Anti-theft lug nuts, do you use them?

[Selmorides]

I worked at a Chevy dealer in Chicago suburbs that put locks on anything that had aluminum wheels. I had them on a Silverado I kept for 14 years. They held up great. They used McGard at first and switched to Genuine GM that were supplied by McGard. Made in Orchard Park, NY on California Road couple blocks from Bills stadium. Go Bills

 

[SC Maintenance]

I do but I am unsure why. The standard ones don't really work - just drive on the appropriate size socket.

 

[opus1]

The dealer installed them on the Cobalt and I've left them on.

Otherwise, no on the rest of the fleet.

 

[BobsArmory]

Big nope for me. Nothing worse than having to change a tire on the side of the road, in the rain, at night and you can't find the key.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

My brother moved to North Carolina.
He's seen two cars recently broken down on the side of the road.
Both cars had the tires/wheels removed leaving the car with its rotors on the ground.

Locking lug nuts ? .... as others have said, it depends where you live.
You can't stop the bad guys, only slow them down.

I'm a firm believer in using security screws for my license plates.

 

[The_Jeff]

Mine came from the factory with wheel locks.

Common misconception.

Dealers install them right off the truck, so n'er do-wells don't steal new tires & rims right off the lot which is, of course, when they're worth the most. Then they pass it on to the buyer as a benefit.

Dealers being dealers just get cheezy McGard kits or similar, unless you're getting a true exotic. And Mercedes cute utes aren't exotics.

 

[aba4430]

Have them on all our cars and trucks other than an 87 Brat (have this McGard wheel installation kit with locking nuts on hand to go on some day). On vehicles with aftermarket wheels I use splined drive lug nuts, so technically no wheel locks. Do the locks help? I will hopefully never find out.

PS. This McGard locking lug nut set is also on our 7' X 16' tandem axle 7K utility trailer .

 

[97K15004WD]

Your post reminded me of this urban myth (?) tale:
I sold my car and gave the new owner the four winter tires/wheels.
After a few weeks it was obvious that new owner wasn't going to come back to collect them, so I put them at the end of the drive with a sign "These fit a Renault Clio Dacia or Nissan Micra. Free"
And there they remained. My neighbour's advice was to replace "Free" with $75 or offers"
They were stolen within the hour.

Re wheel nuts: Honda CRV and the owner spent $85 on a set of four anti-theft nuts and special tool. Only six months old and they couldn't take the manufacturer's tightening torque. Three broke.
Owner: "Couldn't you have not tightened them so much?" He loves to talk in double negatives...

Me: "No, I tightened them to what the instructions said" End of story. There can be no example where I would leave a wheel nut loose to compensate for poor design or dodgy metal.

In my experience, only the one time have I come across stolen wheels. It was on a nearly new Datsun Cherry. A hire car too and his neighbours were apparently jealous of "his" new motor. The vandalism to the rest of the car made the stolen wheels a minor side story.

So they are generally speaking not worth the outlay or bother?

I have found this to be true in most instances. List something for free and if it's not gone in a week or so, put it on the "curb" and list it for sale at $xx.xx each and someone always takes it.

We also have a guy that drives through once a week and picks up any metal items left at the curb regardless of what it is. We call him the "metal man".

Lately I've seen a woman with a trailer coming around now too. They are competing for the metal so I see both of them more often now.

Sometimes they make a little bit of a mess digging through the yard waste and such, but saves me a trip to the C&D dump.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Can you imagine being so stupid that you steal wheels from cars.

No locking nuts, I live among the civilized.

 

[supton]

Nope. But I also don't lock my car all that often, only in some parking lots do I bother (as you can guess, I don't go out much).

But I also prefer ugly steel rims.

 

[jadmt]

my tires are much more valuable than my wheels altho my tire/wheel combo is around $900 per......but I only use locking lug nuts on my spare as it is super easy to steal..so while it won't prevent a professional from taking it but hopefully it will keep your average teenager from getting it..

 

[Owen Lucas]

Nope. But I also don't lock my car all that often, only in some parking lots do I bother (as you can guess, I don't go out much).

But I also prefer ugly steel rims.

I figured NH would be super safe. What kind of crime happens there, someone forgot to remove snow from their car?

 

[supton]

I figured NH would be super safe. What kind of crime happens there, someone forgot to remove snow from their car?

Actually that's a pretty big crime, cops will pull you over for that (and for good reason, the state law is named after the girl killed by ice coming off a vehicle).

But otherwise, it's kinda low crime, depending on where you are. There are good spots and bad spots, and a whole lot of nothing between them. Obviously if I moved I'd have to adjust, but over the years, I've tended towards low population areas, life just seems simpler here.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Actually that's a pretty big crime, cops will pull you over for that (and for good reason, the state law is named after the girl killed by ice coming off a vehicle).

I'm sorry to hear that. I'd have no problem calling the police on a trucker that has a 2' snow drift on their trailer.

I'm just curious what a bad spot is in NH compared to Chicago or Detroit lol.

 

[E150GT]

I am an idiot and kept leaving the lock key on the last wheel lock after putting wheels on and would lose the key. I said enough. I was able to get the locks off with just another socket hammered on and my compact impact wrench. If it was that easy wheel locks don't do squat.

 

[BHopkins]

Never bothered. Never have I had wheels stolen.

Do you want to hassle with putting it out for the tire tech's when you go to the tire store, and then make sure you get it back each time? Or use it yourself, when you rotate tires at home?

I've seen plenty of reviews of locking lug nuts, where it is shown that they are easily defeated. And if they are not, some thieves may destroy a wheel trying to get the lug nut off. So do you want to file an insurance claim for stolen wheels, and get a full new set of tires and wheels? Or one for damaged wheels, to replace a damaged wheel or two, and replace damaged studs? Your call.

 

[Kira]

Regular lug hardware, please.
I added anti-seize and used prudence when tightening the few lockers which have come my way.
NEVER use a powered tool on them.

Last time, an indie sold me 4 OE bolts. A little wire-wheeling cleaned them up beautifully.
Now I have a set of Genuine Volvo Locking Wheel Bolts with Tool -#31439226 for sale.

Remember to remove them before going to a shop for work.

 

[AutoMechanic]

No I don’t use them. They are a pain to deal with and once the keys wear out then you have to get special extractors to take them off. And no one wants my steel wheels off a base model car lol.

 

[GRjdm]

next to wheel locks, this is probably the best deterrent

https://www.jalopnik.com/dumb-thief-crushed-to-death-by-the-suv-he-was-stealing-1784737577/

 

[Chris142]

Those are the first thing removed when I buy a car.