GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

god, i am never buying locking lugnuts ever again. yesterday, i had drunkenGF take the vibe to wal-mart to get my tires replaced under warranty (75k mile tires dry rotting at ~30k) and the key to my lugs was nowhere to be found! the tires were too dangerous to drive to work, so i had her car and she was going to take mine to work after the tires were changed. well, i had to leave work early to try and figure this whole thing out. my wheels' design made it impossible to weld a nut to the lug and use that to get it out, so i was up shiat creek without a paddle. there was one shop who said they could work on them wednesday, and would charge me at least $100 for labor! that was no good, i have to go to work before then, and would still have to get the tires changed after that was finished. luckily, my uncle is pretty handy; we figured out that if you chistle away at the F'ers you can 1)loosten them up and 2)use the groove like a screw head to get them out! so, after much stress and cussing, we finally got all 4 out! drunkenGF got the new tires put on today and it only cost me $27 out of pocket, not too bad! i bought a whole other set of lugs and replaced the 4 locking ones with regular ones. needless to say yesterday, i had a few beers!

ARG sounds like a headache, did the key get misplaced or what? On my taurus only 1 lug on each rim had a lock/key which was nice and the key was cliped to the tire iron in the trunk. I was thinking of getting 1 locking nut per rim for the vibe as duluth has some ghetto areas

well, i can't imagine how bad it must be in the minnesota hoods! i just somehow misplaced the key, i always kept it in the glovebox, but it was nowhere in the entire car.to make matters worse, when i was going to one of the shops i smashed my damn finger in my car door!

I think your car is trying to tell you something....it hates walmart hahahha

I will NEVER have any work done at Wally World ever again! I had a really bad experience a few years back when I took my Honda Accord in there for a simple oil change... they used an air-ratchet to put back on the oil pan plug and stripped it out. They had to completely replace my oil pan and a few other parts (at least they paid for it). I got locking lugs on my new wheels, guess I need to make sure I know where my key is at all times!

A cautionary tale, For those of you with keylocks, go now and put the key with the spare tire and jack in the trunk (or under the deck in our case). Ziplock and tape it to the spare. That's where people look for it. The glove box is risky, especially if you have kids who play around in the front seat.I heard this story before where the key ended up their moving from the console to under the passenger seat.And it always happens when you are not there and others have their hands on your car.

eh, my deck's not accessable, it has 2 big (removed) speakers on it!i will just never use them again, it's a pain in my drunkenbutt.

I keep my lock in that left side compartment by the steering wheel... Plus never go to Wal-Mart... I use discount Tire!!!

yep, i need to put the key in my car too.

that is a good place to keep it xssiv. I may have to put mine there.

I keep mine in my trunk with the spare tire.So can you get another key? I don't know were you bought your rims and lugs but lots of keys are pretty universal...

Quote, originally posted by Mavrik »...but lots of keys are pretty universal...wouldn't that defeat the purpose of locking lugs????

Quote, originally posted by Mavrik »So can you get another key? I don't know were you bought your rims and lugs but lots of keys are pretty universal...that's what i thought at first. but i went to the auto parts store and found out otherwise. they appear to be the same, but there is a tiny difference, enough to where it's very hard to find one that will fit. oh well, it's over now, all my lugs are normal ones and i can take them off as i please.

no offense to those that use them, but locking lugs are truely a waste of money now. Locksmiths have tools out now that can stap them right off and they actually SELL them. Theives are getting these things and ripping wheels off like crazy now.

Quote, originally posted by drunkenvibe »well, i can't imagine how bad it must be in the minnesota hoods! Oh golly, we're gonna do some gangbangin' in the hood don'tchaknow? Youbetcha! hehehee! j/kAnyway... That sucks man! I think I remember the ol' man having to beat the hell out of something since the key was lost, but I can't recall what car that was, I don't even think it was one of ours. Sure sucked though. lol!I only had one car with wheel locks which wasn't by choice, that's just how it came when I bought it. I always somehow managed to keep the key handy and made it readily available for those who needed it, but that's strange since I'd lose my fricken noggin if the damn thing weren't attached. I have since not bothered with these sort of things since I know I'll end up screwing myself sometime. lol!

The right size 12 point deep socket hammered onto a wheel lock has always worked for me.

I always buy a second key and an extra locking lug with my vehicles and keep those at home should one get lost. Oh, and I would second to not have work done by Wal-Mart.