Locking wheel nuts are used instead of regular wheel nuts and bolts and actually have two functions. First of all, they secure the wheels under your car tightly. In addition, they protect your rims directly against theft. Unfortunately, it happens quite often that rims are stolen from underneath cars. The thief often goes for the easy option. If you tighten the rims well with wheel nut locks, chances are that it will take the thief too much time to steal them. So it is definitely recommended to leave the cheap bolts and purchase slightly more expensive locking wheel nuts. Especially when you have special wheels under your car.
Fitting wheels is generally a simple job. The wheel is placed on the wheel hub and is then tightened with wheel nuts or wheel bolts and a wheel wrench. Ideal that it is such a simple job, but this means that wheels can also easily be removed from your car. Handy for yourself, but also very handy for thieves wanting your nice wheels. And you obviously don't want the latter. With a lock wheel nut the job remains as simple for you, but a lot harder for thieves.
Locking wheel nuts key
As mentioned earlier, locking wheel bolts are meant to lock your wheels. This way, thieves can't just get the expensive rims from underneath your car. You need a special key to secure the locking wheel nuts. Without this key, you cannot tighten the nuts and therefore cannot loosen them as well. In principle, you only need to use one wheel nut lock per wheel to lock them. Nevertheless, we recommend using a minimum of two. That way you make it more difficult for the thief, chances are that they will leave your wheels alone. When purchasing, always make a note of the code in the attached documents from the kit. Should you sell the car with the lock bolts still on your rims? Then the new owner will want this code and possibly the key. Without the locking wheel nut key and the code, it is difficult to find out which key is needed to loosen the lock bolts.
Which wheel nut locks do I need?
Whether you need locking wheel bolts or locking wheel nuts depends on the make and type of car. You can easily see from your car whether there are currently wheel bolts or wheel nuts. You must also know whether the bolts are conical or convex. There is a difference in type. Generally speaking, steel rims have convex conical bolts and aluminium rims have conical wheel bolts. Please note, this is not always the case. To find the correct lock bolts you must first determine whether you need bol conic or conical bolts. To be sure, we recommend that you remove one wheel nut from the rim and see how the head runs. The convex cone runs around and a cone runs straight. It is really important that you use the correct bolts otherwise you may damage your wheels.
In addition, there are sizes. Lock bolts have dimensions that are structured as follows M12 * 1.50 or M14 * 1.25. This indicates the type of thread the bolt has. It is important to order the same dimension locking wheel nuts as the original ones. Make sure you don?t store the locking wheel nuts adapter in your car. If thieves open your car and find the adapter, they may be extra motivated to take the wheels. With the adapter, it?s easy to remove the wheels. Always store it away from the car.
Buy wheel locks
You can buy lock bolts quickly and easily at Winparts. Locking wheel nuts are available from popular brands such as McGard, Lampa and Kleebatt. These nuts and bolts are often sold per set, in a set there are 4 bolts with the key that fits in the locking wheel nuts.