Wheel Locks No Key
 

So I bought a car with aftermarket wheels and wheel locks but no key for them. I typically remove them with a lug nut extractor set but they won’t fit these - the damn wheel locks have a keyed shoulder which leaves little clearance in the hole - and even the biggest extractor hits the shoulder. An attempt to get a regular socket on it is no go cause the hole in rim is too small. Any suggestions?

Try your local tire store, those nuts are pretty common, I have a key at home that fits a lot of them.

could also try a section of pipe, the size the of the wheel nut at the chamfer and as close to clearance size as possible. Heat it up until starting glow, then bash it on and let it take the new shape. Spray with water and let it shrink and cool and not burn anything. Use a bar through a hole in pipe and try to turn.

You could contact Gorilla and maybe a tech or customer service guy would recognize the pattern and you could buy a couple that are a close match. I’m sure this isn’t the first time it’s come up.
I put a set of those lugs on my LeMans and bought 2 extra sockets besides the original so that I don’t ever not have one.

Great ideas

If everything else fails:
Get a good cold chisle, one that is just small enough to fit in the wheel recess,
Use a file to sharpen the edge, Split the lug as evenly as possible.
Then use a large screwdriver or pry bar to twist it off.
You may have to have an assistant to put pressure on the twisting tool while you turn it with a cresent wrench or pipe wrench.

P.S. that extractor set you have looks like its only made for regular hex lugs.
Probably works great on those.

This is what I did with MCGard locks on a car I bought. They wanted a few pictures of the pattern on the wheel locks. They sent me a few different sets until I found the one that fit.

It does not look like you have much room on that rim but I have had success welding large hex nuts to the locking nuts.



If you go with this be sure to grind the chrome from the face of the locking nut and also protect the rim with something to avoid spatter marks.


Dave


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You'd like to think that...

If it was me you'd see a post in about 2 years that says "I bought 2 extra sockets a couple years ago but I don't know what I did with them".

K

That's why I always buy 3...so you never have that problem...

That's a common 7 spline socket, parts stores have them for about 12 bucks.

Well I’ve got 1 in the trunk with the lug wrench, 1 in the glovebox, and one in my toolbox. If I can’t find one when I need it I probably won’t be able to find the jack either.

Try this: take a hammer and punch, drive the lug nut up and down then side to side with the punch a few times. most times you can turn it with your fingers after that.

I’d try making one with epoxy stick see if you can get it loose that way. I did this one with the old Mc guard locks and it worked. . . Depends how tight they are on if the epoxy will break up or not. I just stuffed it in a socket and pushed it against the lug to make an impression let it harden and that was it took them right off. Need a pretty good epoxy in stick form which you should be able to get at most auto parts stores

I used playdoh to make an impression(syran wrap to prevent sticking)
and visited the local Pepboys to find a match.
I got the type of key number off the package and called McGard,ordered 2 of the sockets.
Put 1 in the tool box and the other velcroed to the lug wrench in trunk.

Agree, that looks like the common spline lug body many aftermarket wheels use. Socket readily available everywhere and on-line. If for some reason this is a real odd ball lug nut, we have done the following. Cut pieces of welding wire that fits the flutes on the nut. Stick them in the flutes with wheel bearing grease. Beat a thin wall socket over the assembly. Loosen with breaker bar, not an impact tool. We removed 6 trailer wheels using this process. It took a couple hours, but it worked.