The expensive and eye-catching alloy wheels and tyres fitted to all shapes and sizes of vehicles these days are a prime target for criminals.

The expensive and eye-catching alloy wheels and tyres fitted to all shapes and sizes of vehicles these days are a prime target for criminals. Or at least they would be if manufacturers and owners didn’t take steps to thwart thieves using locking wheel nuts or locking wheel bolts.

Many manufacturers fit locking wheel nuts as standard to new cars, and if your car doesn’t have them you can easily buy a set from your dealer, car accessory store or online retailers.

There are four locking wheel nuts in a set, and they come with a single matching ‘key’, which is a specially shaped socket designed to fit the supposedly unique pattern of your locking wheel nuts. In fact, there are a limited number of patterns used by individual manufacturers, so other drivers will have keys that match your wheel nuts too.

You only need to use one locking nut on each wheel, where it simply replaces one of the regular wheel nuts. Fitting locking wheel nuts is easy, and they provide an excellent deterrent against opportunistic theft. In fact, as a result of locking wheel nuts being widely fitted, car wheel theft has become pretty rare. However, the bad news is that wheel theft from premium cars could be on the rise again, in spite of widespread use of locking wheel nuts. That’s because, given the right equipment and a few minutes work, committed criminals can overcome most of the challenges the different types of locking wheel nuts present.