Hey all, I need help with a wheel lock key. If I can identify what type of key I need to buy I'd rather do that. I can't seem to find the style I need online by myself. Otherwise I'll have to buy a socket large enough to hammer on, my 22mm seems to small and my 24mm I think is too large.
If GRM has other ideas on how to remove this I'm all ears. Previous owner already tried welding a nut on it looks like lol It's on a 76 FBody fyi
Thanks!
You're not going to just buy a key, sadly. Unlike Gorilla spline drive lug nuts, these are genuinely keyed with one of several different types. (I'd like to say it looks like a McGard)
What you will need is a wheel lock removal tool, which looks like a smooth-bored socket. You hammer it on and it grips the nut firmly, hopefully enough to get it to turn. Then after you remove the nut, you have to clamp the socket in a vise and drive the nut out with a long punch (not included). Some people beat the side of the socket with a hammer, but this is a great way to hammerforge the socket to a larger diameter so it doesn't work anymore.
Hammer and cold chisel is a pretty easy way to do it. welding a nut to the center of it will also work.
I went through this with my mr2 and ended up having to do the socket trick. Even a wheel lock removal tool didn't work but a 19mm 12 point Husky socket from Home Depot worked beautifully. If that's a McGuard I bet a 19mm will work on it. The challenge you're going to face is clearance. That wheel looks really tight around the lug nut. I hope there's room for the socket!!
Don't bother trying with a cheap socket. I had a spare 19mm 12 point lying around and tried it and the socket just cracked. I didn't notice the crack and first and wasted a lot of time because of it. I also tried the weld a nut on it trick and just couldn't get good enough penetration so the weld kept breaking. I'm not a good welder though so don't take that as gospel. But you're going to save yourself a lot of hassle if a socket will fit.
In reply to dculberson :
Welding a washer to the nut first makes it a lot easier. You can even weld a blob to the center of the nut, then just stick the washer over that and weld the blob to the washer. Way easier than trying to weld in a deep hole. Then just weld the nut to the washer.
Might need to get out a grinder and buzz off the top layer of whatever they plated the nut with.
Of course if you want to save the wheels welding that close to aluminum tends to do bad things to it.
With the clearance there you're gonna have a bad time hammering a nut on. Any possibility of drilling it out?
You might try a local tire shop. A couple of ours have an assortment of keys that may fit.
I've tried the welding trick before and couldn't get enough heat into the lug to get it to stick. Those things are hard as hell.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
Locking lugs tend to be made out of extremely hard steels, even moreso than regular lug nuts. This is to make them difficult to drill.
And you would not just have to drill the lug nut, but also the stud, down to the taper of the lug nut. Good luck.
Most dealers and good tire shops will have master sets. IIRC, there are typically 24 different ones from my upscale honda days.
In reply to Knurled. :
I've had good luck with destroying the temper of hard steels before drilling them, especially with drill bits or taps that break off inside holes. With an aluminum wheel in the equation it would probably be hard to do that.
Wonder if they can be attacked from the back side?
Wasn't shotgun determined to be the answer to this exact question many years ago? Or was it the wrong answer? My memory is fuzzy on these things...
In reply to Pete Gossett :
It's an answer. Even if it doesn't work, you'll at least feel better.
In reply to pinchvalve :
I've tried one of those and the pins were too flexible to work on the wheel lock. It might work if the wheel lock fits inside a 3/4" 6-point socket (which is 19mm) and the wheel lock isn't very stuck.
Someone with a master key set is a great suggestion.
Oh yeah, when a hack tire shop stripped one of my lugs they got it off by busting apart the center cap, taking the spindle nut off, removing the whole assembly as one, and attacking it from the back side. It was a big job.
i have nothing new to add, but please post the solution when you reach it.
You can email McGard a pic of the lock on a newer car, and they can send you a new key. Don't know if they could do that with one that old though.
Given the amount of clearance around that nut, I'd frankly just give up on sockets (that grip it from the outside) before you even start. What I would do, assuming you have a right angle die grinder or one short enough to fit in the area, is cut a slot into the top of it with a cutoff wheel, and then get your biggest flathead tip on an impact screwdriver and whack it until it spins off by hand. I also have a single one of these giant flathead bits I could stick on a regular impact and try rattling it with:
I think anything you try to do with the 'wrong' sockets will end up damaging that wheel or be very difficult to avoid damaging the wheel.
I have never done this but...
I am thinking about wheel protection. Hot sparks melt their way into aluminum and fuglify it. Would a protective layer of duct tape keep spark damage to a minimum?
In reply to Knurled. :
Aluminum foil tape maybe? I'd think some of the spatter might burn through normal duct tape. Of course you could always do multiple layers.
I have removed one by using an oxy-acetylene torch and brazing a 1/2 inch steel rod to the bolt head. Once attached heat up the rod and put a 90 degree bend in it. Turn rod lefty loosey and out it unscrewed
If the car is mobile, tire shop ought to be the fist stop. Failing that, I like the idea of grinding a notch into it and trying an impact flathead bit on it. Make sure to keep the notch just big enough for the driver bit.
If that fails, aluminum foil around the aluminum wheels spokes, duct tape to hold it on, weld a nut on. Will obviously need to grind the chrome coating off first. A tall coupling nut would work well.
If you just need the wheel off and don't give a E36 M3 what happens to it, air chisel will loosen the nut.
Discount Tire got mine off. Gave a tire tech a $10 and said "Could you get this off for me?" and he did.
Otherwise, if the other suggested things don't work the other one I've heard is to cut a notch in it, stick a chisel in said notch, and start banging at it with a hammer until it will unscrew.
I thought there had been threads where the recommended method to remove rounded off or locking lug nuts (without the key) was the following:
-in a safe location (parking lot) remove all the other lug nuts and drive in a serpentine pattern until the lug nut loosens.
I have never tried this, only seen it mention in this board so YMMV.
In reply to No Time :
Interesting! I feel like you could just loosen the other lug nuts rather than remove them, that way if the key does loosen a lot you don't lose a wheel.
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