Locking wheel nut removal in Watford

Customer called the office to say that they needed to change the brakes on their car but they could not get there locking wheel nuts off their car as the key did not seem to fit.

We had just finished a job and we could fit them in before the next job so headed straight over to the house.

Arrived at the house and located the car, the customer came out to meet us. He handed the locking wheel nut key to us and after looking at it we could see that the last time it had been used an air gun had been used and applied to much pressure to the key. This had deformed the key and thus it would no longer fit the face of the bolt.

Got the locking wheel nut tools out of the van, this was what we call a flower locking wheel nut (if you look at the key it looks like a flower). Selected the relevant blade and assembled the tool. Started on the rear locking wheel nuts as they generally are easier to remove. After hammering the first nut for a couple of minutes the nut moved and I could remove it. The customer still had the original bolts that had been removed when he put the locking wheel nuts on so fitted one of these in its place.

On to the next rear wheel, this one came off with 2 taps of the hammer so it had not really been tightened properly, maybe the damaged locking wheel nut key had not gripped it properly when it had been on, well it had been removed and the replacement bolt fitted.

Around to the front now, started on the driver's side. This one was even better, the locking wheel nut was missing. Either it had not been fitted properly and it had fallen out or it had never been put back onto the car. Took the third original bolt and fitted this to the wheel.

Passenger side now, this time the locking wheel nut was in place. Fitted a new replacement blade to the tool and started the removal, this was tight. After ten minutes the nut finally moved. Took the locking wheel nut bolt out and replaced with the last of the original bolts.

Last thing to do is break out the torque wrench and correctly tighten the replacement bolts to the manufacturer's specification. All done the customer offered us a cup of coffee, which was very welcome after all the hammering on the last locking wheel nut.

Checked the condition and adjusted the pressure of all the tyres (and the spare), all ok as he had over 5mm of tread on all his tyres.

Took payment and headed off to the next job.

If you have locking wheel nuts that you cannot get off your car call hometyre on 0800 783 93 10 and we will come to you to remove them