As is usual I decided to get a job done late last Friday!

Long story short refitting a wheel to my car after ripping the sidewall of a brand new tyre 🙁 I must have left the locking wheel adaptor on the wheel nut and have since driven it and lost it somewhere out on the road!

I have 4 plain wheel nuts on order that should be here on Thursday but the original manufacturer of the car has a limited record of what was fitted and most of their dealers don’t have a complete set of adaptors left, its 1 of 26 so alphabetic?

Does anyone have a positive outcome of using a generic firm to remove the offending items leaving me with a usable stud to refit my new standard nuts to?

Oh the added complication is I have 1 wheel that is attached to said car that needs TIG welding on the inner bead before I go away in 10 days!

Would have thought most garages could weld a nut to your nut and remove the thing?

Would a universal socket help?

I used a place online where I supplied a photo of the locking wheel nut, and they supplied me with a new socket, which fitted perfectly.

Lockingwheelnutkeys.co.uk

Ah,  if you weren’t under a 10 day time pressure is can strongly recommend These Guys, guess how I know! Take a good picture of the end of the nut and, along with proof of ownership they should be able to get you something sorted.

I’ve done the same as you, changed a wheel and driven off without removing the locking nut, twice!  Amazingly, the second time I found the locking nut on the floor in the work carpark one afternoon. After I’d ordered another replacement, obvs.

Easy out sockets got me out of the shit when I did the same. Helped that Citroen locking nuts were made of cheese.

I found out that my locking wheelnut had gone missing while on holiday in France. In broken French we were directed to a tyre place where the mechanic said he could get it off but it would break the locking wheel nut. Whereupon he produced a cross-handled socket thing, and a bloody great hammer, and hammered the socket over the wheel nut enough to be able to wind it off.

I believe not recommended for high spec wheelnuts (or alloys!) as you can crack the wheel but it is an option.

Holesaw the ally wheel off the hub. That’s what I did when my locking wheel nut rounded out.

Slip rings means hammering on a socket was a non starter

I lost mine once after changing a flat.

I used http://www.evoautomotive.com

Sent them a pic of the locking nut on the wheel and make of car and they told me the code I needed to order for the right one, wasn’t cheap (the price of stupidity i suppose) but I got it next day.

the site looks dodgy but they were really helpful.

I used an old pair of long nose pliers before on the ones that have holes and an adjustable wrench. Or are they the wavy pattern type ones?

It’s a 2014 Jaguar XFS Sportbrake, 1 of the Jag garages I spoke to said we have a part kit of the original full set of keys but he didn’t sound hopeful. At least its an exterior socket that has varying cut-outs so the bashing something round the outside x 4 might work, the universal socket wont as the standard nuts are 19mm the locking ones are about 21mm

<span class=”skimlinks-unlinked”>Lockingwheelnutkeys.co.uk</span> don’t do my model of Jag

When Motability cars were our main concern, having missing wheelnut keys was an all to common occurrence. The mechanics would get them off by sheer brute force and a new set of LWN’s would be fitted. There’s several sets in the workshop that I’m in, driving school cars have them go missing as well. PITA.

You can try to smash a normal socket onto the nut that is just a bit too small, if you’re willing to sacrifice a socket and locking nut

Or as per someone else, get the garage to weld a nut to the nut.

Plenty of examples of how to do it on YouTube…

I went to a small indy garage who had the Snap On kit, sockets with a fluted taper. Smacked them on attached to a breaker bar, then they undid easily. I had already chiseled off the hardened slip rings – quite brittle as v hard.

Took the garage about 5 minutes, plus 10 for me breaking off the hardened bits. No damage to the wheels 🙂

The Laser locking wheel nut remover kit (tapering left handed internal thread) didn’t work, it just ground off bits of metal until it was blunted.

Everyone: “I need this thing to be really secure!”

Also everyone: “I need this thing to be readily hackable when I lose the key!”

If you can **** on an offsized socket and remove it with a breaker bar then it rather defeats the point, you might as well just have plain bolts.  See also, our government’s froth-on for ‘back door’ reversible encryption.  If the good guys can break it then so can the bad guys.

It’s a dichotomy for sure.  With things like wheel bolts one would hope that they should be impenetrable without the appropriate key and they should be readily bypassed by authorised entities such as dealers acting on behalf of authenticated owners who can look up the codes.  That would be my first port of call, though I’d expect to pay a mainstealer premium for it.

I lost the key to my locking wheel nuts back in 2002 when I had a Corsa with some very expensive OZ wheels on it, back in the day when wheels were nicked regularly.  Thankfully found out before I had a puncture so had time to order up a replacement but ever since I have always made sure to have a spare.  The current daily has the original in the spare tyre well and the second is in the bag with the top-up oil that came with the car, the second one I got thrown in as part of the deal when I bought it.  The next car I just won’t bother with them and fir standard bolts/nuts like I have done in the weekend toy, haven’t heard of allots being stolen for years.

Top tip, most locking wheel nut sockets are made of cheese. If someone has wanged it on too tight, and your key keeps slipping…  Move the car near to a wall and use a scissor jack and a block of wood to push the locking nut and breaker bar against the wheel – stops it slipping – one end on wall, other pushing on breaker and nut. Had to do this with one of my son’s wheels.

Cougar

they should be readily bypassed by authorised entities such as dealers acting on behalf of authenticated owners who can look up the codes.  That would be my first port of call, though I’d expect to pay a mainstealer premium for it.

My first call was to the closest Jag dealer, it was them that said they only had a partial kit of the adaptors left and to try the one in Liverpool, their parts and service departments didn’t seem to like answering the phone, but in an update this very moment I have spoken to them and they have a kit and once I get the nuts (hopefully tomorrow) they will swap them over for me.

I won’t hold my breath though 😀

Like I said,

“should”

😁

(mind you, if it’s a Jag, I’m a little surprised that the wheels haven’t simply fallen off of their own volition… )

As a fall back – if the Jag dealer can’t sort this – have you talked with independent Jag dealers in the area and/or tyre shops?

Hey be thankful that it wasn’t me that tightened those wheel nuts!

Apparently, it’s not hard to just chisel them off (depending on style of nut I guess). About 4 minutes in if it doesn’t jump to it)