DuoDSG

Evening, all-

Background: my tire was flat this morning when I woke up, so I took it to Sam's to get it fixed. Issue: I wasn't able to hit the place until just before they closed at 7.

I couldn't find the wheel lock key at Sam's, so I assume my roommate left it on the ground there. No big deal- everyone's still gone for Thanksgiving Break, so the parking lot is empty and I know it's not under anyone's tire.

Now my roommate says he may have accidentally left it on the lug nut itself before I drove off. So it's probably on the street somewhere between my apartment and Sam's. Never to be found again.

So I am stuck with the donut until I get a replacement key. Driving down to the nearest dealer on a donut is NOT something I want to do, seeing as how it's two hours away on the highway in Salt Lake.

I know I should order it from McGard, but seeing as how I'm not the original owner, there is no wheel lock documentation with the vehicle.

Is there any way to get McGard to send me a new key? I don't want to buy a new set of locks, partly because it would require a trip to the dealer to take them off anyway (as I already explained). Screw that.

Thanks guys.

ZhenyaF

iTrader: (6)

I dont think theres a way you could get it, except for going to the dealer, or a repair shop that can break the lock. Then you'll need to buy a new set of locks.

As far as I know - a dealer may be able to find the key, since they should have a set of commonly used keys.

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

I went to an "Acura dealer" who wanted to break my locks too and charge me for it.......Thanks to AZine I was tipped that all dealers have a master wheel lock set. There's about 10 different possible combos inside a case they have.

I went back to the dealer and the manager knew what I was talking about and told him his techs are idiots! Don't let them charge you for this either, they try to do half an hour labor for it, and have the nerve to try to sell you a new set at full price on top of that. lol! I tried persuading him I'd do it myself. He said he couldn't do that because of liabilities. I said the least he could do is do it for free for wasting my time and gas. Take the lock off and just buy a new set off locks off Ebay for $10.

thait

iTrader: (2)

u can do this, trust me i did it
i lost my key just like u 1 week ago.

it might be bad for the tool but if u dont care or have a spare 19mm socket take that out.
put it over the wheel lock and hammer it in with a hammer. after the 19mm socket get a grip put on your 1/2inch ratchet and unscrew it out. i didnt believe it will work but it did for me.

side note, please dont do this to steal other people wheel with wheel lock. i have only tested this on the oem honda wheel lock on my acura tl. hope this can help.

DuoDSG

Yeah, I don't plan on using any of these strategies to steal anyone's rims...I'm not enough of a modder (or even a car fan at that) to care to steal someone else's rims.

As for the dealership, I would totally do that, but as I mentioned before, going to the dealership in Salt Lake City is NOT an option while I'm riding on a spare in the middle of winter. That's a two hour drive right there and on a donut, that's asking for trouble.

There is a Honda dealership up here in Logan...do you think they might have the wheel lock keys I need? At the very least I would get them to take off the wheel locks and replace them with regular lug nuts, and I'll buy a new set of locks later. The important thing is to get my spare off my front driver's side taken off and my regular tire put back on. Once that's done, no problems. But until then I don't want to take the risk of driving the car around because of how awful it snows here in Logan.

DanL

iTrader: (2)

Yes, the Honda dealer can take them off -- there's no need to drive to an Acura dealership. When I lost the key for the locks on my wife's Pilot (left the key on one of the locks by accident), the local Honda dealership removed the locks and replaced them with standard lugs for free while I waited. They also told me which 'color' the key was so that I could order a replacement. While I could have ordered one through the dealership, they said it's quicker and cheaper just to call McGard and order one that way.

Red Voodoo

Yep. I agree with these guys. A reputable Honda/Acura dealership should be able to assist you, no charge. I can only assume that a Honda dealership would have the same keys as an Acura dealership, but I wouldn't know without checking. I had an issue where my key's "teeth" broke while attempting to take off a lock on my wheel a few months back. It was the last lock left on the car after the other three were already off during my spring replacement job. I ended up going to the dealer, purchasing four standard lug nuts, and they were kind enough at 4:45 PM on a Saturday to take that last lock off with their own key. Granted, I bought the car at the same dealership, but I would hope Honda Motor Company's customer service would happily accommodate you in this matter at any of their dealerships.

dave_ramkumar

iTrader: (5)

i went to a tire shoop wen i lost mine and they cut them all off for $10

DuoDSG

I would hope so...especially since I turned down an offer to work at this Honda dealership in June so they already know me VERY well, and two of my close friends work there in their warranty department as managers.

If that still doesn't work, I'll resort to just bringing up the fact that my last name is Honda (I'm not kidding) so I can make the point that it would not look good for them to screw me over on something as simple as this.

subinf

It is really easy to break them off of your wheel. Most shops will do it for a few bucks, if not for free.

morphguy12

iTrader: (3)

Just go to Mcgard.com and contact them.
I just had to take a picture of my lock and email it to them.
The key was around $15 if I remember...

Much easier than going to the dealer! Cheaper too!

DuoDSG

So I just got off the phone with the Honda dealership in town...

They said they could do it no problem, which was a great relief, but not surprisingly, they are trying to pull a half hour of labor on me for simply taking off the wheel locks and replacing the lug nuts with standard nuts. He said I'm looking at about $50 for the half hour of labor and lugs nuts, and even if I bring in my own I'm still looking at $40.

I call bullshit. Of course, they won't let me crank at it myself with their tool, but I'm quite pissed that they won't do it for free. They said there's no wait time either if I took it in, so I don't know why it would take them half an hour to get that taken care of.

What can I say so they do it for free? That seems like something horribly trivial to charge $40-50 bucks for. I am tempted to just drive up, use my own jack right in front of their dealership, use my own lug nut wrench and then just ask them to take it off. That way I'm not stuck in their service bay and they force me into paying them $50 because of "liability". Of course, I'm sure that won't work either, but regardless, I'm pissed.

subinf

Just buy a cheap socket and get it off yourself.

LoveMyTL-S

The dealership is there to do business. Yes, it would be nice if they did this for free. Of course it's not their fault it was lost either.

DuoDSG

haha yeah true on both counts...I just can't believe they're honestly going to tell me it's going to take half an hour. I very nearly worked in their service department back in June, so I know they inflate that figure on purpose.

So no dice, huh?

LoveMyTL-S

Looks like you have at least 4 choices:

1. Drive to dealership in Salt Lake City (will they charge?).
2. Drive to local Honda dealership and pay 1/2 hour labor.
3. DIY using 19mm socket.
4. Other car shop.
5. ??

DuoDSG

Ok, so here's what I think I'll do:

Go to the dealership
Get them to take off my wheel locks
Get them to give them back to me
Have them tell me what color the key is
Put four regular lug nuts on there
Try to get them to not screw me for labor
Buy a new key from McGard in a few weeks (Logan isn't exactly a crime-ridden city)
Be sad that I had to pay some money for something so simple

In that order

Bueno?

DuoDSG

Just thought I'd tell you all how my experience was (and for anyone else who has this unfortunate event occur to them in the future):

So I go to the dealership. I made sure to avoid the guy I talked to over the phone, because I knew he was going to try to chump me into forking over some cash. I talked to someone else, they had me pull in, he handed me off to a mechanic and the mechanic the proceeded to use the 16mm wrench to knock it off anyway. Turns out they haven't had their wheel lock keys for quite a long time (they've gone "missing"), so the guy over the phone was clueless. Ironically enough, that chump was the service department manager.

ANYWAY

The mechanic just uses the hammer-and-wrench method. Barely even knicked my wheel lock, so I'm just gonna order the replacement key from McGard tomorrow afternoon. I asked him if he could give me a spare nut for the ride home (I was going to put the tire back on myself), and he said "don't worry about it, I'll just tighten the other four". Talk about liability haha. Anyway, I was cool with that...I drove down the street to Autozone, bought a spare lug nut for 50 cents, came home and started working on the car just in time for the cute girl I have my eye on from upstairs (I took her on a date already, more planned) to see me working on it. It may have just been a tire, but I know she was impressed.

All in all, a good day. And I am not $50 poorer.

esco786

iTrader: (2)

WTF!? mechanics charging for breaking locks? good thing about a big city is that u have ghetto mechanics out there too. stuff like pulling cel codes, diagnostics and breaking wheel locks is def. free

sniperside

iTrader: (1)

has anybody else had luck using this method of unlocking the key? the tire guys were kind enough to lose my wheel lock on the last rotation