5 NEW Ways to Remove a Wheel Lock Without a Key

I don't normally like and comment on videos but when a guy goes through that much trouble to provide a video, he deserves it. Great job. Thank you.

I can remember removing one of these from a rim of a Hyundai that had blown a tyre on the Nullarbor Plain back in 2000. A couple were trying to remove the tyre but couldn't find the key for the wheel nut. I was a mechanical fitter at the time and was moving interstate and had all of my workshop equipment in the back of the truck. I was down a generator and I couldn't use any air tools, so I had to resort to a narrow chisel and a block hammer. I managed to split the nut and drive a square shanked screwdriver in far enough to be able to rotate it with the help of a spanner and a pipe over the end for leverage. It was 2am, pitch black and freezing and I had to work in the dust from the wash of a couple of road trains but I finally managed to rotate half of the nut off the stud and chiselled the rest around until it fell out. The couple were able to replace the tyre and were on their way about a half hour later. They saw me in Ceduna a few hours later and insisted on giving me $20. Half my luck.

Great job, Matt. Appreciate your time and expense to show us how it’s done.

I did my pal's Volvo about 15 years ago. I put a short piece of pipe (about 2 inches long) and welded the inside of the pipe to the locking nut. By welding the inside it protected the rims and then I just used a pipe wrench on the pipe to undo the nuts. Worked like a charm.

vice grips and crescent wrenches have a little more torque if you flip them over and use in the direction of the offset angle.

Next video: How to refurbish your scratched wheel

kudos for a guy who has an open mind and listens to his audience/critics. I thought you gave all ideas a fair shot, and quickly noted what works and what does not work. good job!

I have Mopar locking lug nuts with the outer ring. I hammered a 1 inch deep socket to lug and busted the outer ring. Then I hammered a lug removal socket that looks like a reversed pipe inside. Came off like a charm! To remove socket from lug, reinstall lug on wheel and slowly tighten till it releases. 5 mins each wheel and they are all off and no damage to sockets or wheels. Total cost including a electric impact wrench was $150. Way cheaper than a shop!

My dude out here destroying his lugs studs and wheels to teach us something. 🙏

Back in the day I used to live in Buffalo close to the McGard factory. When I lost my key, I went over there and the receptionist took a look at it and I got the correct replacement. Later in life I had an opportunity to work with them with their special products division. The engineers take three days to design something, then take the next two weeks trying to break it. These guys like their job.

Great video - thank you for sharing! I removed a set of the McGuard today from an Acura using a 13mm 12 point 1/2" socket. It pounded right over and I was able to twist them off.

Great video...I tried a few and found for what worked best on the MOPAR security nuts was a 1" impact(heavy duty) socket. The six side pushed the ring back and wedged really well against the nut. I got the nut to come off with a breaker bar.

When you weld the nut on. Plug weld it. Weld inside the middle of the nut where the threads are not on the outside of it, then you won't have welds where your socket needs to go.

You can easily break the ring around the spinning ring. With a pointy chisel hit the front in between the lock but and ring and work it through. It will snap right off. Then you can cut it to a wrench size or with the extractor. Unless they are over torqued and rusted then welding a nut would be the better option.

Have used the welded nut version for years on broken bolts. Always using a nut with ID equal to the OD of stud and weld on the inside of nut.

I've always used vice grips. The key to getting them to work is to tighten the lug nuts on either side of the one you're trying to remove. If you tighten those other 2 down real tight it then the one you're trying to get off comes off real easy.

This video saved me a lot grief. I needed to remove wheels from a car in a pick-your-part salvage yard and the locks were the outside spline type shown at 7:33. I could see that others had tried to remove the wheels but weren’t successful. Thankfully, I had just watched your video the day before. In my case it took a 5/8” 12-point socket. I had to really drive it on with a lot of force but it worked. It was difficult to remove the socket from the extracted nut as I had no access to a vise in the salvage yard but I finally got all of them off. Got a great set of wheels for a ridiculously low price.

you used the vice grips backwards

You used the Crescent wrench and the vice grips backwards. Actually the combination wrench as well. They are designed to rotate in the opposite direction. The locks with a rotating collar, you may be able to jam something in between the collar and nut to keep the collar from spinning. With a welder, maybe weld the collar to the nut, then use a tool that grabs the collar.

Excellent video. Thanks for taking the time to film and edit it and of course for positing it for our benefit. Keep up the good work! -Migs