Effective way to lock wheels?

nupe10123 · #1 01-15-2008, 08:58 PM

My neighbor's son just had his wheels stolen while parked on campus. He had some pretty nice 20 inch wheels on his car with locking lug nut (gorilla brand I believe) to prevent somethig like this from happening.

The police were not helpful at all and told him that ever since spinners, 20+ inch wheels etc., have become more popular and expensive, so have the thefts. They advised him to get 'plain' stock wheels on his car and he'll be a lot less likely to have them stolen again and they also told him that just about any thief out there can defeat any wheel locking system as though it wasn't even there.

It is truly dissapointing to me that this kind of theft happened, it is just made that much worse by how the police have reacted to it. Does anyone have or know of a system to lock/protect wheels from theft that they have confidence in? (mayber there is something out there that the cops just don't know about that may work).

I still have my OEM 19s (maybe I'm just too old to appreciate the bling of wheels), but for someone who cares so much about their wheels/style etc, I'd like to think there is something to make it 'safer' for them.

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LeMansX5 · #2 01-15-2008, 09:00 PM

Check this thread.

nupe10123 · #3 01-15-2008, 09:18 PM

Thanks for the link to the other thread. Just by coincidence I guess... several people in that thread mention using the BMW locks or McGard, the police officers actually mentioned both directly when telling him that the wheel lock systems don't deter or even slow down a thief. They mentioned something to the fact that if the thief is looking for wheels, they assume that the car has wheel locks in the first place - so wheel locks don't have any impact. They also said, the casual thief would steel a car if the opportunity just came up, but likey would not steel wheels because they are heavy and would take too much time for the casual crook. Oh well, I guess there isn't too much someone can do. So sad.

08WhtX5 · #4 01-15-2008, 09:18 PM

Most wheel locks can be easily defeated but they may act as a deterrent to the casual thief.
The common way I've heard of wheel locks being defeated is to put a socket that's marginally too small on it and whack it with a big hammer. It ruins the socket but gets the lug nut off.
If a thief wants your wheels bad enough he only needs about five minutes.

jayo · #5 02-01-2008, 11:38 AM

I just went and checked the lock nuts on my new 3.0SD M-Sport with 20" rims. I have posted a pic below - took it with the camera phone in bad light so sorry in advance!

I was surprised to see that it looked better than the usual BMW lock nuts, looks like it needs a unique key to fit it rather than the older generic BMW key.

Looks very similar to the MCGuard bolt.

Does this look like it would be OK or should I get additional locks?

Also, there is only one per wheel, should I get more? In case thieves decided to remove all the other nuts for badness!!

dkl · #6 02-01-2008, 12:57 PM

That does look like the MCGuard bolt and is slightly better than the BMW lock bolt. But like everyone said in the thread(s), it's only a deterrent. If someone really wants your wheel, they will have it regardless. IMHO, it doesn't matter too much whether you have one or two locks. Besides, having an additional lock will require you to carry an extra key for it...unless you're getting a matching set.

Awdnut · #7 02-04-2008, 12:54 PM

Like somebody said, it is just a deterrent.

You can go to eBay and buy the wheel locks master key set which is basically what the dealer use to open the wheel lock in case you loose the key. For example there is a VW/Audi wheel lock master key set for sale in eBay right now.

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