Broke my locking wheel stud key, any advice on removal?

[GoyetteQC]

Hi there,

So I'm getting a bit desperate here, my locking whel bolt key broke a few weeks ago and I've tried a good bunch of the most common methods to remove locking wheel bolts / nuts but none of them have been working so far. I have the OEM locking wheel bolts sold by Audi on my 2013 B8.5 A4. Since they have a spinning collar, which most typical lock nuts don't have, it's a different kind of monster. Anyways, I removed said collar to try a wheel nut extractor kit and it wouldn't grip, probably in part due to the alloy used and how thin the head of the bolt is. Tried hammering a 12 point socket, same result. Sent it to a shop to weld it, but they were unsuccesful and ended up with a 250$ bill. That shop recommended me a professional welder but the only one in my area told me he's booked for well over a month.


Anyone ever had this problem here or had a similar issue?

Cheers.

[Spawne32]

You want an emergency lug nut remover from your local parts store.

[dieselquattro]

If the locking nuts came with the car from Audi, a dealer will have a set of all the keys they use and will be able to help you out, provided the key still fits. They removed mine when I lost my key.

[Theiceman]

i saw them take one off at a wheel shop once in about 20 seconds. very ghetto but boy did it work. They just put some sort of smaller socket on their shop gun and hit it till the end of the the lock literally welded itself on to the socket. then they used a breaker bar and removed it..
obviously not something you can do at home but point is , there are always ways it can be done.

[Spawne32]

i saw them take one off at a wheel shop once in about 20 seconds. very ghetto but boy did it work. They just put some sort of smaller socket on their shop gun and hit it till the end of the the lock literally welded itself on to the socket. then they used a breaker bar and removed it..
obviously not something you can do at home but point is , there are always ways it can be done.

lol interesting way of doing a fusion weld

[elscotto80]

This happened to me a while ago with my Jetta. The shop had to chisel the heads off since they couldn't order or find the key even with the original box and serial number (OEM) VW part.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Audizine mobile app

[GoyetteQC]

Thanks everyone for the answers.

Unfortunately, I've already tried a kit similar to the one in the video and it just wouldn't grip on the bolt at all. Kept slipping.

It's an a box with the Audi logo on it, it's factory. I could try calling an Audi dealership, only issue is that the closest one is 600+ km away. If they need to see it beforehand I can't make the drive there.

Didn't think about trying with a chisel, but there's not a lot of space in the holes for the lug bolts so I doubt I'd be able to do it. Especially since they're pretty deep inside of the holes.

Also, one of them won't allow for the key to fit anymore after they tried to weld a nut on it, so getting the key would only solve the issue for two of my wheels.

I'm thinking about drilling, but that could end up being real messy. Any other suggestion before I attempt what could possibly be my bigest mistake on this car? I'm affraid only redneck-ish options are on the table at this point.


I probably should've included pictures to begin with, so there goes:

[dieselquattro]

It's still worth getting another key for the two other bolts - the code for the key pattern should be somewhere on the key or on the box. Look at a well known auction site for a replacement.
I've had those locking nuts before - they are a nightmare once the key starts slipping. This happened with me. I took it to my local wheel/tyre fitter. He fitted the loose key into the nut and just gave it several hard bash with a big hammer! In doing so, he must have managed to embed the key into the nut and/or loosen any corrosion holding the nut in and managed to slowly extract the nut with a breakers bar. Replaced all the locking nuts with the older design ones and bought a torque wrench and grease to make sure that all my wheel nuts are not over-tightened. Locking nuts should be hand tightened and not be as tight as the other four on the wheel.
Good luck - I genuinely feel for you as I've been through this before.

[dieselquattro]

Not sure if this helps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6TQxlk3lC8

[GoyetteQC]

Already tried like with a 12 point socket like in the video and the socket keeps on slipping unfortunately, but thank you lot for trying.

[Grouch]

Just throwing this out there, but would something like this work? Found it on Amazon called 32-Piece Volkswagen Master Wheel Lock Key Set

[stelvio]

Hi there,

So I'm getting a bit desperate here, my locking whel bolt key broke a few weeks ago and I've tried a good bunch of the most common methods to remove locking wheel bolts / nuts but none of them have been working so far. I have the OEM locking wheel bolts sold by Audi on my 2013 B8.5 A4. Since they have a spinning collar, which most typical lock nuts don't have, it's a different kind of monster. Anyways, I removed said collar to try a wheel nut extractor kit and it wouldn't grip, probably in part due to the alloy used and how thin the head of the bolt is. Tried hammering a 12 point socket, same result. Sent it to a shop to weld it, but they were unsuccesful and ended up with a 250$ bill. That shop recommended me a professional welder but the only one in my area told me he's booked for well over a month.


Anyone ever had this problem here or had a similar issue?

Cheers.

A shop charged you $250 for some welding that didn't even work...and you paid them?! Are you being serious? For that much I'd prefer to just cut wheel off

Also, you have to push with a LOT of force into that wheel bolt to get it to not slip otherwise everything will slip no matter what you try.
Also, would one of these work? https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gator-Gr...120A/100351756
Also, could you make threads or thread 2 nuts onto the end of the locking wheel bolt key thing and go to town?

[dieselquattro]

Already tried like with a 12 point socket like in the video and the socket keeps on slipping unfortunately, but thank you lot for trying.

If the 12 point socket keeps slipping round and has no grip on the wheel nut, then it is too large a size - try a size lower. Do as you see in the video - hammer the socket into the nut at an angle initially and then hammer it straight. Do watch your fingers! Good luck.

[ducati]

If the 12 point socket keeps slipping round and has no grip on the wheel nut, then it is too large a size - try a size lower. Do as you see in the video - hammer the socket into the nut at an angle initially and then hammer it straight. Do watch your fingers! Good luck.

Thats what my mechanic did.He hammered a socket that one size smaller and used his air wrench to remove it.Took him like 2 minutes.He of course did this many times before by the how beat up that socket was.

[ps2cho]

What am I missing here? Why don’t you just call up with the key code and ship a new wheel lock key to you?