Hey guys i have a big problem. The problem is that when i bought my car it came with 18 inch rims on it very nice look and all but when i got the car the guy told me that he lost the key for the lug nuts. Its a special key and i dont know nor does the previous owner know who even makes them. How do i go about getting these damn rims off? I need new tires and want to get new pads as well as e-brake bads as well and i cant even do that because the i cant get a tool to get the lug nut off?

Help is very much appreciated!! its almost like an inward 8star almost as if you would need an allen key but its an 6 star instead of the normal 6.

a shop can get them off, but forget about those wheels. most likely the rims will get damage unless you can find a key for the lug nuts.

really? wow i havnt heard that yet? all i heard if anything is if they find somthing that will fit in there the lug nuts would most likely break? i havnt heard anything about my rims being damaged?

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yes, that's exactly what a shop will try to do, but remember that,whatever they find that fits there is not meant to be there so it'will be forced in place and most likely damaging the wheels ( the damage can be slight or really bad )

Good luck !

thanks man but like i dont want a damn shop to do it they will charge me a ridiculous price for that stuff.. when if there is somthing i can do myself i will surely do that im definately inclined just need to figure out what i can do when it comes to somthing like that

why not find out what kind of rims they are first? SOMEBODY on here has to know what they are, contact the company and get more or go to discount tire co. and ask them to find a key for you

I know Pep Boys charges something like $45 to do that. IMO at worst you may need a new stud which isn't too expensive.

I'll ask one of the mechanics what they use to do it. but you'll have to wait until tomorrow, today is my day off

This post has been edited by hurley97: Jan 22, 2007 - 3:22 PM

thats a good idea its just finding the right person on here that would know the rims? that would be the only problem i guess if i took that route

do you know a round about how expensive? and like would someone be capable of doing that? bcz in a way im thinkin if i can just drill into the studs and put somthing in there and snapping those lug nuts off

okay awesome man id appreciate it, bcz i mean i could pay an arm and a leg well maybe not if pep boys charges 45 bucks thats not bad at all but than theres labor and all those other expenses

Find out what kind of rims they are post them up here. Then call them tell them you lost your key and hopefully they have one for you.

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my lug key broke and I had to get a replacement (from Gorilla Automotive). I think I just had to pay the shipping fee which was like $25-30 because I wanted the fastest shipping humanly possible. but for that I needed to know the key # [luckily Manny and Jeff (Presure2 and Defgeph) had the same keys and were able to tell me the # I needed]

I'm pretty sure its $42.99 which is the labor to take off the lug nut if you don't have the key. if they do damage the stud and you need a new one (for 4 I guess) they're like $2 each. but for the sake of possibly saving you $45 I'll ask when I go to work tomorrow

Try this thing http://gator-grip.com/ They used to have infomertials on tv for it and the first thing I thought of when I saw it is it would be great for stealing rims (If you into that kinda thing). It will supposidly conform to any kind of shape by compressing small pins inside of the socket. Two questions though.

1. Will it fit around you lugnut?

2. Do you have deep socket rims (Socket might not fit inside the rim itself)

Also, I think I know what kind of key you are talking about but can be positive with out seeing it. Auto zone sells a cheep rim socket lock set that only has one key for all the lock nuts thay produced (Pretty pointless) But if your lucky and that is the set then you can buy the set for like 15 bucks and use the key.

Yep, I just looked further into the web site and it said that it will remove most lugnut locks just as long as the outside diamator isnt round. I would buy this thing and give it a try.

This post has been edited by dugunz: Jan 22, 2007 - 3:51 PM

can you get me a clear, close shot pix of the lug nuts your talking about? I might know what kind of lug nut you have.

This post has been edited by netrata: Jan 22, 2007 - 6:41 PM

pepboys sells lug nut extractors that will dig into any type of lug and get it out.

i didnt do it, but my dad did n i wasnt around he has some think where he works that takes them off w/out f/in up the wheel, back when i had my eclipse he took mine off one day (it f'd up that one lug nut) just to show it doesnt really do a whole lot n my friend lost his like that n did it to that, i'm gonan give him a call right now

WOW..............When i bought my celica, it didn't come with the key for the gold wheels it used to have. Here is the solution if its like the horrible lug nut that it had and you probably have.

A STRONG Craftsman (3/8th's??? its the medium size, most common)extension on a 1/2 Companion breaker bar with the adapter so you can use the extension. The extension is a square, yes, but it should fit inside the star shape perfectly.

Make sure you use a craftsman extension as I broke 3 no-name extensions in the process.

Yea wow i was just about to come in and tell everyone that i found a solution... It is infact the 3/8 on an extension with a breaker bar!! i was looking at the lugnut for about 15 mins and i saw when i was lookin at it a box shape that could possibly fit a wrench didnt know if it would be a 1/2 or 3/8 it actually was the 3/8 so im VERY happy right now and on top of that i fit my front bumper how it should be redid everything.. so yea im on cloud nine right now!! now lets see how many tools i will break hopefully none but beings this kid that had this car before me didnt know that you had to torque the lug nuts so he just put them on there as tight as he could.. so we will see thanks everyone for the help i appreciate everyones input.

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congrats!

quite worrying that you can buy 'locking wheel nut removers' for emergency use when the key has been lost.

seems like not much point having locking nuts if it only costs a few £'s to buy a kit to remove them.

^agreed. Kinda worry's me now.