, looking like picked-over carrion in the desert.

Most of the time rims that get lifted aren't OEM, those are usually cheap, which means the shoes that just got jacked off your ride are ones you had to save up for and cost anywhere from 5 hundo to 5 G's.
Most people don’t got that kind of money just sitting around to buy a new set of rims so that means till you can get new ones you gotta either snag set of old OEMs or (god forbid) hubs.

So now you gotta haul the replacements from wherever you got em BACK to your ride, assuming its still there, with a jack, and fit your car back up. And you gotta do all that in Another car you either burrowed or rented, and you have to get someone else to come with you to drive the other car back. This is MORE time wasted, and calling in a favor you really should have saved incase you ever need to be bailed out of jail.

The purpose of Locking Lugs isn’t to make it impossible for people to steal your rims, just to make it to time consuming to be worth it. The advantage to jacking rims is that its quick, if you see it go down they look like a ghetto lil nascar pit crew. If a car is in a place like a back alley, where they could take their time its much more lucrative to steal the whole car, but that doesn’t happen real often. What is real common is people driving to bars, or whatever with nice new rims that are too stupid to buy lock lugs, and crew of 4 or 5 guys with a pickup cruise around and look for easy targets.

I know it was real long but if you read the whole thing I hope I made my point.

[Anzial]

quick question - to replace the regular lug with a locking one do you have to jack the car? I want to be on the safe side but then, you are just removing and reinstalling just one lug...

[NeoStreetRacer]

Originally Posted by Anzial

quick question - to replace the regular lug with a locking one do you have to jack the car? I want to be on the safe side but then, you are just removing and reinstalling just one lug...

No Jack needed, just take off a lug from each wheel and replace it with a lock.

[Anzial]

sweet thanks for the hint

[Schicky]

I know the idea of the factory wheels doesn't sound lucrative, but ebay and pawn shops have had their fair share of them I assure you. My hubby has two sets on his truck rims because they are 20 inchers and they have found that those larger tires/rims can be taken off if you only have one on each tire. (Just food for thought) His are factory 20's.

[sed6]

My concern with aftermarket locks is the shape of the seat. The best seat shape I can find is the traditional accorn shape, a simple taper where it seats in the wheel. Yet the factory wheel nuts have a curved seat. While the accorn shape will fit, it doesn't provide the contact the factory ones do. Is this a cause for concern/ Anyone have opinions/experience with this?

[Anzial]

why bother with aftermarket locks? just get OEM, they are not all that expensive, and get the job done just like any other ones

[xmangx87]

Originally Posted by BenjiBoy650

But if Honda had 15 different lock sets, dealer tech's would go crazy. I really think they only have one...

They do have different locks. When I lost my key, I had to go to the dealership to get another one. The dude had to try on like 10 other locks before he got one that fitted my locks.