I took my car in for inspection. Guy tried to take out the wheel locks with a power tool and broke in half. In the process of removing it he damaged the wheel a bit.
He also broke my wheel lock.
I managed to get the other 3 out except the broken lug nut. Any ideas on how I can get this out. Any help is appreciated.

I took it to the tire places and they are not that helpful either.. I miss Texas and hate Jersey

 

Holy crap, man. That really sucks. Why do YOU have to take it off? I'd be jumping up and down and getting THEM to not only get it off, but replace that, the key and your wheel.

It's kind of hard to tell from your pics, but, when I lost my locking key, I took a slightly smaller socket and hammered it on to the lug nut. I then inserted the socket wrench, pushed on the handle so that it was at a slight angle (causing friction between the round locking lug and the socket), and twisted it off. Is there enough of the locking lug left intact to try that?

 

^but it looks like the lock is broken....as there is nothing a smaller socket can grab onto.


MAYBE TRY "Gator" socket!

 

There's still some meat to it.. It might still work. He's got nothing to lose by trying. Other than that, I don't think there is a way to get your wheel off without causing some serious damage to it.

 

Actually, yeah, this is likely your best bet if you can source one. I still don't see why you are doing this though.

I'd get two sockets- one for the proper size of the lug, and one a bit smaller to hammer on. One of the two options should work

 

if you can carefully drill in the meat of nut. worst case you might have to replace the stud also.

you will need hss drill bits.

 

I tried the gator socket and it just kept slipping. There is not much meat left on the lug nut. I think my next option is to drill out the stud if I can't get it out.

they had to take the wheel off for inspecting the brakes and suspension components as part of the state inspection.

Mechanic told me that he had to order special tools to take it off. I am going to take it back to the mechanic but in the mean time I am just worried about getting a flat and getting stuck.


Thanks for all your suggestions people.

 

Had this happen on my sequoia. Took dealer 4 hrs to get it off. Needed new stuff, think they used an air chisel. I will never use wheel locks ever again.

 

Not sure if there is enough to grab onto, but when my wheel lock key broke, I bought a 19mm deep socket at Sears and used a hammer to pound it over the in tact wheel lock lug nut. From there I was able to get the wheel lock lug nut off. Again not sure how much you have to grab onto, but a 19mm or smaller deep socket should work.

 

You guys have me rethinking my wheel locks. I never really believed in them to start with, I just kept them on the car because it came with them, but damn!!!

 

It's relatively cheap insurance for your rims. You don't necessarily want to make it easy to have rims taken. However with that said if someone wants them, they will get them.

We have a set on each of our four cars. Even with the broken key, I got another set.

 

Agreed with the cheap insurance statement, but still though, I've always argued like you that if someone wants my wheels, they will take them regardless

 

Part of the premise is that if you have wheel locks, it serves as a deterrence and would be thieves would move on to another easier target.

 

Just had the same thing happen to me a few weeks ago. Same scenario i took an air chisel on the corner of lugnut and it spun out. Good luck

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. This is obviously a nightmare. I am going to a wheel restoration place tomorrow. He said he is going to take it out by heating it. He is going to restore the wheel after its done. Hopefully it goes okay.
I will update every one in the status. Even the ones that were not broken were over torqued. I literally had to push them with my foot to get them off. mechanic told me that they were rusted. Either way will update once they get them off.

 

Took it to a truck repair shop near by my house. They used a high torque gun, a small socket and took it out in 10sec literally. Damn that was quick. Not much damage to the wheel and got quoted $40 if I wanted to fix the wheel scuffs.
Thanks for all your suggestions.

 

 

You did say this was Jersey, right? The Texas inspection does not require visual inspection of the brakes and actually forbids removing the wheel (I was told the last part). This really shouldn't have been your hassle to fix, but I'm glad it worked out.

 

Yeah this is Jersey. When I was in Texas I never had to leave the car for more than 15min for inspection it was so easy. They never took off the wheels either.

I know I didn't want to wait for the what ever special tool they ordered to come in to take it off because I was worried about getting a flat. I have a road trip tomorrow.

 

There is no mechanical inspection in nj anymore. Emissions only, no wheel has to come off. Takes about 90 seconds to go through inspection. What exactly were you having inspected?

 

Changed registration from Philadelphia. The guy at the inspection said he had to check the brakes and suspension components. I didn't know that there is no mechanical inspection. He said since this is the first time I am getting inspected he told me that everything had to be inspected. Pennsylvania inspection involved all of that and I didn't think about it when he said he had to do an inspection.

I am going to talk to the mechanic tomorrow. Now I am pissed off. I took it to one of the independent mechanics in Jersey City. You are right its only emissions, I just checked. I should have done it before going there.

 

This happened to me a while ago. I had the factory locking nuts and it pretty much broke in the same manner.

I panicked when it happened. I went through four different tires shops before one was finally able to get it off. Not sure how they did it and when I asked they just smiled and said it wasn't easy. They didn't charge me a cent, either, which was nice of them.

They recommended I don't use them as they see these things break a lot apparently. The construction of these are rather poor they mentioned, compared to the ones that were made in America eons ago.

In any case, I agreed and got rid of them all.