stripped and locking lug nut removal sockets

[dlb]

my wife's civic came with locking lug nuts. i hated them because no one is going to steal stock civic wheels and the key for them was annoying to deal with every time i worked on the car. i had planned on replacing them but somehow lost the key before i got to that job. i was mad as all hell until i bought these from the local auto place:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/wmr-m980/overview/

they are simply reverse-threaded impact sockets. one is 13/16" and the other is 1". the 13/16" fit the 19 mm civic lug nuts perfectly. i threaded it on by hand until it was snug, then put the impact gun on it and it threaded the socket down more until it bottomed out on the nut. the nut came right off after that. to remove the nut from the socket, i ground flats on to the base of the nut, put it in a vice, and put the impact gun on 'forward.' couldn't have been easier! i replaced all four locking lugs while i was at it. i would never hear the end of it if my wife got a flat tire but couldn't get the wheels off without the locking lug key.

really pleased with these things so i thought i'd mention them here. the package says they also work for stripped lugs. i've never encountered that but i'm sure they would work for that too.

[Petros]

I have removed the locking lug nuts by spraying some penetrating oil on the nut (to make it easier to turn) and use a metal chisel and a hammer. You cut a notch on the edge of the nut and than move the chisel so the force strikes at an angle (tangent) in the direction of removing it. It has always worked, and it will allow anyone to steel alloy wheels no matter the locking nut, all you need is a hammer and chisel ( the larger the hammer the better). I have gotten a rare matching set of allow wheels from picknpull off a car in the yard because they did not know how to remove them. They always put them over in the special rack for more cost than their standard price.

[larry mcgrath]

Ran into the same problem yesterday on my toyota T100, I took a 12point socket and drove it on to the tamper proof lug nut and with a impact ,removed the lug nut .Took only a second to do,and didn't cost anything. Larry