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Thread: Do people still nick alloys?

  1. #1
    Master
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    Do people still nick alloys?

    The locking wheel nut key from our 2004 Saab 9-5 recently 'went missing' (don't go there) so we had to lay the car up until a new one came from Germany (thank goodness the number card was still in the handbook).

    I'm seriously considering replacing the locking bolts with ordinary ones, is anyone really going to steal the 15" alloys off a 13 year old car? Do alloys get stolen for scrap? The car spends most of it's time on our (very) rural drive or parked in busy places in daylight.

    Thoughts?

    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Master
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    If people are still willing to steal old bicycle wheels, which they certainly are, then I imagine you should be concerned for your alloys, just in case. I've even had wiper blades and wing mirrors stolen, and they were off an old skoda.

  3. #3
    Journeyman
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    I never had a set on my 17" vectra wheels a couple of years ago. I never had any issues.

  4. #4
    Locking wheel nuts are so common I doubt any theives are even looking out for them now. Just don't wash the car very often and you'd never tell anyway.

  5. #5
    Grand Master Velorum's Avatar
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    Locking wheel nuts are a pain in the arse. I couldn't get the one of my tyres replaced last year when I dropped into a fitter as the key couldn't be found.

    Ive now replaced then with normal nuts on both of my cars.

  6. #6
    Grand Master Andyg's Avatar
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    I removed the locking nuts on my Merc purely because when the tires were changed the fitter over torqued the locking nuts resulting in a £250 to get one of them drilled out.

    However if I had a set of 17" Original Magnesium Cup 1 Alloys on a 964RS then I would have locking bolts fitted purely because they are worth about £20K a set.

    Suppose it depend on what the wheels are and where you leave your car.

    Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
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  7. #7
    Grand Master Chris_in_the_UK's Avatar
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    Don't bother with them personally these days.
    When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........

  8. #8
    Not a hope of theft -joyriders would take the whole car (if that's all there was!), pros would go for something much newer/flashier.

    Get rid - they're a right PITA.

  9. #9
    Master
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    I reckon you'd be fine to switch your nuts so to speak :)

  10. #10
    They do still steal wheels. However they can get past locking wheel nuts too fairly easily. I have always removed the locking nuts on the grounds they are more likely to give me a problem than any wheel thief as I don't have the specialist tools to remove and at the roadside I wouldn't even have high quality tools.

    On an 04 car I would say be very safe to replace with regular bolts.

    Last edited by MB2; 26th April 2017 at 12:43.

  11. #11
    Grand Master Saint-Just's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MB2 View Post
    They do still steal wheels.
    Do they also still steal steel wheels?



    Sorry, it sounds like a proper challenge to understand without the benefit of seeing it written to this non native speaker
    'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.

  12. #12
    Master MarkO's Avatar
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    They are still stealing wheels in 2029 - haven't you watched Logan !

  13. #13
    Sal changed her locking nuts and put the ordinary ones back on after a fitter lost the key. Bit of a pain to get them off but we've had no problems. I had to change a set after a fitter screwed up the key with some clumsy handling but I wouldn't again, I'd just put plain ones back on.

  14. #14
    Master
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    My son had a 8ft length of hose pipe nicked from his back garden - and before you ask why, we don't know either.

  15. #15
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    My wife does, every time she parallel parks.

  16. #16
    Craftsman
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    Quote Originally Posted by MB2 View Post
    They do still steal wheels. However they can get past locking wheel nuts too fairly easily. I have always removed the locking nuts on the grounds they are more likely to give me a problem than any wheel thief as I don't have the specialist tools to remove and at the roadside I wouldn't even have high quality tools.

    On an 04 car I would say be very safe to replace with regular bolts.
    I'd agree with this, if they want to steal the wheels they'll have the proper tools to get locking nuts off.

  17. #17
    Master bobbee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Saint-Just View Post
    Do they also still steal steel wheels?



    Sorry, it sounds like a proper challenge to understand without the benefit of seeing it written to this non native speaker
    "It's so hard to keep this smile from my face."

  18. #18
    Master
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    I just drilled out the locking nuts from my 1983 911 - I had the key but still couldn't get them off when I needed to do a valve adjustment. A cobalt drill bit made short work of them. I'll be gutted if someone steals my Fuchs though.

  19. #19
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NikosF View Post
    I'll be gutted if someone steals my Fuchs though.
    Quite understandable, I would be too.

  20. #20
    I had a slow puncture so before getting it fixed I thought better find the locking wheel nut, when I couldn't I rang Ford who said brit in they'd take old ones off and fit new ones (£60 a set) I went in and they said "oh no you need to book a half hour labour" I said could they recomend a garage that could do it now and they sent me to a local tyre place, gave them the keys and sat down with a coffee.

    Ten minutes later they come in and tell me I don't have locking nuts on my car! but I need two new tyres should they fit them and give me the new locking nuts to take back to Ford.

    I knew my luck, if I didn't have the locking nuts put on I bet the two new tyres would be stolen in a week!

    It's a simple question, how much will locking nuts cost compared to hassle of losing a wheel or all four and the car being dropped on its belly!

  21. #21
    Master
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    Wheels do still get stolen but generally it'll be high end stuff that's easy to move on. As a tyre fitter, I hate the bloody things. Invariably, they are either broken or lost, or the last person has gunned them up so they're too tight.

  22. #22
    Craftsman jamesianbriggs's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    My wife does, every time she parallel parks.
    Dammit. Beat me to it. My wonderful wife manages to give most of our cars a thorough thief-proofing in the first six weeks.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  23. #23
    Master
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    My uncle once had his wheels stolen off his van, he didn't realise at first that it had been done because they swapped the wheels with their own and left him with four worn out tires on crappy wheels.
    So it's not always the wheels their after, it's the tires.

  24. #24
    My wiper blades were fairly new replacements and roof mounted aerial in perfectly reasonable condition given that my car was approx 8 years old (at the time). Then all of sudden, both were knackered and suspect someone deemed it acceptable to do a swap.

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave O'Sullivan View Post
    Wheels do still get stolen but generally it'll be high end stuff that's easy to move on. As a tyre fitter, I hate the bloody things. Invariably, they are either broken or lost, or the last person has gunned them up so they're too tight.
    As a fellow tyre fitter I also hate the things! You'd be surprised how many times a customer has told us they didn't know what the locking wheel nut key was so they threw it away! Have you tried the Dynomec removing kit?

  26. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by dizz View Post
    My uncle once had his wheels stolen off his van, he didn't realise at first that it had been done because they swapped the wheels with their own and left him with four worn out tires on crappy wheels.
    So it's not always the wheels their after, it's the tires.
    How do you deduce that?

  27. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by jimmyt View Post
    Have you tried the Dynomec removing kit?
    I've got one. Great bit of kit but it has it's limitations. If the nuts are too tight, I find the brass heads just shear off.

    The trouble with most locking key systems is that I can go to any dealer and buy a full set as long as I can supply a headed letter to prove I'm a trader.

    The trouble with most wheel thieves is that they can use Microsoft Word to produce a headed letter...

  28. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kingstepper View Post
    How do you deduce that?
    A van tyre can be north of £130 a quick swap with another van, (they rarely have locking keys), and you've saved yourself over £500. The chances are, the other guy won't notice for a few weeks.

  29. #29
    Journeyman
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    I switched mine out for normal nuts on a discovery they are prone to failing. I would rather risk a stolen wheel then not being able to change a wheel on the side of the road if the need arose.


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  30. #30
    Master
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    in 30 years in the motor trade i have only had one customer have their wheels stolen.i have however removed dozens of sets of locking wheel nuts/bolts when the owners lose the special key/nut.the cheapo ones take a couple of minutes with the right tools.the better ones take half an hour or so.some of the best i have seen were on the peugeot range.any attempt to remove them without the special tool resulted in the nut head shearing clean off leaving just a flat surface with no purchase point whatsoever..
    Last edited by greasemonkey; 27th April 2017 at 08:50.

  31. #31
    Grand Master AlphaOmega's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    My wife does, every time she parallel parks.
    Very good.

  32. #32
    Master
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    My first job on a car is to throw away anything useless and that includes security wheelnuts/studs.

  33. #33
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    I doubt you have anything to worry about with your 15" wheels as they're not such a common size nowadays and the tyres are very cheap.

    18,19 + 20's is a different ball game, I'd definitely be taking precautions as I've just bought some 18" Michelins for my old Escort and they cost an eye watering £180 each

  34. #34
    if your tyres are nice and new they might nick your wheels for the tyres 'spose

  35. #35
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by DJL-73 View Post
    I doubt you have anything to worry about with your 15" wheels as they're not such a common size nowadays and the tyres are very cheap.

    18,19 + 20's is a different ball game, I'd definitely be taking precautions as I've just bought some 18" Michelins for my old Escort and they cost an eye watering £180 each
    Yup, tyres less than half the price of the 16" ones and I was able to buy a set of new OEM Saab 15" wheels for £80. As a bonus the ride is better too.

    Thanks for your input folks, you've helped tip the balance, I'm going to dump them (new key has arrived from McGard, excellent service, delivery from Germany in two working days for 15 euros key and delivery).

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