Locking wheel nuts Z4 Alpina

[dkatwa]

Nut missing.jpg (560.47 KiB) Viewed 1149 times

hi
I cannot find the nut key for my Z4 Alpina. I contacted LWNK but since it's not a BMW product, they cannot help. Does anyone on here recognise the type of nut I need please? the picture is not clear and from one of the pix, it looks like there is a black collar around the stud. however, the stud is normal length (maybe 1 inch) which i hope you can make out from the second picture. thanks

thanks
deepak

Nut missing 1.jpg (545.05 KiB) Viewed 1147 times

[Henry]

I have similar looking locking nuts on the x5 but all the patterns are different. In the past I have had success beating a socket that nearly fits on, to the other extreme of getting a piece of thick rod welded on then a sturdy tube to undo. A complete PITA.

[PerryGunn]

There are some sockets that have a lot of little push rods that are supposed to fit misshapen or irregular nuts, I understand that some of these will work on keyed bolts

Alternatively, the tyre changing places often have a variety of locking-nut 'keys' - if you have a spare 'normal' bolts, it might be worth swinging by one or two and offering a fiver for a beer if they can get the keyed ones out and replace them with the standard ones...

[dkatwa]

hi Perrygunn...thanks for the suggestion...I was due to get MPS4s all around this weekend but that garage told me they cannot take the wheel nut off....so cancelled my appointment for the moment. ordered some bits off amazon that might do the trick....will keep you posted

[dkatwa]

Got them off finally! Bought the below from Amazon. however, none of my wrenches fitted so ended up buying a 3/8 inch wrench also from Amazon and took about 5 mins to get them all off.

Will look to buy McGard replacements now.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PPF5NNS/ ... nFbQV1WTQC


thanks for the replies everyone!

[Bob]

Good news that you got the nuts off (although a little disheartening to hear they are that easy to remove with the right tool!)

[PhillV8S]

It’s like a lot of security precautions unfortunately, easily bypassed if someone wants to make a small effort. Security bolts are just a veneer of security. Cheaply and easily removed if required. If the toe rags can be bothered to walk around with a jack and wrench then the universal socket isn’t really much to add to their toolkit to make their job easier.

[Bob]

Guess I know that really, it's usually just a case of making your car more awkward than another so it's not the easiest option for the tea-leaves.

[PerryGunn]

Good news that you got the nuts off (although a little disheartening to hear they are that easy to remove with the right tool!)

The wheel bolt designs that just have an irregular outer surface have never offered much protection - the McGard ones with a smooth outer surface and rotating collar are much better.

Anything like this is just a deterrent, these days the scroats are probably more likely to take the whole car than the alloys...