Well I made it Portugal for my holiday but no thanks to my recent tyre fitters. I had a puncture in the early hours of the morning on route to the airport. No drama I thought as I can change a tyre in 15 min and I had left in good time with a spare in the boot. What I didn't factor in was how far past sensible my locking wheel nut had been tightened and how it had actually been damaged inside, to the point that the locking adaptor would not go in to the nut, even with a good whack.

To add to this it was dark and wet and the AA werent available for 45minutes. Luckily two very helpful police officers stopped by (was on M4) and with their help we finally managed to engage the adaptor with the help of the heavy end of their car's wheel brace. I had to fast track security (which I didnt realise was possible, the cop alerted me to it) but for an extra tenner we got to the gate with 3mins to gate closing.

I will need a new tyre plus 4 locking nuts and an adaptor key but it could have been a lot worse I guess. My poor missus was in tears when I couldn't get the adaptor on as she stood in the rain...

Moral of the story: watch the tyre fitters like a hawk and make sure they set the torque properly on their nut tighteners!!

I watched a tyre fitter tighten all the bolts with a air wrench and then use a torque wrench that instantly 'broke' on each bolt.  When I pointed out that he had over-tightened the bolts he said, "No mate, I used the torque wrench"!  When I said that there was no point using a correctly set torque wrench on already over-tightened bolts he had no idea what I was talking about.  The boss of the place, who had been listening, then came over and explained to the tyre fitter the correct procedure to ensure the bolts were at the correct torque, apologised to me AND gave me a 10% discount on the £400+ I was to pay for the 4 tyres as "You shouldn't have to educate my employees".

You might be able to just change the key.

 

The bolts are made of tougher metal than the key so if you (or hired monkey) **** up only the key is damaged.

 

I knobbled mine not long after I put them on and had to order a new key from Mcgard from Germany

Will look into that thanks.

there's a letter stamped on the key- give that info to the dealer parts guy and he can order a replacement.