Wheel Lock lost - Help!
 

Hello All,

In my third world country, my dealership does not have a good supply of wheel lock adapters in stock to free my 20 inch wheels from the car. (i lost the key ..or someone did and is not owning up).

Anyway, I am really really hoping someone on the forum could help me, because drilling is not an option for me.

I have counted on my bolt 21 "peaks" or teeth . so i'm looking for an adapter key that has 21 "valleys"

My key and bolt looks just like this:

except that teeth count ain't matching up to that example.

Can anyone please help? I need the number on the back of your wheel lock.( If you are willing to count 21 valleys on your key. ) The major diameter may be 16mm

Thank you very much.

sorry to hear your situation. I had a similar jam when my rear blew on me. are you serious your in a 3rd world country? if there's no dealers or anyway whatsoever to get access to a key, i would try looking for this only if all else fails. yup, its a bottom bracket tool for bikes, now i don't know if you can find it in a 16mm, but worth a shot if your really stuck in a bind.
http://www.martynashfieldcycles.co.u...79_2847768.jpg

yep lost mine to a while back.

in australia our dealers have a little box with all the variations of lock keys

they just try them to see which one fits, then sell that one to you and replace there,s

cost me $16 from memory

get a socket that has the teeth and hammer iit over the bold, it should make its own teeth have fun :D

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/6048/img2384q.jpg

mate i dont know what you are looking at but my factory locks are a cylinder with the teeth on the inside, the key is like a bolt head with a keyed shank, where the teeth are on the outside.and it fits into the wheel bolt head

its a simple matter of going to a BMW dealer and requesting a replacement, thats assuming of course that we are talking about the factory locking system

You would not believe how difficult it can get to source small parts locally! I live in a tiny island off venezuela. For example pagid pads are 150 usd by me for the front only!

I am greatful to all on this forum.

Its factory locking systm. Im not sure if the link I posted works. My dealer does not offer the service.

do the socket trick the socket should be big enough to fit over the bolt it self

Why not see if you could get a torx or an allen key to to fit inside the bolt head. Not unless your set has a pin the middle which prevents one from using a torx or allen key.

Which just goes to show how worthless wheel locks are.

Most wheel theives will not take the additional time/attention from the noise in order to nick a wheel/tire set.

Rubber mallet / dead blow hammer and a socket takes all of two seconds. Less time than using a lug wrench.

Rubber mallet will absorb the impact and not drive the socket over the wheel lock, dead blow will take longer than a standard hammer of the same weight due to the head inertia is delayed (floating shot in head delays transfer of blow over a longer time). How is forcing a socket over a wheel lug quicker then slipping a socket/lock key over/in? Also if done slowly without any impact/sudden movement of the chassis a thief can remove the wheels while the alarm is set, no chance of not tripping alarm when impact is part of the wheel removal process. Wheel locks work best when alarm is set. Want proof? Set your alarm and hit a wheel/tire with a rubber mallet.

FWIW, the OE BMW wheel locks are hardened and the "pound a socket on" will not grip them. This only works on cheap non-hardened locks. I would bet the pic in that prior post is not a hardened wheel lock, BMW hard locks are black for starters.

SET WHEEL LOCKS. M14X1,5 . BMW # 36136776074

Have you tried using a mallet / dead blow and socket? If not then give it a try. I was surprised how quick and easy it is.

Only amateur steal wheels, pro steal the entire car.

:nanana::rofl:

I've tried the dead blow on a friends '80s 944 S4 (bought used and key was not supplied), took A LOT more swing to get the socket to start slipping on, switched to a 32oz ball peen with a 1" dia X 6" long brass bar held on the socket (to avoid hitting the wheel if I slipped), the socket seated right away with the ball peen (around 1/2 the swing force/speed).

Soooooo True!

They work fine but I got annoyed having to pull out the "skate key" every time I wanted to remove a wheel for any service.

I bought four new normal wheel bolts at my dealer and removed the wheel locks, metal is recycled.

I run the basic 17" wheels, so someone needs to be quite hard up to take these wheels :)

Then you did something wrong. A my brother in law owns a junkyard and the hammer / socket is what he uses to remove locking nuts. He was the one who showed me it and I was surprised how easy they are to remove.

Lol on my 328i I had to remove a lock nut before did the socket trick it worked it was a hardend socket too it took a bit to eat threw the nut but it can be done just cuss its hardend don't mean it won't bend

Borrowed a lock from a friend. His was 20 point and did not work. His number was 35

Sorry about your dilemma. Could you contact BMW services (not sure who this would be exactly) and explain the issue. If your local dealer can verify it to them for you, maybe you could order a key based on the information you have. I don't know enough about the BMW locks or how many variations they have to know if this is possible.

From what I've seen online, BMW has 20 different lock keys.

Well. I purchased SAE 4140 steel, 1 inch diameter and turned the end down to around 15 point something millimeters. Using the circumference of that, I divided it into 21 bits. I coloured the shaft with permanent marker and then proceeded to divide the circumference into 21 pieces. (my shop at work does not have an indexing head nor rotary table).

I then painstakingly filed the valleys down then finished it with a hacksaw to get sharp teeth.

Fit like a *cough* TIGHT glove. All four locks off and number 37 is my winning number.

thanks all.

cost 13 USD when you do the currency conversion for the steel. pics to come soon.