Wheel locks?

[Claud]

In the UK Peugeot locking nuts are notorious for failing.
Quite often cars came into a shop where I worked and the owner had no idea where the security tool was. Quite often it was at home.

Is there a market for stolen wheels over there?. Very few cars over here have steel wheels anymore, and tires are cheap.

Claud.

 

[atikovi]

There are many tools made for removing wheel locks with no key. Just find the lock that is the hardest to remove. Id say that if you need a mig welder to remove them, they are pretty good. 1st tool: http://www.ltitools.com/newproducts.htm

 

[Traction]

I hate wheel locks, since I've had to remove many of them from missing, or broken keys! They can be way more trouble than they are worth. I will never forget on the Navy base I was on in Long Beach back in 1973, when a Plymouth Road Runner with wheel locks on it, and they just removed the spindle nuts, and took the front wheels along with the brake drums. I haven't seen, or heard of anybody since then, that have had their wheels stolen.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: Claud
Is there a market for stolen wheels over there?. Very few cars over here have steel wheels anymore, and tires are cheap.

Claud.


Apparently. Not sure if anyone steals steel rims, but good rubber can always fetch money, just like anything of value (that can be fenced).

IMO it might be a self-serving market--steal a set of alloys, and suddenly someone is going to be interested in buying a set (namely the guy who lost them). Keep repeating the process and eventually a market develops.

 

[Linctex]

Do y'all have "Tire & wheel RENTAL" places around you?

I saw a tire rental truck come and RECLAIM some very expensive tire and wheels that the payments wen't being made on....

That dude had three different sets of wheel locks on each wheel....
the truck arrived, four guys bailed out, and 60 seconds later,
that Escalade was sitting on chunks of railroad tie.

They defeated all three sets of locks and still had all 4 wheels of in a minute and drove away.

It was REALLY quite the site to see.........

 

[UG_Passat]

I personally don't bother with wheel locks.

I've had mechanics not return my wheel lock key and end up losing them.

I've had mechanics not return my wheel lock key and then have a flat on the side of a highway, only to realize, I never got my key back.

 

[Cyclone745]

I run them simply because they came as a dealer installed option on my Juke. Only issue I've ever had was when I had tires rotated at Sears auto as that's where I bought the tires and they temporarily lost the key for them. When I go there for rotation every 6K miles or so I leave the key in the cup holder and this visit I didn't find it when I left. The CSM and I looked in every square foot of my car TWICE (as if he thought I misplaced the [censored] thing) and he was about to call the dealership to order a new set as he said he couldn't get just the key and I happen to spot the key laying in the lot maybe 50' away. Guess the tech put it on top of my car and when he brought the car around it rolled off. I keep the key in the spare/jack area at all times otherwise.