Locking wheel nuts

[tomcourtney]

Grrrr! no locking wheel nut key, put it in for a ckeck and although ok for a bit, decided to change the front discs and pads. Searched top to bottom and telephoned the previous owner, zilch. Looks like a chisel off and a new set from halfords. Also ordered a gearbox speedo sensor to hopefully cure the dying speedo. on the positive side all else looks good underneath.
tomcourtney

[puggy]

what kind of locking nut is it as i have a couple of them ??

[tomcourtney]

The mech has taken the car to try and source a key before chiselling, I'll post a pic if he's unsuccessful.
tomcourtney

[teamster1975]

You don't need to chisel them! Get an old socket that's slightly undersized and hammer it on over the raised area on the locking nut, that's how I got mine out.

[steve_earwig]

Hold on, hold on! I made a real mess getting the locking nuts off an Ashtray once, then I saw someone actually makes a tool for the job. In fact, a quick search shows there's loads about (kind of makes the damn things redundant but I suppose it still deters the oppotunist scumbag)

[speediepug406]

If you go to screwfix they sell 4 locking wheel bolt sockets all for £20 and they work!

[tomcourtney]

Old nuts off now, special chisel like tool which doesn't damage wheels. New locking wheel nuts from dealer £28.50 (Halfords average £33, there's a surprise, dealer cheaper).
Front discs and pads changed by local mech price £218 (£113 parts & £105 labour including running around for the locking nuts cutter) - not too bad , what do you think?
Ordered gearbox speedo sensor from dealer £31 coming tomorrow shouldn't cost much to fit hopefully.
tomcourtney

[teamster1975]

Sounds alright to me Tom, glad it's all sorted!

[puggy]

not bad tom sounds ok especially if locking nuts were in the price

[tomcourtney]

No the nuts were bought by me seperately. My first reaction was 'HOW MUCH? !!!', but I suppose £105 doesn't buy a lot of labour in garages nowadays and he did a lot of running around so I've settled down to 'at least they won't need doing for the MOT in 6 months'
I contemplatied fitting the speed sensor myself tomorrow, but in the Haynes manual it's got '3 spanners - Fairly difficult - suitable for a competent diy mechanic' so it's back to the garage, but a different one as my brake man is busy, see what happens.
tomcourtney

PS
What's the button on the end of the Lights stalk ? and the button next to the heated seats buttons with a dot and 3 brackets

[steve_earwig]

The button on the light stalk is auto headlamps (totally useless here as I have to have them on all the time anyway and it makes the computer display too dark to read in bright daylight stupid bluddy rule aid to invisibility but at least it means the feckers here don't drive about with no lights on because they're too stupid to realise it's dark....)

Can't help you with the seat heaters though, there's loads have them on here so someone will be along soon.

[V6Exec]

Dot & brackets - just nipped out to look at mine.

That would be the alarm mute button.

Lock the car and arm the alarm - large button then small button

Unlock the car using the key - noisy?

Press the alarm mute button and turn the key in the ignition. That should quieten things down a bit.

[tomcourtney]

Thanks Steve_Earwig & V6Exec, think I've pretty much got a handle on the gadgets now. I suppose I could have waited on the handbook coming from the dealer in 2 weeks but I would be stuck with the 1.6 8v monicker for longer by not posting.
tomcourtney

[Gizmo]

The button on the light stalk is auto headlamps (totally useless here as I have to have them on all the time anyway and it makes the computer display too dark to read in bright daylight stupid bluddy rule aid to invisibility but at least it means the feckers here don't drive about with no lights on because they're too stupid to realise it's dark....)

Can't help you with the seat heaters though, there's loads have them on here so someone will be along soon.

Jees, what an eye test. Thanks Steve, I think I passed.

[mbell666]

Jees, what an eye test. Thanks Steve, I think I passed.

CRTL + "+" (increase font size) or copy and paste it into a text editor! lot easier than trying to read it!