View Poll Results: Do you use wheel locks?
Yes
45
39.13%
No
70
60.87%
Voters: 115. You may not vote on this poll
[Z06] Do you use wheel locks?
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 87,367
Likes: 1,593
From: Western NY
I bought a set for my last car, but never put them on. Somewhere in between buying them and installing them, I realized a few things...
1) I have to keep the key in the car in case I get flat and need to put on a spare or get the flat fixed.
2) Thieves know that.
3) If a thief wants my wheels, they'll just smash the window and check the glove box / center console / door pockets / trunk...
4) If I hide the key, the thief will trash the interior to find the key before running off with the wheels.
So then I'm out a set of wheels and I have a broken window and a trashed interior.
I'm not sure that's a win.
1) I have to keep the key in the car in case I get flat and need to put on a spare or get the flat fixed.
2) Thieves know that.
3) If a thief wants my wheels, they'll just smash the window and check the glove box / center console / door pockets / trunk...
4) If I hide the key, the thief will trash the interior to find the key before running off with the wheels.
So then I'm out a set of wheels and I have a broken window and a trashed interior.
I'm not sure that's a win.
Back in the late 70s, my insurance agent stopped in to my house, to have me sign some paperwork for a policy update, and we got shooting the breeze, as he was a car enthusiast. Long conversation short, he told me about another client of his, who had a Corvette, and lived in an apartment building, where the car wasn't all that secure. This Corvette owner had one "locking lug" on each wheel. Some thieves wanted his wheels/tires, but couldn't get the locking lugs off, and they were VERY disappointed, so they decided to take out their frustrations on the car's owner, by removing all of the other lug nuts.
The man comes out in the morning, doesn't noting that 80% of his lug nuts are missing, so he jumps into the car and gets about 20 feet, before the studs snap, sending the tires up into the fenderwells, and dropping the car to the ground. It was an expensive repair bill....
My observation is that the locking lugs will keep the "amateurs" away, and if the "pros" want your wheels that badly, they'll take the whole car. I use two locking lugs per wheel, to keep the amateurs away, and if somebody takes the rest of my lug nuts, at least we car easily and safely, get the car on a flatbed, and back to my house....
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 10,247
Likes: 888
From: Hickory NC
2025 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2022 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2020 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
St. Jude Donor '17 thru '26
I find wheel locks a cheap investment. They'll slow down the amateur, and perhaps slightly slow down the professional. Plus we have made several overnight stays in hotels.
The benefit I see is if I have to make a claim, it should help with the insurance company to be able to say, "yep, I tried to keep the wheels safe." (Plus hail damage to our house cost the insurance company $11,000 in 2014, and our head-on in 2016 cost them about $625,000, so I want to stay on their good side).
And, as traylbyk said, we just put new Michelins on recently and would like to hang on to them.
The benefit I see is if I have to make a claim, it should help with the insurance company to be able to say, "yep, I tried to keep the wheels safe." (Plus hail damage to our house cost the insurance company $11,000 in 2014, and our head-on in 2016 cost them about $625,000, so I want to stay on their good side).
And, as traylbyk said, we just put new Michelins on recently and would like to hang on to them.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,230
Likes: 139
From: SOME WHERE IN ILL
wheel locks
I find wheel locks a cheap investment. They'll slow down the amateur, and perhaps slightly slow down the professional. Plus we have made several overnight stays in hotels.
The benefit I see is if I have to make a claim, it should help with the insurance company to be able to say, "yep, I tried to keep the wheels safe." (Plus hail damage to our house cost the insurance company $11,000 in 2014, and our head-on in 2016 cost them about $625,000, so I want to stay on their good side).
And, as traylbyk said, we just put new Michelins on recently and would like to hang on to them.
The benefit I see is if I have to make a claim, it should help with the insurance company to be able to say, "yep, I tried to keep the wheels safe." (Plus hail damage to our house cost the insurance company $11,000 in 2014, and our head-on in 2016 cost them about $625,000, so I want to stay on their good side).
And, as traylbyk said, we just put new Michelins on recently and would like to hang on to them.
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 6,366
Likes: 249
From: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Forgestar makes it difficult to steal their wheels by making the lugnut recess narrower than a conventional lugnut hole. You have to use the lugs they supply because a conventional socket won't fit in. Of course though, you have to hide the tool they supply.
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Drifting
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,517
Likes: 159
From: Lafayette Louisiana
