Removing locking lugnuts that I don't have a key for.

[Bladez5_0]

Well I went to continue my "maintenance on a new car" by changing out all the brake fluid since it is the color of coke. Pull the center caps off and found that there are a set of locking lugs on the car. I know that the standard hammer a socket on the locking lugnut works on the nuts that are keyed on the outside but these are keyed on the inside. I tried hammering a socket on to see if it would grab enough to take the nut off but no go. Car didn't have a key with it either. Any ideas?
Edit: Used the smallest socket I could get on the lugs with a 3 lb sledge and it didn't remove the lug.

 

[Look Its Aaron]

Go to your local Sears. In the tool setion Craftsman makes a kit that will take off those along with stripped lug nuts.

 

[giddyup306]

Pound a smaller socket on it and impact away. You'll break the socket...

 

[rigamaroles]

Or you can take a chisel and a hammer and smack it off that way too. They also make extracting sockets that fit over top of the lug, but it will absolutely destroy it lol.

 

[86bluecobra]

take it down to the seedy part of town and ask around. i'm sure there is expertice down there to remove wheels that have locking lugs and no key.

 

[Bladez5_0]

Well rigamaroles method worked. I've got a plastic bag full of little piece of locking lug nuts now. Get to go to the store tomorrow and get at least 3 maybe 4 lug studs. Oh and ice the hand that got smacked with the 3 lb sledge.

 

[macx]

When I temporarily misplaced my key, I found that a small
pipewrench worked quite well and barely nicked the nuts.

Course, that's if you're able to get it on the nut enuf to bite,
went on at an angle, but worked anyway.

 

[6SpeedLX]

i suggest you go buy the kit at sears.....i used the socket in the kit on my friends 03 Mach 1 and the nuts were perfectly fine when i pulled then off..besides, once you have the kit, you can do it for seomeone if they run into the same problem. i know a lot of average people usually dont have the key.

 

[srothfuss]

Could have taken your VIN number to the dealer and reordered the Key... but that takes a couple days

 

[Bladez5_0]

The finish/condition of the rims on the car makes me wonder why the PO even had locking nuts on them anyway. I've tried pressurewashing and soaking them in cleaner to get all the junk off them but I'm thinking they are permanently stained. The car was fairly neglected.

 

[86bluecobra]

The finish/condition of the rims on the car makes me wonder why the PO even had locking nuts on them anyway. I've tried pressurewashing and soaking them in cleaner to get all the junk off them but I'm thinking they are permanently stained. The car was fairly neglected.

are the rims a polished aluminum? if so you need to get a product called metal polish by AUTO GLM. Then a bunch of elbow grease. And you can have a mirroe finish on em again.

 

[srothfuss]

Thanks for that tip.... I need some of that for my turbines.

 

[Bladez5_0]

The rims are the factory pony ones. I guess I'll try scrubbing them real well. If it doesn't help I may look into powdercoating them.

 

[postalbunny]

I had wheel locks on my used mustang, the kind /w a wierd fitting around the lug. I just found a socket that almost fit on it, then smacked it /w a hammer to lodge it on. Then used the socket to get it off... used craftsman tools so if it got fubar I could get it replaced.

Worked GREAT on all 4 wheels.

 

[25thmustang]

Take it from someone who was there in the exact same scenario. We were doing a 5-lug swap, and didnt know the car had locking lugs. No professional shops will take them off. We asked a few and they would not do it. We ended up buying one of those stripped bolt removal things and it worked great, BUT you have to have an impact gun. Would not work with a regular hand tool set. Also we couldnt get a smaller pounded on socket to work, and a hammer and chisel didnt seem like it would have worked.

 

[Bladez5_0]

The locks on mine were completely round on the outside with the key settings on the inside. Even so I tried to hammer a socket on there but even with the smallest socket I could hammer on it just spun. The hammer and chisel worked for me since I could pretty much destroy the lugs from the inside since they were hollow.