Removal of damaged locking wheel nut

[bigboz]

Right some Low Life Piece of Scum has tried nicking one of my wheels at some point in the last week and has chewed up the locker on one wheel.

I know it was OK last week as i had the wheel off, I know the locker was OK when i put it back on as i use a torque wrench to put them back on. I noticed my front pads were very low while the wheel was off so was going to change them last night and found the locker all chewed and it now wont key to the locking nut key.

I can only assume it happened on Sunday night when i left the car in a shady part of Leeds over night. No damage to the rest of the car, so i assume they gave up and/or may have been disturbed....

How can i get the damaged locker off, Anyone got any bright ideas?

[bigboz]

Sorry meant o say i found this:-

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/s...egoryId_255216

£16.99

[kieran40]

I used to use a 12 sided socket slightly smaller than the locking nut,make sure it's an old one thou,and hammer it over the locking nut with a lump hammer ,used to work for me but you will proberly wreck the socket hope it helps pal.

[bigboz]

Originally Posted by kieran40

I used to use a 12 sided socket slightly smaller than the locking nut,make sure it's an old one thou,and hammer it over the locking nut with a lump hammer ,used to work for me but you will proberly wreck the socket hope it helps pal.

Did contemplate this, but i only have snap on sockets and i don't fancy wrecking one. Gonna head down halford's after work and see if the Laser tool will fit the nut

[kieran40]

Yeah you don't want to wreck anything decent.

[Matt86]

Funny enough I've got some extensive work done around this as 3 of my locking nuts are completely shot (Thankfully Dog Book sorted me some brand spanky new ones) Now depending on what type of locking nut you have depends on what will work.

If the locking nut has a ring on the outside of the nut then the laser removal tool will not work it has nothing to grip onto to remove the nut so there is no point at all. Save your money.

You could smack on a socket, but I've found it's really 50/50 as to if this will work or not and depending on the socket and age it might just completely shatter the socket.

Another method is that you can get a chisel and try getting it on at an angle and smack it with enough force it'll eventually move the nut (Probably your best bet in this case as they won't be done up too tight)

Final option and in my case the option I had to use. I contact McGard in Germany who made the wheel nuts and after a few emails (and them trying to get me to buy a new key) they sent me their removal kit which is basically 3 colbat drill pieces and 3 sockets which line up dead centre so you can drill the bolt out.

[bigboz]

I will have a look tonight and see what i can accomplish, need to go to london at the weekend and it would be sods law to get a puncture while i have no method of removing the wheel!

[Matt86]

Originally Posted by bigboz

I will have a look tonight and see what i can accomplish, need to go to london at the weekend and it would be sods law to get a puncture while i have no method of removing the wheel!

You know what to do there then....... Don't get a puncture! (Sorry couldn't resist!)

[martinrpeachey]

I've sorted several sets of lockers with the socket method. Use an imperial socket as it gives you that little undersize you need. Wrap the socket with tape - lots of it, so much so that it won't fit in the recess in the wheel. When you hammer it in, the tape will keep the socket square and stop it bouncing.

Hammer - don't use a lump hammer, it'll most likely slip off and damage the wheel. Use a big ball pein hammer, at least 32oz and hit it HARD 2 or 3 times - you only want to pinch the bolt, not drive it completely over the bolt/nut. Unwind the bolt a little and tap the socket off and remove the bolt by hand. This'll save you having to remove the bolt from the socket after.

[bongodave]

Quite a few of the indepenant tyre boys have sockets to remove these. They usually have a bag of used lockers to replace it too.

Bung em a tenner and jobs a good-un.