It is a legal requirement for new cars supplied with Alloy Wheels to have locking wheel nuts (or a security system) fitted. Dealers do this. Not all countries have this requirement and so not factory fitted. But also the additional time on the assembly line and the potential for the wrong key to go or greater likelihood that it goes missing between factory and customer, mean that they are either fitted when landed or at the dealers.
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Interesting. Which specific piece of legislation requires alloy wheels to have a security system fitted?
I am tempted to ask: âWhose stupid idea was this?â 
David
As for security, this I found this outside work this morning.
The owner eventually phones and said could I put a new tyre on it. When I said I would need to see him as the locking wheel nut was locked in side the car, he said, just break it off like the garage did last time. I wonât need to break it off, but I will, go do it now and see how long it takes!
You have probably got over it by now, but it must have been heart-breaking at the time. I hope the insurance people paid generously!
David
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7 minutes from posting the first post to the second, took about 20 seconds in total to from the first picture in the second post to the last one.
What a lot of people forget is the fact that âsomeâ tyres are very expensive, in particular the premium brands.
Therefore, the cost of the tyres particularly on say 4x4 and performance cars are expensive, probably around a ÂŁ1000 +
The average daily driver will be somewhere in the region of ÂŁ600 as I know!
So perhaps the thief who sees a new/nearly new set might be tempted.
So nowadays itâs not just about the alloys perhaps. 
Just an opinion.
They are a PITA - nobody has ever tried to nick my wheels but some b***rd did nick the locking wheel nut key from my Golf GTi . A broken door lock and broken glovebox (which was unlocked) cost a lot to fix and all the idiot took was the aforesaid key , a half empty pack of Hamlet cigars and some sunglasses. Unless his eyes were the same as mine, they were useless - prescription shadesâŚ
Along with krookloks - which I still see , locking wheels are pointless , at least where I live.
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Actually, crooklocks might comeback. Steering wheel theft is on the increase, and we are in a downturn, which naturally sees crime peak.
I did indicate that if a certain NC special edition that came from the factory with BBS wheels lost the wheels, the bill would be around ÂŁ4000 for the wheels and tyres, essentially writing the car off.
The spate of thefts is targeting newer cars, largely driven by parts shortages:
- Wheels: Manufacturers are only using limited combos of keys (Iâve seen one claim of only 20 different keys for one particular make). Additionally, the key is in the car.
- Steering wheels; they really need the airbag to fix a crashed car.
- Cars are being stripped of lighting and panels (even doors) in a carpark, taking the old phrase, multi-story scrapyard, to a new, er, level.
Some time ago, I heard of RHD crashed cars being brought up and taken eastwards, to be fixed, probably using stolen parts, registered in their new country, and actually coming back to the UK and reregistered here. Or even closer; apparently huge number of UK write-offs end up in the Republic of Ireland, and it seems easy for a car to lose its identity, and get back onto the UK market.
All useful for ringing cars, or for those corner cutters looking for cheap late car parts on Ebay.
This Golf has popped up on a Facebook group.
Looks ok at first glance. Slightly shonky rear hatch though.
But there is this:
Are the repairers using parts sourced from VW? Probably not. Probably not stealing parts, but they are looking for cheap used parts from somewhere.
And a clone
Burnt out Disco. Recently up for sale, unfeasibly repaired.
As used cars soar in price, largely due to shortages of parts, the incentive to do stuff like this goes up, and they become more on the look out for nice factory parts, like wheels.
So a common or garden thief steals a steering wheel from a Miata. How? Does he dismantle it, and get the airbag in his face, or saw through the steering column?
Then the questions are: âWhat is the market for a Miata steering wheel? How many other cars will it fit?â
Car thieves go for things that are saleable, on account of what they are made of, like catastrophic converters, or parts for much more common cars than Miatas.
So I think our Miatas are relatively safe, once the robbers realise these facts about them.
David
I will lose no sleep about some miscreant nicking my steering wheel , the risk of it actually happening being absolutely tiny I suspect .
It was a bigger risk in my Sevens as they have removable s/wheels .But I felt such an idiot walking round Tescos with a bloody steering wheel in my hand that I soon left it on for good . In 20 years , nobody tried to nick either car or s/wheel. And does anything look more utterly tragic than a 1960s tech Krooklok on a modern car ? Ghastly .
My experience also, since 1966. In any case, I have fully comprehensive insurance on my new Miata.
On the other hand, in Poland in the 1980s it was usual to take wheel hubs and windscreen wipers with you when leaving your car. Indeed, a friend of mine had a second (working) ignition coil hidden in the engine compartment. He used to disconnect the lead from this to the distributor. Meanwhile, the original, non working, ignition coil was still there and if would be thieves connected the distributor lead to it, the car would not start. My friend reckoned that this was a foolproof way of putting the thieves off and, as far as I know, it worked!
David
Well I donât own a Miata. I own a Eunos Roadster, no airbag, just a Nardi Classico.
You live in Austria, but own a Miata rather than a MX5, so sounds like a grey import from the US, so I suppose a little less attractve
A âcommon or garden thiefâ I guess removes an airbag the same way a mechanic does. Plenty of Youtube instructions. A MX5 airbag will fit a MX5 only, in the same way a Vala Range Rover airbag only fits a Vela Range Rover.
Turns out, to coin a phrase, removing the MX5 airbag module is super easy, barely an inconvenience. And no, you donât âneedâ to disconnect the battery. Cut the power to the wheel, no danger. A set of snips will soon have through the loom.
And then the steering wheel is a 16 or 17mm nut, loosen, and a sharp tap, and it will come right off.
A Bentley targeted in London, not once, but twice
This Huracan owner might have felt pretty safe. a pretty rare car, unlikely there are many bent Lambo owners out there looking for cheap wheels down the Dog and Duck.
You might not have noticed, but Ebay, Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace are absolutely stuffed full of recycled MX5/Miata parts, for sale, no questions asked.
Its probably wrong to conflate the cat thefts with other parts thefts. At least in the UK, the industrial scale theft was coordinated by organised crime, who had smelters on hand to quickly extract the material, containers and shipping available to ship to corrupt yards in West Africa. They were very specific about which cars and model years to target. Then there were the copy cat thieves, which from UK Police reports, were much less likely to be able to fence the cat contents, with thousands of catalytic converters being recovered largely intact (they werenât able to sell them)
Operation Goldiron recovered 1000 catalytic converters and arrested 50 people
Turns out, without the right contacts, these catalytic converters were not easy to move on.
Range Rover stripped for parts while parked at a music festival
AMG Merc stripped while parked at Birmingham Airport carpark
Recovered Range Rover Sport
Not so: my RF came from Hiroshima, via Rotterdam. I bought it here in the normal way.
David
So, have we decided if the set of ÂŁ30 locking wheel nuts is going to protect your car from the professional car thief?
I suspect printing out this thread along with all the linked articles and leaving that weighty tome on the drivers seat in the hope that the professional car gang would get engrossed in reading it and forget where they left their master keys offers more protection.
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Iâm slow cooking a superb lamb shoulder. Just about to pop in the shallots, carrot, and a hint of mint & red wine. Home made dumplings with it for a change later. Mixing in a little Paxo stuffing in the flour makes a tasty difference.
Just thought Iâd add some interest to the thread.
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Enjoy the lamb!
On the other question - fit some locking wheel nuts, or donât. Weâre all grown ups and can make our own decisions. As I see it;
Fitting pros - may deter more opportunist theft, but donât be under any illusions that the wheels are now impossible to steal.
Fitting cons - a.) during servicing and/or tyre changes, garages may damage the locking wheel nut, usually be over torquing. b.) locking wheel nut key may become lost, based on garage and/or owner performance and organisation.
To lock, or not to lock, that is the question.
