We recently bought a car and one tyre keeps going flat. Easy enough I thought, except that the pillock of a previous owner has put a lockable wheel nut on each wheel. Of course, the unlocker is nowhere to be found.
Any thoughts as to how to get the @@@@ off? Someone suggested welding something on, but we can't find a welder on a Saturday. This must be something that happens fairly regularly, and there must be an answer somewhere.
Impending mother-in-law visit means we will be using car so I am under pressure to find an answer!
Thanks in advance
Have you spoken to the previous owner? They might be able to suggest where the remover is hidden.
Failing that, try your local tyre place.. they may have the tools to get them off..
Call your local tyre fitters - most have tools to remove locking wheel nuts/bolts. As you say, a pretty common thing to happen.
Ive seen an RAC man smash an old socket of approximate size on the nut. Socket becomes a bit sacrifical I guess.
But as above, easiest is to drive along to your nearest tyre fitter as they deal with it all the time.
For quick temporary fix, you could use one of those latex sealants (similar to bike tubeless) that you put in the tyre.
Thanks all. Tried one who said no chance, but will try some more.
If that fails I will have to write to former owner (address on registration form).
Cheers for spurring me on.
I had to go to BMW recently to get the locking nut cracked off (the key rounded changing the wheels over). BMW has 20 different types, and the master key set is £2K+. I'm sure Ford, etc are the same, so might be worth going to a local dealer and asking nicely for some help.
Update: spoke to the garage who sold it to me, unsurprisingly they didn't have it, but told me audi (it's an audi in true stw fashion) will sell the appropriate key for £30. Will try tomorrow.
Cheers
try ebay. The guy who's car you now have is probably selling the key there 🙂
The garage I take my car to has a bucket full of them, they're not as unique as you think
The reason the local tyre place have a box full, is cos they use the one that's in the spare wheel emergency kit, and forget to put them back.
The reason the Audi (or whatever) spare is £30 is cos the replacement key, is actually a replacement bolt and key. Mine was more like half that.
Dodgy kiwi guy that runs the dodgy car fixing place didn't have a Seat one in his collection, so bodged a BMW one to fit, and the Seat dealer in the next town ran a new key+bolt set over.
First thing I do when collecting car after service now, where I know they've had the wheels off, is to check the kit in the spare wheel.
The past 2 cars I've purchased have a had mixture of locking nuts on the wheels.
One of the first things I've done when I've got the car home is check the wheel nuts and do the wheels actually come off. Both times cars have gone back to garage for them to get the wheel off and provide me with one set of locking's.
(Hindsight is a great thing, and so is copperslip paste on the wheel nuts)