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Jeeze. Susan ( my wife)called me from her work yesterday evening,at my work. Seems she had a flat,needed help changing,ect. No problem right? pretty basic stuff. It gets better. Susans little sports car has low profile tires.Susan hit a pot hole,whatever, ripped a 3 inch gash in the sidewall.( stuff happens,no problem). Lug nuts are special "splined" type, found on custom wheels.Someone forgot to leave the lug nut "key",or adaptor, in the car when we bought it.grrr,cant get the wheel off.OK, drive to Wallyworld, get 2 cans of fix a flat and a "plug in the ciggerette type air pump". Seems the gash contained a hole just large enough to expell air,almost as fast as we could put it in.grrr..."ok Susan,I am off tomorrow and we will just leave the car here and i will fix tomorrow".Next day. Grab my tools,off i go.Stop by the place where we bought the car 6 months ago...you guessed it,no deal left behind. Stop by tire shop..nope, we need a lug nut to see if we have a "key".Stop by a specialty custom tire and rim place..."need a lug nut to find the correct key".Try to hammer a "just under sized" socket onto the lug nut. No deal,shape of the rim pervents it.get out hammer and punch..no deal..but back punch...replace with chisel..works great at screwing up lug nut,no deal on getting it off,or even starting to turn. starts to rain..again.Lug nuts have been put on with the impact wrench from hell.Several missed hammer blows result in swollen fingers and lumps on back of hand.It starts to lighting.and rain harder.Did i mention the constant strem of people giving helpful advice? such as " hey,weld a nut on it"( sure,going to pull a welder out of my back pocket and plug it in 2 miles away)ect. Put tools up,went to Auto Zone,looking for a type of screw/bolt extractor,but one that would fit nuts.no deal.went to NAPA..they had one..yesssss...was a one time use tool and cost 60 bucks...no way am i going to do that.Did I mention i had a Dentist Appt,fast approaching time limit? it stopped raining.Torn lug nuts,no progress,few options left.Go home,collect Susan,make desperate plan.Grab portable air tank i have,plug in my compressor to fill.Blow circuit breakers AFTER looking for hose and connectors,for what seemed like hours.fill tank,go back to car.Tell Susan to get car ready to drive when i say go. fill tire,yell go. car goes maybe 100 yards,tire flat.refill tire,yell go. same thing again.Have made it to major crossroads,longest light in town is red.hop out,fill tire just as light is turning,yell go.whew,made to "Big O Tires".Had been there hours ago,seeking lug key.They remembered us.Young guy that also works there,over hears of conversation.He walks to his tool box,bingo,has the "KEY". Manager say they will have to tourch the rim off cause of distroyed lugs.( custom rims,I dont think so). Buy TWO keys for lug nuts,grab hammer and 4 way.off they come.no problem.Jeeze, the guy could have saved me 1/2 tank of gas,hours and hours of wasted time, sore fingers and hand,if he had simply ask his macanhic.laughing to myself now..whew,what a day.Oh,it didnt rain anymore,Dentist appt was switched (their doing) to monday and ran out of smokes. hope this makes someone smile,it does me now.

 

Suggestion: Change the breaker for the circuit where the air compressor is plugged in to a bigger size.

I had a good chuckle because I too have the same keyed lug nuts, but they are all different keys. I bought two kits and switched them around so every wheel has two different kinds.

 

Deeeeeeeep breath, fellow Vette friend.

Makes for a great story...once it's over!

 

Sometimes you've just got to admit defeat and call a tow truck.

By the way paragraphs would make reading that much easier.

 

i do that for a living i have universal lock removing sockets in my box about 4 different sets they do most cars, the ones that they do not fit i wish had flats in left lane of expressway , throw away all the locks thats what insurance is for , you can get custom wheels every 2 weeks like on of my neighbors did

 

Might ought to check out the wire size before sticking a bigger breaker in there, fire is generally unhealthy in a house.
Better idea is get a dedicated circuit run for the compressor

 

Those locks only deter honest people. The real crooks will be prepared for anything. Back on the farm we used to lock our equipment doors, until some crack head knocked out a $250 window to steal a $25 cb radio.

 

Besides getting the flat changed it sounds like the best part of the whole ordeal was running out of smokes. Peace,,,Moosie

 

Sounds like a pretty good day from some days I have had!

oh yeah hey,weld a nut on it

 

Yeah that sounds like a lot of trouble and effort for a flat tire
...that reminds me, I should probably double check if mine is in the car still...

You need a few after that expedition.

 

Humor friend...I know, shut my mouth.

 

Glad it worked out in the end and you can laugh about it now. That's why I have AAA

 

Took all the lugnut locks off ever thing I own, so no problem now, how did I learn, just like you did.


Cruizer

 

I agree working for a dealer we have more problems with lost/stuck loking nuts than they are worth. has anyone ever had there wheels not stolen because of locking lugs??

 

When it rains, it pours. Hopefully that will keep the bad-luck gremlins in check for you the rest of the summer. WOW.