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What are the Best Car Wheel Locks for Aftermarket Wheels?
If you just bought a new set of wheels for your car and you want to protect your purchase you may want to look at buying a set of wheel locks to try to keep people from stealing them. The good news is that new wheel locks are not all that expensive to buy and they can do a good job of protecting your aftermarket wheels or rims from thieves. But first, you should understand how wheel locks work and which type you should look to buy.
How Wheel Locks Work
To understand the differences between the different types of wheel locks check out the video below.
Best Car Wheel Locks
1. Gorilla Automotive 61631 Acorn Gorilla Guard Locks (12mm x 1.50 Thread Size) – Pack of 4 
These Gorilla Acorn wheel locks feature an outer sleeve that is rounded so that you are not able to easily get a socket or wrench on the end of the wheel locks to force them off. This is the best kind of wheel lock that you can buy because potential thieves will not be able to get their tools to grip onto the outer portion of the wheel locks.
This is because there is a sleeve that surrounds the wheel lock portion of the wheel locks. Thieves would almost need to take a chisel and a hammer to be able to turn the wheel locks to be able to get them off without the wheel lock key.
The wheel locks that I ended up going with for my car’s new wheels were this set of Gorilla Acorns wheel locks. The set of wheel locks comes with four different wheel locks, one that you would use to replace one standard lug nut on each of your four wheels. Once you have replaced one of your standard lug nuts with a locking wheel nut on each wheel you would just want to make sure that you store that wheel lock key somewhere hidden in your car.
To check out the current prices of these Gorilla Guard wheel locks on Amazon click here.
2. McGard 27326 Chrome/Black Bolt Style Cone Seat Wheel Lock Set
It obviously is going to come with one wheel lock key for the set. The idea is the same with this set of wheel locks though the outside of the wheel locks is rounded so it would be very difficult to get the wheel locks off with a socket or wrench.
To check out the current prices of these McGard wheel locks on Amazon click here.
3. McGard 24538 Chrome Cone Seat Wheel Locks (1/2″ – 20 Thread Size) – Set of 5 
These McGard chrome cone wheel locks are a little bit different than the other wheel locks on this article and that is because you get a set of 5 wheel locks. At first, I didn’t understand why you would need 5 locking wheel nuts.
Then it dawned on me as I was reading the comments for these wheel locks and people were mentioning that these were used on their Jeep. On Jeeps, they have the extra spare tire that is mounted on the back and if you buy a set of 5 wheels for your Jeep you would probably want to make sure that someone does not come and steal your spare wheel.
To check out these McGard wheel locks for Jeeps on Amazon click here.
4. McGard 24157 Chrome Cone Seat Wheel Locks (M12 x 1.5 Thread Size) – Set of 4
This is a set of four-wheel locks so they would be designed for passenger cars. If you are interested in checking out the current prices of these McGard wheel locks on Amazon click here.
Why Should You Use Car Wheel Locks?
If you have a set of aftermarket wheels that you want to protect or you just don’t live in the best area you may want to look at getting a set of car wheel locks to help protect your wheels from theft.
It’s a somewhat common occurrence in populated areas where thieves will steal your wheels and then turn around and sell them on craigslist. If you want to protect your wheels and don’t have the money to hire a bodyguard to protect your car at all times the next best option is to buy a set of car wheel locks to help prevent someone from stealing your wheels.
Wheel locks help protect your wheels from theft by creating an extra level of security to get your wheels off your car. Wheel locks are basically like the normal lug nuts that you would use for most vehicles but they do not have the same lug nut pattern as standard lug nuts. Wheel locks will have a special pattern that is designed to only allow them to be removed if you have the special key to remove the wheel locks.
If you want a first-hand story about thieves stealing wheels off of vehicles look at the youtube video below where they say that 76 wheels were stolen from 19 trucks at a dealership lot.
I’m not sure why wheel locks are not included from the factory on new cars, especially with how expensive new cars are getting. A set of wheel locks would cost an extra 20 dollars on top of the new cost of a car. Anyway, I digress, check out the video below for yourself.
How Do You Get Car Wheel Locks Off?
Like I mentioned previously wheel locks are designed to use the special wheel lock key for those set of wheel locks to remove the wheel locks from your wheels to allow you to remove your wheels from your car. When you have the wheel lock key that is designed to be used with your set of wheel locks you just put the wheel lock key onto the wheel lock and use a normal lug nut wrench to remove the wheel lock from your wheels.
If you lose your wheel lock key you can typically order a new one through the wheel lock manufacturer. I think that you would need to know the design of your wheel locks or have the original packaging that the wheel locks came in. If you lose your wheel lock key you may be in a heap of trouble as wheel locks are not designed to be easily able to get off of your vehicle.
If you decide to use wheel locks on your wheels you would want to make sure that you keep the wheel lock key in your vehicle but in a hidden place so that if you need to change your wheel if you get a flat tire you will be able to remove your wheel on the side of the road. If you do not keep your wheel lock in your car and you end up getting a flat tire you would be stranded until you got that wheel lock key and were able to remove that wheel from your car. You want to make sure that this is in a hidden location so that someone doesn’t break into your car to grab the wheel lock key to steal your wheels.
What Are The Best Type of Car Wheel Locks?
The best type of wheel locks is going to be the ones that prevent thieves from stealing your wheels. Older wheel locks used to just have a special design on the end of the wheel locks so that a normal lug nut wrench could not be used on the wheel locks.
However, because there was still a surface to get a socket over the wheel locks thieves would use different sized sockets to get over the end of the wheel locks which they could then use to force off the wheel locks from your car and then steal your wheels.
You want to make sure that if you are buying wheel locks for your wheels that you are buying wheel locks that have a smooth rounded outer surface of the wheel locks. The reasoning behind this is that if the wheel locks are rounded on the outside thieves can’t use a socket to grab ahold of the surface of the wheel locks to get the wheel lock off of your wheel and then steal your wheels.
Most wheel locks made nowadays seem to have rounded outer surfaces to help with this sort of issue. The last set of Gorilla wheel locks that I bought for my new wheels featured a rounded outer edge. Just realize that if you lose your wheel lock key you are really screwed now, as it is going to be much harder to be able to get your wheel locks off if you can’t grab ahold of the wheel lock with a socket or pliers.
I’ve included an example below of the type of car wheel locks that you do not want to buy below. As you can see the outer lock portion of the wheel locks is visible and could have a socket put on the end of them to force them off. You want to make sure that the end of the wheel locks is protected by a sleeve that you could not easily get a socket or wrench on.
Do Not Buy This Type
Wheel Lock Thread
It’s important to note that not all car wheel locks are going to be made for the same wheel hub threads. You want to make sure that you choose car wheel locks that are going to be compatible for your car as not all vehicle manufacturers are going to use the same wheel hubs for their cars. Some wheel hubs will have thicker wheel hub studs or different thread patterns. If you are unsure of what type of wheel hub studs your car uses you can google them online or plug in your car into Amazon, you can then select only car wheel locks that are compatible with your specific vehicle.
How Many Car Wheel Locks Should You Buy?
One of the common questions people will ask when purchasing wheel locks is how many should I buy? Really you only need one locking wheel nut for each wheel on your car so most people will only need four a set of four wheel locks for their car. You really only need to replace one of your standard wheel nuts with a locking wheel nut on your car.
If you own a Jeep and you have a set of wheels that you wanted to protect you may want to look at getting a set of five wheel locks since you will have a spare wheel attached to the back of your Jeep. Other than owning a Jeep most people will be fine with getting a set of four wheel locks as most people will only have four wheels on their cars.
You could look at getting a car wheel lock for every lug nut but that would be overkill and expensive. Most people are only going to have one car wheel lock on each wheel.
How To Install Car Wheel Locks
Wheels Already On Car
If you have never installed car wheel locks on your wheels before it’s a pretty easy process. If you already have your wheels mounted to your car you would probably want to go ahead and jack up one of your wheels in the air so that you remove the weight from pressing down on that wheel. To check out which floor jacks I would recommend click here.
You will be removing one of the lug nuts so it’s probably best for the balance of your wheels that you have the wheel in the air when you are removing your wheel lug nuts.
After you have the wheel in the air and your car is supported by jack stands you would want to work to remove one of the standard wheel lug nuts from your wheel. You do not need to remove them on if you are not going to be changing your wheels out during this process.
Once you have your one lug nut removed you can then begin to hand tighten the new wheel lock to your wheel studs. After you have started the wheel lock with your fingers and ensured that it is screwed onto the wheel studs you would then want to connect the wheel lock key to the end of the wheel lock so that you have something that you can wrench on an apply force to. You can now use an impact wrench or a breaker bar to tighten your car wheel locks to that wheel.
You can then lower your vehicle back down to the ground and make sure that your wheel locks are tightened to whatever PSI your vehicle manufacturer thinks is best for your vehicle. I usually just use a breaker bar to tighten my lug nuts to ensure that they are not going to come off when I drive down the road. You can tighten them to a specific PSI if you wanted to do that as well, it’s really just important that they are tight on your vehicle.
Wheels Off Of Car
If you just bought new wheels or are planning to swap out aftermarket wheels for your stock wheels you may not have them already mounted to your car. If you don’t already have the wheels that you want to protect with wheel locks mounted to your car the first step would be to remove the wheels that you already have mounted to your vehicle.
You would want to jack up one wheel at a time and make sure that you are using jack stands to support each wheel while your vehicle is in the air. If you want to read more about jack stands and what jack stands I would recommend check out my other article.
After you have your wheel jacked up in the air you can now work to use a breaker bar to remove the existing lug nuts and remove the existing wheel from your car.
Once you have removed the old wheel from your car you are now ready to mount your new wheels to your car. You would want to take one new wheel and mount it on the wheel studs.
Have your existing wheel lugs ready to hand tighten them onto your wheel studs to keep the wheel in place until you have them all hand tightened. On another note this may be a good time to get new wheel lugs for your car as sometimes they can get banged up over time and lose their chrome finish, which is ultimately up to you.
Once you have all of the normal lug nuts hand tightened on your new wheel you would want to go ahead and install the one wheel lock to that wheel with the wheel lock key accessory. It’s important that you hand tighten everything on your wheel studs first as if you try to use an impact wrench on them, to begin with you can strip the threads on your wheel studs which is not a good time.
You would now want to tighten all of the lug nuts and the wheel lock while the wheel is still suspended in the air. Make sure that the backside of your wheel is sitting flush with your wheel hub and that the wheel does not wobble when you spin it while it is still in the air. You can now lower the wheel back to the ground and use a breaker bar to make sure that wheel lug nuts are all tight.
You want to make sure that you tighten your lug nuts again once you have lowered the wheel to the ground as they may not be fully tightened when you had the wheel in the air. Once you have ensured that your wheel lug nuts are all tightened on that wheel you can now repeat that process on the other three wheels of your car.
If you have a Jeep you would want to make sure that you use a wheel lock on the back spare wheel of your Jeep so that someone could not come along and steal it off the back of your Jeep. If you have paid for five aftermarket wheels you might as well protect all five wheels instead of just four of them.
In Conclusion
There are a couple of different types of car wheel locks that you can buy for your wheels and there are some types that you should definitely stay away from. If you are looking at buying the best car wheel locks for your car you would want to make sure that you get a set that has a rounded outer sleeve to protect from someone getting a socket or a wrench on the end of your wheel locks to force them off.