How important do members find it to have a locking nut on each wheel? This is something I never found necessary when I was in America; but how common is it in the UK (or in Europe where I live) to have wheels stolen when not protected in this way?
I have always had them and never lost any wheels.
You never know where you might park and what opportunist may be looking for an easy take………
Obviously it’s a risk to replace them with normal nuts/studs, but personally I think locking wheel nuts are an absolute pain.
Impact tools can easily strip them if they’re not correctly located and then you’re in a whole world of pain.
I can’t remember the last time I heard about anyone getting their wheels nicked, but then again I’m now typing this with my fingers crossed 
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Scrotes don’t really pinch alloys anymore. They will have the whole car, or saw your CAT off though.
Alloys used to be a distinctive one-upmanship addition back in the MiniLite/Woolfie eras.
Now every mass produced “run of mill” car has them…just not worth it anymore. Ten a penny now…unless you have a Mk1 Z Sport or summat. Anyhow, if you have fitted something really exotic, the scrotes also know it’s a bit dodgy to draw attention.
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Try flogging them on Fleaplay. 
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I am surprised they didnt nick the calipers as well!
David
There’s no way that Ferrari has had its wheels stolen. Too neat…the last time I saw a car with its wheels nicked was a Serria Cosworth back in the 80’s. The scroats had it propped up on breeze blocks.
I’ve removed all locking nuts off all our cars for decades now. As said above, not worth the hassle and they’ll just take the whole car.
Well at least you have 4 decent axle stands in exchange?
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My late dad had the wheels taken off his lowly Mondeo Zetec in the early noughties. The thieves didn’t even supply a set of bricks/breeze blocks. He came down to find the car dumped on the drive. Dog slept through it all.
As for “not worth the hassle”, thieves find it worth the hassle to crawl under a car with an angle grinder to whip off a chunk of exhaust…
Wheel thefts are common enough in the Americas for memes.
Wheel thefts declined because of wheel locks. But posts like this display complacency. In the past, it was about aftermarket wheels being stolen, but now factory wheels seem pretty expensive. All the more so due to supply chain issues, which has also lead to a spate of cars being stripped in the carpark of panels. Seems it is worth the hassle.
Cars are even getting stripped at public events
I don’t know how this happens in broad daylight.
Austrian car dealer targeted:
Over in Germany:
If anything, in these Central European locations, these countries are close to other countries well known for chop shops and dodgy car repairs; cars written off in, say Germany, or even the UK, end up in the Baltics or Balkans, get repaired.
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Yes, Retz is only about 3 mile from the border with Czechia, and way out in the sticks, on both sides of the border. Note: they were all alloy wheels.
What amazes me about Vienna is that people leave their bikes chained up in the streets overnight and only very rarely have parts nicked. (I wouldnt chance it with my Brompton, however, for even a brief time!)
David
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Most cars have alloy wheels now, even cars with plastic wheel covers (eg. the MG4).
47% of British cyclists have experienced theft, and 64% in the Netherlands and 65% in Germany.
Overall theft statistics reveals that Austria is a little worse than Germany, but someway behind the UK. Though there could be differences in how crime is reported. Denmark and Sweden have never struck me as crime-riddled countries. And Colombia is apparently “super safe”?
But on the face of it, Austrian criminality seems similar to Germany, US.
Vienna is the capital of Austrian cycle theft:
Based on the Vienna population, thats about 470 bike thefts per 100,000
In contrast, in Greater London, about 2000 bikes per month are stolen; ~24,000 a year, which actually works out at about 300 bikes stolen per 100,000.
Crime perception can be interesting. I worked for a while in the great State of Alabama, on Dauphin Island (for thr Dauphin Island Sea Lab). I had a list Honda CRX HF as my runabout (unlike Lancia, Honda’s HF denoted stripped out econo model). One day I came out to the parking lot, and found the driver’s window stoved in, but nothing missing. The steel wheels were still intact. A Briton’s reaction was a theft attempt that was disturbed. The cops were called, armed to the teeth, and they stood around ruminating that theft on the island was very low, and they profusely apologised for the actions of someone obviously from the “city” (Mobile). The explanations was more prosaic, when I heard the Coastguard. The SeaLab was next door to the US Coastguard station, and that day was mowing day. The parking lot was hardcore, not tarmacced. The mower was a ride on, and the operator used ear defenders. A freak chipping had signalled my car out.
On another day; the site behind is the USCGS station, with its flags flying.
On the day; no glass on drivers side, missed the boss’s beater Accord
Parts of the US are very dodgy. Dauphin Island not so. In fact a bit of an island paradise, very different I expect from most people’s perceptions of Alabama, and not a bad place to be for 2 years.
Correct.
This one did though, Hamburg 2013.
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Let’s trawl the world to try to make a point.
It’s just not a thing by and large in the U.K. I’m not saying someone with a specific type of car couldn’t be targeted, but see if your research beings up U.K. statistics. When was the last time anyone here had or heard of wheels being nicked ?
- 1998 Ford Mondeo Zetec, with the standard wheels.
But in 2000, thieves took my whole car from a MX5OC meeting.
As I found it:
Wheel theft might have declined in the UK, but not because of a lack of interest in wheels, or a decline in value of stolen wheels, but because of extensive used of anti-theft measures.
But UK rates of wheel theft are increasing again, though mostly it seems for late model cars, because the thieves will have access to the complete set of wheel keys from a manufacturer:
A set of NC Z-Sport BBS wheels are ÂŁ3200, plus the tyres. I dare say no change out of ÂŁ4000. Car written off for want of ÂŁ50 worth of aftermarket lockers.
I don’t know anyone recently having their house broken into, but I still lock my front door.
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I know, mine was in jest. 
Not in a very very very long time.
One of the first things that I did on both my PRHTs was to replace the locking wheel nuts with normal lug nuts.
Doing a risk assessment, the likelihood/impact of the “key” getting lost or damaged just when I need it, more than outweighs the risk of my alloys being stolen. Anybody planning to steal my wheels is going to have a number of ways of overcoming a bog-standard wheel nut lock, anyway.
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I started getting trouble with the lock nuts being easily over-tightened so needed garage help to remove. Twice doing this was enough so all replaced with standard nuts, wheels still on car six years later, much simpler to maintain and yes, looks better too!
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If these locking nuts were factory (importer) fitted, then tell the insurers.
I’m pretty sure that they were a dealer fit, as there’s no mention of them anywhere in the Mazda brochure.