Wheel Lock Bolt Key Missing!

[edwardoplunkett]

Tried to rotate tires Friday on 2003 Galaxy Ghia with factory alloys. No wheel lock bolt key! After some investigation this weekend, found 4 people who took delivery of new Galaxy's with wheel lock bolt keys missing as well. All of these so far have been 2003 through 2005 models.

 

Ford does not have a master key set for this type of lock bolt, and regularly charges 100+ pounds to drill/split the lock bolts off the wheels - unbelievable! Called Ford customer service - they confirmed that this is their reccomended procedure - unbelievable

 

According to some dealers, if you have the wheel lock key number, you can get a new key from Germany for 40 pounds plus 2 weeks - unbelievable! New set of lock bolts from Ford is 30 pounds.

 

So the immidiate question is do you have a wheel lock key that looks like it would match the lock bolt in the attached photo (Center post with 9 splines - sorry for the bad photo)? If so, can we get together so that I can get these bolts off? I am in Walton on Thames - Surrey.

 

A bigger question is how many of you are missing their wheel lock keys???

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Looks very similar to mine (October 2000 build date) so maybe there are just a few different locking keysets? Have you tried any of the fast-fit tyre places to see if they can remove the locking bolts? Would then be cheaper to buy a set from somewhere like Halfords rather than getting the genuine Ford ones.

[Masked Marauder]

Any good tyre place should have a set of reverse helix sockets to zip them off.

 

Halfords locking nuts are very good and reasonably priced.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Update - just checked mine and they have just 8 splines, not 9. So I can't help you out.

:(

Sorry !

[edwardoplunkett]

Thanks for the help everyone, especially M. Marauder. :(

 

Bought a set of reverse helix sockets, and was able to remove over-torqued from factory lock bolts.

 

Finally able to rotate my tires. Found left front wearing most as predicted by Michelin UK due to traveling same direction in roundabouts...Received the following comments from Michelin a while back:

 

 

The Galaxy being front wheel drive, front tyres will wear more rapidly. The rear

tyre/wheel assemblies are recommended to be moved to the front axle, when tyres

are to be replaced, with a new pair fitted to the rear axle.

 

* Note: It is fairly normal to see the outer shoulder worn on the front tyres,

especially on the 'passenger side' front, when driving in the UK. During

cornering manoeuvres, the vehicle weight is transferred to the outside of the

bend. We all drive around the roundabouts in the same direction, leading to the

left hand side having most work to do. The functions of steering & front wheel

drive merely exaggerate this wear on the left-hand front tyre shoulder.

 

One can extend the overall mileage of tyres, in regard to this 'shoulder wear',

by acting way before the shoulder tread depth becomes too low for legal/safety

limits. Swapping left & right tyre/wheel assemblies spreads this type of wear

between tyres, along with having tyres 'turned' to the opposite sense on the

wheel rim (assuming the tread pattern allows- not asymmetric or directional) in

axle pairs.

 

Low tyre inflation pressures will exaggerate 'shoulder wear', along with vehicle

wheel mis-alignment ('toe-in').

 

Yours sincerely

Michelin Tyre Public Limited Company