Wheel locking unlocking socket / tool

[joejag308]

Anyone have any personal experience of the tool shattering during the wheel removal?.........this in theory leaves you well and truly up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
The questions flying about at this time seem to be rather complex to remedy the situation.
it has long been a no no to let tyre guys near the tool with an air gun, this is a good way to shatter the tool,but it has also been known for the tool to shear off unexpectedly.
An upgraded tool is now available,the procedure to both buy one or get a replacement one for your current tool is in a grey area.....
HAS ANYONE GOT A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF REPLACING / UPGRADING / OR CHANGING THEIR CURRENT REMOVAL TOOL?
LET THE FORUM KNOW PLEASE.........JOE

[Brakebuster]

the removal tools are NOT unique , though some peeps will try and convince you as much

Jaguar only made a certain amount of different patterns ( about twenty i think ), and these are denoted by the letter code on the back of the tool, the nuts dont have the code....

you can no longer buy individual keys from Jaguar to match our particular antitheft locking nuts, you can only buy new sets of a different design ( ours have the inset roll-pins round the inside to match the nut , these are the ones that wear....)

however, there are people on ebay that sell original Jaguar old stock locking nut removal tools that are letter coded to match our roll-pin type tools, its pot luck as to whether they sell your particular code of tool though, no one has to date for mine so far....

new sets are £60 from Jag, i think they come with two tools, but dont qoute me

anti-theft nuts can be removed with a dremmel style grinder, you may bugger the wheel bolt in the attempt, but they are only £6 each and pushed in from behind after hitting out the old one once the wheel is off


BB

[daveji]

Joe
If this issue really worries you have a look at this:-
http://www.lockingwheelnutremover.co.uk/
There will be a price of course........but its only money, and no damage to repair.!

[joejag308]

Dave the subject of contention re the locking device shattering and leaving you helpless ............this is a solution...the other interested parties may be impressed ......i had a laugh when i saw where it was made.........but the cost could be high.
I however through my being nosey and a bit forward have possibly found another solution to my replacing the removal socket without having to change anything........but until it happens i wont say any more....Joe

[BrianG]

I have bought a replacement key in the past, but the problem is that the slots in the nuts wear as well as the key - especially if the tyre shop has be let loose with the air gun driver. This means that a new key has limited life before it starts to slip out. In the end I got a new replacement set from the main dealer for £42.50 (you only get one key). Decent tyre shops will only use hand nut wrenches so I'll stick to those from now on!

[joejag308]

Brian, good point, but i am sourcing a new key to add to the one i already have as a back up.........the wheels and tyres have not had a lot of hammer as yet so the nuts should be in top condition.
The tyre company i use ALBA TYRES in Leeds always have used the hand loosening and the torque wrench for tightening. I have recently put a set of new tyres on the car i bought at Stoneleigh and it was done by the book.
They also allow for the actual jacking up of the car, which with a 308 is a special procedure a lot of x308 owners are not aware of, but is critical in some cases.........Joe

[joejag308]

An article submitted by a concerned member who has a point if you are thinking of going abroad or even driving locally....it has long been a contention but not taken up very much.....has anyone any points or alternatives to this problem.......because if it did happen you are stuck up the proverbial creek......in Germany of all places they dont have wheel locking nuts im told........
Dear Sir,
There have been a few articles in the X-type forum on locking wheel nuts. Here’s my proposal – ditch them! The attached pictures show why.
The original equipment on an XJ8 includes a locking nut on each wheel (centre of picture 4487), into which the key (front and reverse respectively in pictures 4487 and 4488) fits. Cosmetic appearance is maintained by a nut cover (left hand side of 4487). The key is very simple, being two slightly offset lugs to fit into slots in the nut. The problem is my car is now 12 years old, and the wheels will have been off many times. The offset for the lugs on the key is small, and it must be easy for a mechanic to think it looks symmetric and try and force it on to the nut. As shown in the pictures, this has opened up the slot in the nut and caused the lugs on the key to bend. I noticed this as I was doing some pre-holiday checks earlier this year. Phone calls to Jaguar dealers produced two unhelpful answers; 1) I can’t buy a replacement key, only a complete set of new nuts and a key, and 2) the dealers don’t keep *any* spare keys for this model. So if my key doesn’t work, how would you get the wheel off at a service? As often happens, the indifference shown by certain dealers when it comes to cars ‘this old’ was all too apparent.
Luckily, my place of work has an excellent mechanical workshop where they brazed some extra metal onto the key to act as lugs, but the advice was this would only be a temporary solution. I wanted something more permanent, and questioned why I needed locking wheel nuts at all. The problem will only come back again if I get a replacement set of nuts and key, as an enthusiast I don’t leave the car in a dodgy area and the restricted appeal of old Jaguars means that stolen wheels are probably not in great demand. So I replaced the locking nuts with a set of normal ones from Eurojag. Luckily, the repairs to the key lasted long enough to remove the four locking nuts.
I would advise all XJ8 owners to examine their own locking wheel nut key, and if it was in as poor a state as mine to look to effect the same solution. As with the concern expressed among X-type owners, you don’t want to find this out at the side of the road in the middle of a continental holiday!
Yours Sincerely,
David Wood,