OT - Lug nuts - Page 5

Posted by Jim Yanik on September 15, 2009, 8:23 am

ddl@danlan.*com (Dan Lanciani) wrote in
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you can buy sockets at Harbor Freight for removing wheel locks when you
don't have a key.Just like you can buy "slim jims" at Advance Auto Parts
for opening locked car doors.
--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
kua.net

Posted by mm on September 15, 2009, 5:54 pm

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You can slim jim most cars, but I think it's a lot harder to get wheel
locks off.
And the point is to stop the average lunkhead, not to stop the most
well equipped, who won't go after 180 dollar wheels, but will want to
take apart a 100G car they have stolen, and sell all the parts.
I was washing my car at a do-it-yourself car wash in Indiana several
years ago, on Xmas, and I locked my keys in the car. I found a
convenience store only 30 yars away and was asking her for a wire
hanger, and a guy in the store offered to open the door for me.
Tunred out he was a pro locksmith. Not only did he have the slim
jim but an assorment of tools to pry the rubber away from the window a
little bit to make it easier to use the slim jim. It took him from 5
to 10 minutes and he woudln't accept money, because it was Xmas.
Anyhow, if you need to break into your car this way, use the passenger
door or the rear door. A friend locked himslef out and the
small-town police came and did it for free, but the mechanism got
diconnected in the process and he had to climb over the console for
the rest of the day until we got to my house and I took apart the door
and reconnected things.

Posted by Tegger on September 14, 2009, 8:10 pm

september.org:
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You can be 100% certain your wheels DO have lug nuts; they are just covered
up to make the wheel look prettier. Lug nuts have been required by law
since 1968 (no I'm not kidding).
If you look closely, you'll probably find there's a plastic cover on the
face of the wheel. This hides the lug nuts.
Your Owner's Manual will give this information in great detail, complete
with diagrams and instructions on how to get the cover off.
What kind of car is this, anyway?
--
Tegger

Posted by mm on September 14, 2009, 8:56 pm

wrote:
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You need to be concerned about the wheels falling off. Without lug
nuts, there is usually nothing to hold them on. :(
All of the nuts that go on the studs are lug nuts, whether they use a
key of whatever sort or just a regular lug wrench or jack handle. But
some have either key locks or unsuaal shapes, which they also call a
key. I had a set of unusual shapes, and I worried that I would lose
the "key", but I think the set came with two. Then I had a flat tire
and had a hard time engagine the key into the lug nut, and it wasn't
even wet, and I figured next time it may be cold and raining and it
may be much harder to do if the nut is wet and slippery, and I took
them off. I see my next door neighbor has one on each wheel.
ON the other hand, way back in high school in 1964, in a suburban
school district with no crime to speak of, a friend drove to school
sometimes and one day his car would start but woudln't move. He found
that it was jacked up and the rear axle was resting on a box and the
wheel/tire was gone. This guy and his parents had only enough money
to live nicely on, and didn't splurge on mag wheels or anything. It
was probably a Chevy. I don't know why it was stolen. We didn't even
have fistfights in this school.
Bub is right that it depends on a lot of things whether you need wheel
locks, where you park it, how busy it is there, how special your
wheels are. Are wheels still a popular item for theft. I've driven a
convertible for 42 years (not the same one) and slashing tops used to
be popular, and indeed, my top was slashed once (I patched it and then
in the rough n'hood I lived in, they would push open the patch and
unlock the door and steal it if I left anything at all in the car.
But then convertibles became much less common, and not only did the
manufacturers forget that you can't use a day/night mirror in a
convertible, but the criminals seemed to have forgotten how much fun
it is to slash tops. It's a piece of Americana, of folkways that
seems not to have been passed down to the latest generation of
criminals. We may be losing our heritage, but I like it. Now
convertble tops became uncommon, but for some reason that never
happened to wheels. But still, how common is it these days for wheels
to be stolen?
What kind of car do you have. How much was the sticker price for the
rims (wheels)?
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99+% of cars used lugnuts from 1945's or earlier until 1968 and
afterwards. Are you saying they outlawed for street use the one big
nut in the middle, that one hit with a wrench to spin on or off,
instead of 4 or 5 in a circle? What do you call that?
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Posted by HeyBub on September 15, 2009, 7:53 am

mm wrote:
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Heh!
I recently bought a couple of tires at Walmart. I watched the technician
re-mount the tires and asked if he was done. "No," he said, "I've got to get
the manager to re-torque on the lugs and sign-off on the job. Walmart
doesn't want you to drive out of here and have your nuts fall off."
Presently the manager appeared with a torque wrench.
Click-click-clickety-click, followed by: "Your nuts are good to go!"

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