Replacement locking wheel nut set

[to3m]

I managed to shear my car's locking wheel nut key today (and one of the nuts) trying to get the wheels off my car (an LCI E90). It hammered back in easily enough, so no major problem in the end, and I got the wheels off - but the key is now even more of a mess than it was before, as are 2 of the corresponding nuts, so I suppose I need a new set.

(My understanding is that wheel theft is not really a problem these days, and so buying locking wheel nuts might be a waste of money, but I'm prepared to take that risk.)

I was going to just buy some from BMW, as I think it was £30 when I had this problem with my E46, and £30 seems to be about what you need to pay wherever you get them from. But this got me thinking: if I've had this problem with 2 BMWs, maybe the BMW locking wheel nuts are just a bit rubbish? So, better to buy OEM ones, or non-OEM ones?

Suggestions and/or recommendations sought.

[to3m]

RUSSELLM said:

helix402 said:

No problems with gen BMW locking bolts if done to 120Nm.

That’s what I was thinking.

I was wondering if someone had murdered his current bolts with an air gun... Or some bugger’s been stamping on the wrench.

I certainly had to do that to get them off - I had to literally stand on the wrench, both feet, and bounce up and down. Me + clothes + food I've eaten = 90 kg, the wrench is 460 mm. As the saying goes, you do the maths... please... I've forgotten how... but isn't that something like 90 * 0.46 = 41.5 kgf.m = 405 Nm?!?!

The burring was probably due to me not ensuring the key was tight enough inside the bolt before jumping up and down, but if they hadn't been on so tightly in the first place, there'd have been no need. So in future I think I'll try the bolts after every time somebody takes a wheel off. My car tends to go to the same few places to have work done on it, so eventually I'll find out who's doing it wrong.

Thanks to me misreading the wrench in the dark, they've gone back on at 126 Nm.

E-bmw said:

No-one has EVERY type ever made by every after-market company going, so would need to utilise brute force.

Interesting point! Not sure my normal wheels (MV3s, OK condition) are desirable enough to worry about it to this extent though?

There's a Sytner in Sheffield so based on helix402's trustworthy recommendation I'll probably get some ordinary BMW ones from there tomorrow.