Previous owners and locking wheel bolts - a sorry tale

[urS6]

Got a puncture on the way to Birmingham tonight in my S6 that I acquired a couple of months ago. Started to change wheel and realised that the wretched key didn't fit the locking wheel bolt. Arrggghhhh!

Called a recovery service, and watched them have a go with a similar lack of success. Got the car flatbedded home and then investigated the problem. The key fitted the locking bolt on the front left wheel, but none of the others.



I tried the keys from my other two S6s, which superficially looked similar but discovered that they were all different patterns. Spent a few minutes on the Internet and discovered that these splined keys were made by Kamax with 12 different patterns. Went to http://www.zakparts.com and found that you can still buy 10 of the 12 patterns today, but the one I needed is discontinued. Unbelievable!

So, having exhausted the elegant solutions, I resorted to BF&I, and five minutes later the bolt was off. Spent the rest of the evening replacing all the locking bolts with a spare set I had stashed away. After I had got them all off I made a further discovery - I had the key for the new locking bolt fitted to FL, but the locking bolt fitted to FR was not the same as the bolts fitted to RL and RR. So three different patterns on the one car, but only one key.

I also took the trouble to slacken all the wheel bolts and retorque them with a torque wrench. I had difficulty in slackening most of them and had to resort to a 4' breaker bar. It looks like the idiot who last worked on the wheels, not only lost the key(s), but ended up installing three different types of locking bolt and also massively overtorqued all the bolts. The previous owner didn't appear to be hugely technical, so I presume this was done by some 'professional'.

It's good to have a reminder every now and again why I still try do do all my own maintenance! I know there are some excellent professionals out there, but there are quite a few cowboys as well.

I've never liked locking wheel bolts. Years ago I lost the key for mine, but managed to retrace my steps and find it again. A friend lost his and had to pay lots of money for someone to get the bolts off and replace them with a new set. Another friend managed to strip his key, and was carless while a new one was ordered in. They're trouble! Of course, if you have expensive alloys in immaculate condition, and you park the car in dodgy areas, then you need them.

Not exactly how I planned to spend my evening ...

[Hanuman]

I had a similar event with my S4. It had been in for some work on the front end shortly before, and I hadn't noticed the wheel bolt key was not returned. Whoever did the work obviously noticed the missing key at reassembly, because they fitted standard bolts on the front, and kept quiet. Leaving the rear bolts untouched. I only found out when it came to replacing tyres.

You don't want to know the audi quote for removing them, either. The local tyre place had the kit and did the job for less than a tenth the price.

[urS6]

Mark, your signature was an inspiration to me when I was removing the locking bolts. Fortunately, the hammer did the trick and I didn't need to get the condoms out!

[Tanni]

Originally Posted by urS6

It's good to have a reminder every now and again why I still try do do all my own maintenance! I know there are some excellent professionals out there, but there are quite a few cowboys as well.

A reminder that counts for experienced as well as inexperienced I see!

[Rickman]

lost count how many of these Ive removed in my time...

multi splined socket's and a big hammer is the way forward here

[quattrokid]

I lost one once, no big deal, just phoned
my friendly dealer who kindly lent me the full set of Audi theft bolt keys and once sourced which one it was he let me keep it and he then just ordered himself a replacement key