wheel locks are VERY effective. I have the original Honda wheel locks and there is absoloutely no way of loosening the lug nut without its key. If it was not effective, Honda would not charge 50 dollars for some little bolts. Without breaking the axle or ripping out the rim with tremendous force (which would also damage rim), there is no way you can take off a rim with wheel locks without its correct key IMO.

 

i broke my key once...took it to a friend, with his air tools and a hammer, it took him 3 mins per lock.

like what everyone else said....all these wheel locks, alarms, and clubs just slow down the theif. and that little peace of mind, is enough for me to buy them.

 

Clifford alarms feature an optional "tilt sensor". They use gyroscopes I think to determine whether the car is in the process of getting towed. It's difficult to have it properly caliberated and working, however.

Also, a proximity sensor may also work. A nice strobe outside by the wheels going off will prevent casual thieves.

And yes, there are ways/tools for shops to take off wheel locks without using the key. It's a bit difficult but can be done. And supposedly not many people/shops are supposed to have those, so you shouldn't worry that every wheel thief will carry some of those.

If you're paranoid, etch the inside or the outside of each wheel with a VIN/Driver's License #. And if the police ever recover those wheels, they can give them back to you.

And multiple sets of locks also can work. It makes the car more difficult to steal, which is a good deterrent. Find other ways to make the thief inconvenient in stealing your rims. And Honda wheel locks are ok, I think. I've never heard of a theft of Honda OEM wheels with wheel locks on. But then many of them aren't that expensive or desirable as aftermarket wheels anyway.

 

Depends on the wheel lock.

As was mentioned there are reverse thread tooks out there that can be used to take off some wheel locks, while there are also other that can be slammed on a wheel lock and then removed as a whole.

There are wheels locks out there now with collars, metal sleeves that spin, and some locks are just too shallow so that these kinds of tools cant be slid or slammed over the lock in the first place. McGard(makes the OEM locks) and Gorilla are two good companies, but they both make low end stuff as well which can be removed using the tools mentioned before, so go to your local shop, and ask the guy there to show you some good wheel locks.

P.S. Unless you have some OEM wheels which are really in high demand or are a high theft rim, unless you have expensive aftermarket rims, I wouldnt bother with high quality aftermarket wheel locks.

 

Actually I used to work for Honda, they only have about 8 different lock sets out there, so somebody else is bound to have the same ones you do. We had a master lock set, and there were only about 8 pieces in there if I recall correctly. Wheel locks are okay, they are more to deter thieves than anything else, if somebody wants your wheels bad enough, they are gonna get them. But they definately aren't a bad idea.

 

why stop at 3, get all 4. put a different wheel lock on each stud & wheel. it'll take them awhile to get all 4 patterns & then they got all 4 wheels to do it, too.

 

my friends shop had a car in the guy lost his key, took them about 2 secs a corner to get the lock off. all they did was tack weld a nut to the end of the lug and un bolt it.

 

read my thread ... wheel locks dont do **** ...

 

Dont need to read a picture is worth a million words