I had a set of tires put on at an NTB last year and the next night I went to torque the wheels. What a surprise it was to find that the kids at NTB stripped the tool when they put the locks back on.

The tool was perfect and 16 years old. The NTB manager was willing to buy me a new tool only (thinking it was a $2.00 part) and refused to help get the locking lug nuts off for me to go racing that weekend.


For $200.00 Chevy took them off, and ordered me a new set of locking lug nuts with the tool to get them off.

NTB did not offer to repay me the 200 dollars, and I managed to negotiate splitting the bill with me. They should have paid the whole thing.

Moral of this story: Take the center caps off and keep that tool in your pocket when you let anyone else work on the car.

 

Good Tip!

 

 

Are the lug nuts & adapter really that expensive. I still have my old set of lug nuts with adapter.

Anyone want to buy them?

 

I think I paid labor costs to cut the locks off, as well as buying a new 'old' set of locks. I was just happy Chevy was able to help me.

 

Lemme understand this plz: the locking lug nut is actually a "key" that is slightly larger than the locking lug itself, right? a la McGard locks and keys?

And you had to have these cut off? I guess if that's so it's because they're old that they (most places) no longer have the "keys" for them.

What year is your car and where is this that the dealer would charge 200? That's an awful lot to charge for that "service", I think.

 

That is not surprising: current GM/Chevy labor rates are about $95/hr. I'm sure it probably took close to two hours to carefully cut them out and not damage the wheels.

I just paid Chevy a flat hr labor fee to have new outer tie rod ends installed when they did the alignment. I had the parts already. The quoted me .5 hr per side. Not bad.

I'd have to recheck but I believe the locking lug nut set is around $25-45.

 

I still have mine too...

FWIW I bought new wheels & didn't even put the locks on, they don't steal wheels like they used to, plus its harder to do on a vette.

 

i found that if you take a 12 point socket slightly larger than the face of the locking lug,you can hammer it on and turn the lugs off easy.been there done that.15 min.

 

FWIW, Tire stores usually have to deal with this problem as ppl loose the key all the time.

They take a socket that just matches the OD of the looking Lug and hammer it on, then remove the Lug nut. This is a destructive procedure but it works.....not worth $200 bux however

 

I have friends of mine with F bdy cars and my vette included that have had issues with the lack of torqueing.
Bottom line, double check what these weiners do.
Don't get me on my soap box about mechanics...

 

If it's a planned trip to the tire store I pull the lock off myself and place a regular lug back on... Too many idiots out there running the air wrench on and stripping these things out, not to mention, usually REALLY overtorquing the lugs back on...

I quit going to a local tire store here after the idiot working there broke one of my LTPWS sensors after assuring me he knew how to work on wheels with them... Of course it wasn't his fault...

So now instead of patronizing my local mom and pop stores I order from Tire Rack, and my daily driver goes to Walmart... I used to send that store business, now I warn them away...

 

Wow, that's crazy. Took mine to a tire shop near me that had a tool to get them off (chevy part) charged me $20 and bought the locks from Amcor for I think $35.

 

That is why when ever i take my impala in for tire work or anything that requires removing of the rims i take the center caps off so the nuts are exposed and i dont risk them damaging my center caps

 

Thread Jack: with wheel on the car, how do you remove center cap? do you use a suction cup of some kind? no kidding, I'm wondering.

 

I think I would have told the manager that I would be filing a small claims court action and in addition to damages they incurred, request additional $$$ for last wages to go to court.
Sock it to them.

 

Here's my wheel lock story ...

When I got my '95, the sales guy handed me a little bag with four standard lug nuts and a lock socket. When I got home, I took all the paperwork (including the little bag) into the house. I left the little bag on a table, and promptly forgot about it.

About a month or two later, I had need to remove the wheels (I was getting ready for Bloomington), and started looking for the little bag. Guess what? My ever efficient children threw out the bag (no, I really don't know why - they don't throw anything away in their rooms!).

I found a list of GM dealers on the Amcor Locks web site that had the entire key sets. I called the closest one (a Cadillac dealership) to confirm that they did indeed have them, and drove over. I got the parts guy, and he brought out a set of masters. None of them worked. A mechanic was strolling by, and stopped, and told the parts guy to look for a particular set (which he hadn't brought out). When he found it, the mechanic found the correct one. When I thanked the mechanic for stepping up and helping out, he informed me that he owned an '84, and that "us Corvette guys have to stick together!"

There is a color code for each of the masters. They gave me the color code, and I was able to order the right one from Amcor Locks.

Total cost: $17.00 for the lock from Amcor Locks, and $5 to the mechanic and the parts guy for helping me out. I also got to spend some time driving the Vette around (priceless).

I intend to purchase some standard lug nuts to put in place of the locks when/if I need to have a service center remove the wheels.

Steven

 

I lost my lock and my local mechanic just beat a 16 point socket in the lock nut all 4 were off in 5 minutes no damage to the wheels

 

On the vette you cant really take them off untill you get the wheels off but on my impala you can take them off with a screw driver.