To cut the sarcasm from the title, I am a new AP1 owner living in SoCal and I purchased the S nearly two weeks ago. The car came with the stock wheels and black RP1s and I have been meaning to get wheel locks for the RP1s but haven't yet had time since I've been working like a horse.

I always park my car in the shade away from everyone else and flew across country this past week to visit my family. Of course when I returned I couldn't wait to drive my S. Well, I drove nearly a mile before I started hearing and feeling a clunky sound coming from the front of the car. I have never had a flat tire before so I immediately pull over and inspect all of the tires. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

I figured I would drive another 50 feet because I may have misjudged it for the terrible paved road I was driving on, but still there was that same feeling and sound.

So I get out of the car and finally pinpoint the problem. I notice there is a lug nut missing from the front right wheel and the other four are about to fall off aswell. I went on to check every other lug nut on each tire and they were on perfectly tight from when I first put them on.

In the span of one week while I was gone, someone must have thought it would be hilarious to loosen all of the lug nuts on one of my wheels. Hilarious.

Furious at the fact I almost lost a wheel and severely damaged my car, I drove my beater straight to the nearest Pep Boys and bought a set of wheel locks.

Here are a few pictures of the locks:

the locks





putting them on



finished product







Just wanted to make this post to raise the awareness of owners living SoCal and other high crime areas to protect their beautiful cars.

This set of locks only cost me $30 and I hope they keep the amateur thiefs and punks at bay.

 

Looks like someone also thought it would be funny to mount the tires on the wrong way. Check out the front tire. Left side arrow should face left, right side arrow should face right. Might be looking at it wrong. Glad you caught it early!

Oh and fun fact with the spline keys. If I remember correctly you can fit a 17mm (i think) socket right over it and remove them. Might of changed since then. Would be worth a shot to check though

 

Good catch I didn't know that! The first picture is the front right tire though

I will have to check on that 17mm, I hope it's not true -.-

 

were you using the stock lugs with the rpf1's?

 

^^ THIS ^^

If so, that was most likely the cause of your loose lug nuts. The OEM lugs are ball seat whereas the RPF1's use the standard "tuner" acorn seat. Using OEM ball seat lugs on the RPF1s will more than likely result in what you experienced. Luckily the wheel didn't come all the way off on you.

 

BA ZINGA!

 

Or someone who wants your wheels can just drive to Autozone, Advance Auto, O'Reilly's or PepBoys and get the same ~$30 set of lug nuts and use the key to take yours off. Best thing to do is get a one-off set with a special key that only fits your wheels. You get 2 keys in case you lose one, and call a 1-800 # with your key ID to get a replacement sent via mail should you lose both. I can get the information for you if you want more details...

 

BINGO

 

I have to agree, probably due to wrong lug nut seat type and not tampering. FYI, those aren't wheel locks. Everyone with spline drive lug nuts has a key that will work. My brother had his TE37's stolen with spline lugs installed. If you want a true lock, you need something like McGard with a smooth outside and specific center key. Even those can be defeated but takes some extra work.

The good news is you now have a proper set of lug nuts and they match the wheels much better.