woke up yseterday morning and went outside to get something from my truck and there was a large landscaping brick by my two front tires. thought this was odd. looked further and my center caps from my wheels were missing and 5 of the six lug nuts from one of the tires was on the ground. i figured someone was tryign to steal my wheels/tires during the night and got scared off.

called the police and walked up and down my alley [rear entry houses] while waiting for them to see of amyone else had anythign missing. 6 houses down from my i found a 07 or 08 suburban ltz on 4 bricks - the same bricks that were in my driveway. they took all 4 of his wheels.

i decided i was going to get a locking nut for each wheel to deter these punks in case they come back in the future. the guy at auto zone said to make sure that nobody uses an impact wrench with the key for the locking nut b/c it will break it. so now i am notsure if i want to put them on. i can see going to get my tires rotated or somethign and telling the kids that work there not to use the impact wrench but them just ignoring me and using it anyway.

what do y'all think? worht getting the locks and will an impact wrench break the key?

 

I say get the wheel lock, because it may happen again. And I am 19 and Me and my friends work at discount tire, and the first thing we look for is a lock key, and when you drop your vehicle off, you can just mention the key is in the glovebox or give someone the key and they will not forget.

 

the impact wrench wont break the key unless your sitting the poundin on it with the impact, or if you dont have it on all the way, i would definately get them if i were you, shoot maybe even put two on each tire because there is ways of getting those off without a key

 

I ALWAYS use an impact gun to take them off, have yet to have a problem.

 

I ALWAYS use an impact wrench to spin the nuts down, and then a torque wrench to finish off all wheel nuts. When I get home from having someone else service the wheels, I pull the center caps and retorque the nuts.

Tighteningthe nuts unevenly can cause the brake rotors to warp.

 

ya that true but when your working flat rate they never do it, i do it now because i got 3 cars today when i put them on with my 1/2" impact and i couldnt even get them off, i guess that what i get right? but seriously if i were you i would put like 2 locking lug nuts on there atleast to make it even harder to steal.

 

I got gorilla locks from discount tire and they always use an impact wrench taking them on and off, never had a problem.

 

Definately get them !!!you said the guy just down the street lost all four you just got lucky,So i would definately get them.
The cost of new lugs "vs" the cost of new rims/wheels is UGE!!!
Plus if the shop damages them they will have to pay for new ones.

 

anyone know where you can buy the gorilla locking lug nuts?

 

You can get them online at discounttire.com