Locking Wheel Nuts

Baldytyke88

I didn't have any locking wheel nuts on my last car, but a friend was telling me about a neighbour that had a wheel stolen overnight.

I don't have alloy wheels, I guess my 16" tyres might be worth up to £80 each.

Do I need locking wheel nuts?

Phossy

More hassle than they are worth. I've had some really bad experiences due to not being able to remove them. Both our cars now just have standard wheel nuts. 

sheslookinhot

For tyres no, for a good set of alloys yes.

400ixl

For steel 16" wheels then no not really.

If you had a car which had them fitted from new then you should keep them on (or declare you have removed them to the insurer). If they weren't then not really worth it, especially in your position.

They aren't that much of a deterrent these days. 

Baldytyke88

400ixl said:

For steel 16" wheels then no not really.

If you had a car which had them fitted from new then you should keep them on (or declare you have removed them to the insurer). If they weren't then not really worth it, especially in your position.

They aren't that much of a deterrent these days. 

Thanks all, I didn't think people used locking nuts these days, I live in a populated area, so should be ok. The odd thing can go missing from a vehicle, but maybe not wheels.

Mildly_Miffed

Baldytyke88 said:

I didn't have any locking wheel nuts on my last car, but a friend was telling me about a neighbour that had a wheel stolen overnight.

I don't have alloy wheels, I guess my 16" tyres might be worth up to £80 each.

Do I need locking wheel nuts?

It's impossible to give a categorical answer.

Locking wheel nuts CAN be removed without the key. If they couldn't, you'd have to scrap the car if you lost the key. If they can be removed without the key by nice people in a tyre place, they can be removed without the key by less-nice people in the middle of the night.

It's all about relative hassle and benefit.

A set of cheap part-worns on steels is not even remotely likely to get nicked. It's not as if it's a set of near-new premium brand tyres on blingy alloys. Also factor in the kind of area you park in...

Herzlos

Unless you've got some particlarly in demand wheels, or live somewhere with a lot of thefts, the locking nuts will cause you more hassle than they'd save. You can buy sets of keys online anyway.

Lots of people have them replaced with regular nuts the first time the wheels need to come off anyway.

I'm not sure how common wheel theft is these days. The last time I'd encountered it was years ago when an unregistered car had crashed near our street and the driver was looking for a car with a suitable replacement.

fatbelly

Baldytyke88 said:

I didn't have any locking wheel nuts on my last car, but a friend was telling me about a neighbour that had a wheel stolen overnight.

I don't have alloy wheels, I guess my 16" tyres might be worth up to £80 each.

Do I need locking wheel nuts?

Anyone with the intention of nicking wheels would swiftly move on after seeing yours.

And if they really wanted to remove top-range alloys, then locking nuts wouldn't slw them down much

born_again

Baldytyke88 said:

I didn't have any locking wheel nuts on my last car, but a friend was telling me about a neighbour that had a wheel stolen overnight.

I don't have alloy wheels, I guess my 16" tyres might be worth up to £80 each.

Do I need locking wheel nuts?

Mine have all been removed, as a PIA.

400ixl

More of a PIA to keep informing your insurer you have removed them every time you get a quote than they are on the car.

Very very few people remove them from their cars, like low  single digit %. Nothing like being suggested here.

Alloy wheel theft is still quite high, so whilst not a big deterrent to professional thieves they work against the opportunistic ones. Although the OP will not really be a target.

Not sure how they are a PIA as you don't exactly take your wheels off on a weekly basis and it just means putting the key on one nut per wheel and using the wrench as you do on the others. Hardly taxing. Also the rate of failure is so low unless abused that it is not a significant reason to not use them either.