Useless tools, unable to change the wheel - awful quality.

No torque lever was ever required in the sixties, but I don't remember any case of lost wheels due to all the lugs unwinding together.

 

Yes we had the "spider" to undo the nuts, you could get a good leverage on both sides of the centreline of the nut.

Spiderwrench by kithmo posted Jan 10, 2018 at 11:59 AM

I have one of these with a 21mm socket attached:

Extendablewrench by kithmo posted Jan 10, 2018 at 11:58 AM

 

I don't find the spare tire kit in my Prius any better or worse than any other car I've owned. I used it twice, once for my 2012 Prius and once for the 2005 Prius. My previous cars, Corolla and Accord kits got used frequently as I was a courier driving 60k miles a year. The odds were high that I would get a flat once if not twice a year.

Luckily, I've never failed to change a spare. I'm not a mechanic. The cheapo kits are what my father used to teach me when I was 16 so that equipment is all I know.

Once all manufacturers remove the spare tire from cars, this problem will be moot.

 

So I wanted to put on winter wheels, the lock key was?

Went to a cheapo store and bought 4 19mm sockets, pounded them on the 4 locking nuts, removed the nuts and threw them away, installed 4 lug nuts, am happy.

Where was the locking nut?
Terrible dealer, wasn’t going to request.
It wasn’t where it should have been, switch and bait at sale time, my brand new car had 1000 miles, I found after signing the paperwork, took the car anyway, having fun picking on the dealer, Ah, dealerrater.com
White river Toyota, VT, ahh, that felt good
Oh, btw, the car has 1000 miles. Still want it?
Aaarrrrgggghhhhh, he who laughs last laughs longest

 

I took our locking nuts off also, replaced with identical-appearance Gorilla nuts. At least I had the lock nut socket.

Locking nuts are a bit of a cargo cult item, especially if your rims are not special. And the special socket is just too easy to misplace, especially if you have multiple outfits dealing with your wheels.

 

Sometimes the tyres are worth more than the rims. When I got my old Gen 3 in 2010, the 215 45 R17 Michelin Primacy tyres were £150 per corner (£600 GBP per set), so it was worth having the locking nuts just for that.

 

OK - I'm lost. What are these LOCKING NUTS we're talking about?

 

the face of the lug nuts is inscribed with a pattern. The "key' has a raised "matching" pattern which allows the lug nuts to be removed with a socket.

 

I better go have a look - now, rather than on the side of the road somewhere

 

Hmmm - I'm still lost. My wheel brace took one nut straight off - no sign that it's locked in any way.

 

example

 

Oh, mine look nothing like that. Must be another country specific difference. (Or is it southern hemisphere - where the Coriolis effect might change things? ).

 

I heard the locking nuts I the southern hemisphere turn the other way, can someone confirm this?

 

Possibly - ours work correctly - Coriolis effect could mess up Nth Hemisphere, which I understand is why many Northern Hemisphere cars end up with the steering wheel on the wrong side too. Which partly explains why they drive on the wrong side of the road.

 

Incidentally Alan, only one nut on each wheel is needed for locking, so the others are normal wheel lugs.

 

Yup that photo shows 4 locking nuts and the key needed to use a wrench to remove them. They are purchased as a set.

 

But none of mine look anything like those that @krmcg had in his picture - mine are like, well, normal nuts. I took one nut off easily with my wheel brace - so maybe they don't put locking nuts here in Australia?:

 

What a bold and honest nation you have down there. Here it wasn't unusual to find your car up on bricks in the morning and your expensive wheels/(t y res) long gone!

 

Here's a picture of the UK wheel with locking nut fitted at the bottom right:

Locking Nut by kithmo posted Jan 11, 2018 at 11:20 AM

 

It would be interesting to see if they put them on 17" rims here. I've never seen one with 17" - not sure if I ever do, never seen one in a dealership (they're nearly $8000 dearer).

My last 2 cars, and the one 4 cars ago had Alloy Wheels, but only had standard wheel nuts, no locking ones.