HELP! Wheel lock hell...
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From: Highlands Ranch, CO
HELP! Wheel lock hell... Last night, my front brakes were metal to metal, front pads are shot. I have a new set of pads at home so I drove home with the e-brake only. Started on the brakes but I couldn't find my wheel lock key. I think the last tire shop I had my tires mounted forgot to return the wheel lock key and still has it. They were already closed so I decided to force the lock off buy cutting a slot in the middle and using a very large screwdriver and a wrench to loosen the wheel lock. Needless to say, this didn't work and ended up splitting the wheel lock in two pieces but it still left the cone shape on the stud and now I'm really screwed!
I did a quick drawing of what it looks like now:
Any ideas how to get the rest of this lock out?
I had two ideas but I'm not sure if it will work.
Idea #1: Drill several small holes around the stud hoping the wheel lock will eventually come out in pieces. This would save the stud.
Idea #2: Drill out the stud. It would take awhile and I would have to make sure its on center. Small bit to make the first pilot hole in the stud, then a larger drill bit to remove the rest of the stud. Stud would have to be replaced.
I'm not sure what else to do. I can't even drive the car due to the brakes.
I haven't called the tire shop yet to see if they have my wheel lock and I doubt they do since it was over 2 months ago when they mounted the tires. If they don't, what other methods can I use to get the wheel locks off???
HELP!!!
I did a quick drawing of what it looks like now:
Any ideas how to get the rest of this lock out?
I had two ideas but I'm not sure if it will work.
Idea #1: Drill several small holes around the stud hoping the wheel lock will eventually come out in pieces. This would save the stud.
Idea #2: Drill out the stud. It would take awhile and I would have to make sure its on center. Small bit to make the first pilot hole in the stud, then a larger drill bit to remove the rest of the stud. Stud would have to be replaced.
I'm not sure what else to do. I can't even drive the car due to the brakes.
I haven't called the tire shop yet to see if they have my wheel lock and I doubt they do since it was over 2 months ago when they mounted the tires. If they don't, what other methods can I use to get the wheel locks off???
HELP!!!
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Joined: Jun 2005
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From: Finland
how about maybe somehow welding an old deep socket to it? (cover up wheel GOOD before doing this)... I put my polished ZR1s on my TA and noticed the front wheels had locks on them, and there was no key with the car... I was pissed but we hammered a 19mm or 20mm on there real good and used a impact wrench to get those out.
Same thing happened to me a couple years back. The top part of the lugnut sheared right off leaving exactly what you've got. I ended up drilling the stud out. If you go with idea #1 and drill around the stud, you risk screwing up and going into the wheel. I'd much rather replace a wheel stud for a couple bucks than mess up a wheel. I started by taking my die grinder with a cut-off wheel and cut the stud off as close as I could get to the wheel so as to minimize the distance I had to drill. Then do exactly what you said; start a small pilot hole and work you way up from there.
Originally Posted by 99Z28vert
Same thing happened to me a couple years back. The top part of the lugnut sheared right off leaving exactly what you've got. I ended up drilling the stud out. If you go with idea #1 and drill around the stud, you risk screwing up and going into the wheel. I'd much rather replace a wheel stud for a couple bucks than mess up a wheel. I started by taking my die grinder with a cut-off wheel and cut the stud off as close as I could get to the wheel so as to minimize the distance I had to drill. Then do exactly what you said; start a small pilot hole and work you way up from there.
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TECH Enthusiast
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Joined: Apr 2002
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From: Highlands Ranch, CO
Thanks for all the suggestions! 
Update:
Its almost impossible to drill out whats left of the wheel lock with my drill bits so I ended up drilling out the stud. It's really soft to drill through and only took 10 minutes to do it. Key is getting the small pilot hole straight which I did. The larger drill bit followed the small pilot hole and turned out to be a piece of cake.
Update:
Its almost impossible to drill out whats left of the wheel lock with my drill bits so I ended up drilling out the stud. It's really soft to drill through and only took 10 minutes to do it. Key is getting the small pilot hole straight which I did. The larger drill bit followed the small pilot hole and turned out to be a piece of cake.
