Locking wheel nuts!!!

[MarkS-CT]

Hi, Not sure if I'm just being silly, but I wanted to rotate the tyres. However the locking wheel nut key doesn't fit over the locking nut.

The edge of the key gets stuck on the spinning collar of the wheel nut so the key never engages with the lock on the nut and just spins on the collar.

Has anyone else had this issue, is there something I'm supposed to do first etc..

 

Thanks for any advice.

[Las Palmas]

Sorry to say that you probably have the wrong key.

Most tyre shops will be able to unlock them even if that should not be possible. Here they can even if I do not give them the key. How they do it I do not know.

Of course Lexus will be able to also.

[Barry14UK]

I am not familiar with the wheel nuts on your Lexus but on my RX there is a multi pointed wavy star.  The key is quite large but also has an internal multi star that mates with the wheel nuts.  You might have to keep trying until the 'key' engages.  When this has engaged you just use a socket or the tool  provided to tighten or untighten the nut via the key.  If all the stars on locking wheel nuts were the same on other cars it would be possible for anybody with a Lexus key to remove the wheels of any other model.  So just turn your wheel nut gradually until it fully mates.  If it doesn't engage at some point, you have  the wrong key (assuming yours is similar.  Wheel nuts on some cars require a key to undo a lock, which enables a spinning part to be removed to give access to the part you put your socket on. 

[scudney]

Take a picture of the locking wheel nut and pop into a lexus or toyota dealership, or try lexus parts direct and they should be able to order you one from the photograph you have taken,hope this helps 😊 

[MarkS-CT]

Thanks guys for all your help... 

I did wonder if the spinning part of the nut had to be removed, but Lexus have now confirmed it doesn't, and I have got the wrong key... must have been swapped in a garage the last time I had a tyre changed 😡🤬

I have the original key number still so Lexus are ordering a replacement key but say it could take upto 3 weeks... just hope it's less.

[LenT]

12 minutes ago, MarkS-CT said:

I did wonder if the spinning part of the nut had to be removed, but Lexus have now confirmed it doesn't, and I have got the wrong key... must have been swapped in a garage the last time I had a tyre changed 😡🤬

Infuriating that you’ve been placed in this position through someone else’s carelessness.

But better than discovering it on a rainy night at an isolated location!  

Is Lexus replacing this in exchange for the incorrect key?  Or are they proposing to charge you on the basis that they were not responsible for the loss of your original?  Some customer goodwill discount might be appropriate here.

[Rabbers]

I keep the key in a little black pouch and leave it permanently in my armrest pocket where I can see it or, more importantly, am likelier to notice if it is not there.  Since, other than in the event of a puncture, I would prospectively only miss the key a couple of times a year after switching between winter and summer tyres, the  presence of the pouch in which I handed it over reminds the tyre guy to return it and me to get it returned before driving off.  The need to put the key back in the pouch may not in itself avoid mix-ups in the workshop but I would think it reduces the chances thereof.

[Las Palmas]

2 hours ago, LenT said:

Infuriating that you’ve been placed in this position through someone else’s carelessness.

But better than discovering it on a rainy night at an isolated location!  

Is Lexus replacing this in exchange for the incorrect key?  Or are they proposing to charge you on the basis that they were not responsible for the loss of your original?  Some customer goodwill discount might be appropriate here.

I would not be surprised if a local tyre expert would be able to take off the 4 lock nuts your have and sell you a new complete set cheaper than Lexus will get you the original key. Without waiting.

[Rabbers]

1 hour ago, Las Palmas said:

…and sell you a new complete set cheaper than Lexus will get you the original key…

I haven’t compared prices but I’m sure you are right.  On the other hand, my set of Toyota/Lexus originals has accompanied me on seven cars and many 100Ks of km and still look new (though I must say the grooves are a b*****d to clean), so I can objectively say the quality is excellent.  I don’t know how qualities vary from one producer to the next, but you occasionally see nuts with unsightly corroded or peeling surfaces.

[MarkS-CT]

Well I think the garage that swapped it was a local one not Lexus.

The last time I had a tyre changed was 2019, The key is kept in the box and I realised the box was empty when I got home called the garage and the owner made the young mechanic drive the key to mine on his way home. As he had left it in his pocket and not put it back.

I can only guess that he had more than one left in his pocket that day. And I haven't needed the key since then until now.

To answer some of the other posts, the mobile tyre guy said it would be over £100 to remove the locks.

I have had an update from a helpful guy Kevin in the service department who tried to see if they had the right number key in the workshop. Unfortunately they didn't but he had placed an order for 1 which Is due to arrive in 2 days and only £20+vat.

So hopefully this will resolve things.....

 

[McRattlehead]

I had problems with my key with slippage which was getting worse so i have went back to a normal wheel nut i don't think wheel theft is a huge issue anymore.   😬

 

[Rabbers]

1 hour ago, McRattlehead said:

I don't think wheel theft is a huge issue anymore.   😬

It never was until it happened to you.

[Las Palmas]

1 hour ago, Rabbers said:

It never was until it happened to you.

Our small 17" wheels are not so interesting for thieves now as they were 5 years ago.

20£ plus VAT is cheaper than I thought Lexus would be.

[Rabbers]

My habit of using anti-theft nuts results from an experience I had some thirty years ago in a respectable suburb of Brussels where, early one morning, I surprised a masked person in the act of removing one of the rear wheels of my company BMW 525.  He had lifted the rear of the car onto a cinder block using wooden wedges and fortunately not yet started on the other wheels.  When I shouted at him he ran off to a waiting van taking his wrench with him.  That he could have attacked me with it was a thought that only occurred to me a few minutes later when I took mine from the boot in order to screw the wheel back on, and I still shudder at the memory.  

[MarkS-CT]

On 6/22/2022 at 1:48 PM, Las Palmas said:

Our small 17" wheels are not so interesting for thieves now as they were 5 years ago.

20£ plus VAT is cheaper than I thought Lexus would be.

I picked the key up a few days ago, and was actually £20 including vat....

And it fits perfectly.  Now I have a working key I think I will keep the locks on for now, and as the key is marked up with the code number I will be checking the correct one is returned every time I visit a garage...

[Damer]

I had a similar issue with my previous Infiniti. Even they could not supply the correct wheel nut key. They sent me to Nissan and then to Mercedes. Still no joy. In the end I found a place less than mile from my house. I just sent them a photo of the nut in question and they sent me a key by courier in 24 hours. It was either in Broadstone or Houldsworth Mill, Stockport. Even my local tyre place hadn't heard of them. 

 

[Geeth]

By mistake From my self Brock my car locking  wheel nut removal so I want to oder set of wheel nuts and removal.