When I bought my car, new, ten years ago, I asked the dealer to provide a spare wheel nut locking key, and reminded them that I needed the code for the set they had fitted. (Being aware of the pain caused if you lose the only key!) Unfortunately, neither request was fulfilled!

Fast forward ten years and the inevitable has occurred. Having rebuilt the front brakes last year I started on the rear brakes, as I had an MOT advisory, ‘rear brake disks pitted’. All went well with the exception of the Brake Hose Connection, which I could not part to fit the SS braided hose. Having torqued the wheel nuts up I took the car round the block to check everything was OK, and came in for my evening meal.

Having completed the work on the OSR, the following morning I went out to start work on the NSR. Right, where’s the wheel nut locking key? Damn! The penny dropped straight away! I had driven around the block with the key still on the wheel, and it was no longer there. A slow walk around the block, looking carefully, proved fruitless. So what to do now?

The obvious thing was to visit my local agent, Brayley Honda, St Albans. “No problem”, they said, “we have a full set of all the Honda keys”. The good news was that they had a key which would remove the locking nuts. The bad news was that the design of these fittings has been changed, and the original key was not now available! So, the car was booked in for last Friday, to have the old nuts removed and a new set fitted. When the technician came to drive the car into the workshop I said, jokingly, “be kind to her”. “Oh, I will” said the technician. I’ve got one myself”. Surprisingly he was not on the forum, so I carded him! All went smoothly, and it cost me £90.00 with the Club discount, which I thought was reasonable given the amount of time they spent on the job.

Before I left I went to the spares department and ordered a spare key!!

 

Could you not got a set from Halfords for a tenner, and asked them (or Kwik Fit ) to change them over as they both keep loads of master keys, and saved yourself £80?

 

Honda near Kidderminster somewhere removed mine for free, and they then chucked the locking nuts without thinking. They rather nicely then paid for a free set of new ones as it was their fault for not thinking of keeping them as I had the spare key at home. Top class service from them, and helped out in my time of need.

edit: They obviously had the needed skeleton key or right key on mine, so of course it's not a comparison with the OP

 

Have you looked at the quality of the 'cheepo' Halford ones?

I particularly wanted McGard, the original Honda spec, and these are about £30.00 online.

Are you also saying Kwik Fit would do that work for free? They certainly wouldn't where I live!

 

They would down here, I think the hope of return custom spurs them to do so, I've found them most helpful.

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http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MCGARD-LOC...item43aec5211e