How do I remove locking lugs nuts without the key? Has anyone ever tried this? One of the Mavs I have came with Aluminum wheels with locking nuts & no key. I tried vise grips & no luck. Ay help would be appreciated.
i herd from some one cant remember who , but weld another lug nut on to the existing lock nut and use a lug wrench and take that sucka off
Snap-on, Mac, Cornwell, Matco has a tool to remove them...no scratches to the wheel either. Most Napa stores carry them also......a wisely investment!
Vise grips come to mind, but you have tried... I have taken an old socket before, one that does not fit over the lugs, but is very close, and beat it on with a hammer. Then put an impact to it. If you have a lock on each rim, you will likely need 4 sockets as they almost never separate. Use a socket/sockets you don't need to keep! If you have room, you can grind notches into the lugs for grip. If you can't get vise grips in close enough to work, then this probably won't work. Good luck Dave
Take an over sized socket that barely fits around it and hammer it on to the locking nut then it should come off. I made plenty of money doing such a thing at Pep Boys. I eventually bought (from Snap On) a special socket set that had a reverse thread inside so that I could put it on my impact. Most of the time it would lock onto the nut and come right off.
Buy a set of sockets that remove rounded bolts. all major brands have them. They are reverse sprial they grab more as they spin counter clockwise. I also have welded lug nuts to the lugs and removed them. This takes some patience to get good penetration and not burn the wheel. If it is to tight to getthe welder tip in this obviously will not work. There are other ways but you end up tearing up the rim if you make one mistske. Such as an Air hammer with a chisel bit. Good Luck!!! Can you post a pic what style lug/locking nut it is?
And if all else fails you can take it to a Wheel/Tire place. They will have a tool to take them off without damaging anything.
Great advice above from others. In the stone age when there were not any tools to take them off, I tack welded a close fitting socket on the lock lug and took um off one at a time. Dan
I would just take to a tire store and pay them to remove them. Don't forget to take replacement lug nuts with you. If your replacing the tires they might do it for free.
Discount Tire Center (or similar) has a "kit" that will contain a match - or close enough. How do I know? I've had my nuts removed once or twice.
Back in the 70's, I had a car with locks an no key. We used a air chisel, you chisel it angled to hit lock turning it ccw, took our time with the chisel in the "lock ring" Went pretty good an no damage to my Cragars!
Thanks for all the input guys. I think I will be looking for one of those special Sockets today. Thanks,
