I changed from summer to winter tyres yesterday. The only slight hitch was when we tightened the anti theft bolts and despite care and clean and straight fitment of the wrench the key seemed to slip. I looked at the inside of the key and I noticed that the edges inside seemed to have been deformed. This was the original Skoda locking wheel nut key that came with the car as far as I can tell. I have thought before when changing the tyres that there is only a tiny overlap inside the key and there is not much room for error. I cannot remember that I slipped off the lock nut before.

Since I had the car I only went to  a tyre shop once and I am sure they used an impact driver to get the wheels off.

I have had lock nuts on every single car before but never had a nut with such limited fit of nut and key. I guess if I go back to Skoda and complain about the poor quality of their lock nut key they will just laugh at me.

On the internet there are loads of reports of VAG key buckling and many seem to blame the impact wrenches. Has anyone put better aftermarket anti theft bolts on?

simply put,

do not use (or let anyone use) an impact wrench on locking nuts / or removal adaptor they are not made for them and end up over tightening

locking nuts should be removed by hand wrench and put back on with a torque wrench  ( I set mine to 120nm)

 

most aftermarket locking nuts are fine to use but same rules above apply

does anyone steal wheels these days unless they're something special?