So I picked up some aftermarket wheels and got a good deal on them. Was wondering if locking lug nuts were a sound decision and does anyone have any recommendations?
stealing wheels would require so much work, you would need a jack and stuff, aka a motivated thief, anyways... essentially the 2 different styles have been mentioned the one of five that locks or have all five "lock" and require a spline tool to remove. and you can get the splined styles in mad jdm colors like blue black and red usually.
if you have wheels that have deep holes, the stock subaru wheel lock key sucks to get out, but they are safer since it's a key rather than a common spline. I wonder if you could use a gator grip socket to get off a wheel lock?...
Just a FYI... if they want your wheels and you have "locking lugs" they will find a way to get them.......so its your call.
I switched to spline lugs after a set of OEM. I broke one of the OEM lockers and had one heck of a time getting it off. I most likely over tightened them to begin with...
If you get a Viper security system (or Clifford or Python, same company) they sell a tilt sensor that sets off the alarm if someone tries jacking up the car. http://www.viper.com/P-507M/Digital+Tilt+Motion+Sensor In case you don't think wheel locks are enough.
I lost the key to my OEM locking lug nuts once. So I went to Sears and picked up a set of lug nut removal sockets. They're a bit like these... http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00952165000P?keyword=lug+nut+removal That set isn't exactly what I got, but they're similar. It was quicker and easier to get the locking nuts off with these than it was to use the key they came with. Since then, I haven't bothered with locking lug nuts, 'cos if *I* can get them off that easily, a determined thief will probably make even shorter work of it. It sucks, but it seems that any mechanical theft deterrent only tends to make life harder for the owner of the vehicle Stuart.