Wheel locks

[DeWitt Harrison <de@aztek.com>]

On Thu, 27 Mar 1997 17:24:21 -0600, Eric J. Fluhr wrote

>Glenn, sorry to hear about the theft.  Having walked outside and seen the
>car next to mine up on bricks with no wheels and thanking goodness that
I have boringly stock wheels, I sympathize.
>
>Since we are [unfortunately] on the subject, how do you secure a set of
>nice wheels (in case I ever have any)?

There are a number of wheel lock products out there. Audi, itself, lists a P/N
for wheel lock bolts although, if memory serves, the price was something
like $30US per bolt.  At the moment, bolt sets made by Gorilla Automotive
Products of Los Angeles, CA, seem to be a popular brand readily available
through wheel and tire stores. I purchased a set of four bolts with the keyed
removal tool for about $25. It was necessary to place a special order to
obtain bolts with the Porsche/Audi ball seat style, however, since most
aftermarket wheels are machined to accept a conical seat bolt or nut instead.
The the weight of these bolts seems very close to that of the stock bolts.
If conical seats are what you crave, you should find instant gratification
at many auto stores. BTW, don't let a salesman tell you it doesn't make
any difference. ("Parts is parts," and it truly makes no difference to them.)

The operating principle is simple and effective. Rather than a hex or other
regular shape, the bolt heads are "randomly" grooved to mate with a
complementary, code numbered, ribbed 3/8" (or is it 1/2"?) drive socket.
The groove patterns are available in a sufficient number of patterns that a
thief would need to drag around a very heavy kit of these keyed sockets to
have a reasonable chance of finding a match. Then there would be the time
required to sort though the combinations.

One possible counter would be some sort of stud removal tool of the
cam-gripper type. On the other hand, I have not yet seen a tool of this
kind with an outside diameter small enough, relative to the approximately
3/4" head diameter, to fit into the typical aftermarket wheel bolt hole
recesses.
Anybody got a Snap-on catalog handy? I think the O.D. would need to
be less than 1 1/8" or 1 1/4" at most. Any opinions on the security of
this device?

DeWitt Harrison   de@aztek.com
Boulder, CO
88 5kcstq (resting comfortably)