Have you heard of Grab-it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InGiAr3CPSw
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yea man I wish I knew this before spending money on them. They do look great and are a great deterrent, but the key is useless and should have been thought through more...

 

hmmm that is a pretty nice tool, but I'd rather just break the inserts off with a screwdriver/hammer instead of buying it just for that reason.

 

ok so Friday morning I had the car towed to the dealership to hopefully have the tire plugged and then worry about removing them another time. 4.5 hours later they end up plugging it and I'm on my way with only a scraped front bumper from the tow truck, that stupid bastard.


I then bought an allen wrench key and it fits into the insert and removes them easily so I am good to go now. I will just buy a new tire next spring and am planning on changing back to stock for winter anytime now.



so anyone who has or is going to have the volk formula lugs....immediately throw the plastic key away and keep metal allen wrench in your car.

 

Yep, i stripped my plastic key on the 2nd use. you'd think that VOLK of all companies would put in a higher quality allen key for their lugs.

 

Ive never had a problem with mine.

 

I actually think they made the plastic key like that for a reason. I think they did it to prevent people from over-torquing the center insert. With a normal allen wrench you can torque it well beyond what it should be. With the small plastic "key" you can only get it so tight. The fact is the center insert does not need to be overly tight, or you will have problems getting is out later. The plastic key is a pretty good way to proof it against that happening. If you strip, or break, the supplied key, you are over-tightening the center insert....

 

perhaps. I was more concerned it would unscrew itself and get lost as i'm driving. i don't think they sell replacement inserts?

 

Sad to hear your problems with those lugs. I can't justify paying $150+ for those things. I'm completely happy with my Muteki's.

 

I had to some of mine out b/c the stripped. It was pretty scarey trying not to scrape a wheel. I started out with a small drill bit and kept going bigger until the broke and then used pliers to get them out and a air gun for the metal shavings. I was supposed to send them back to Mackin Industries for replacements but lost them, lol. I ended up ordering a full second set because they were just so damn cool looking, which I never even used. Next season after I put them back on (already took rims/tires off) I'll run them w/o the caps. They'll get a little surface rusting but that's better than then seizing on the lugs or stripping out again IMO.

 

How about using a little thread lubricant or anti seize compound on the threads of the insert and not torquing the bejeebers out of them? They should come out easily then. Hopefully...

 

thanks for the suggestion, the metal allen wrench is capable of taking them out so I should be all set to switch my tires out for the winter this weekend.

 

I know this is an old post and I haven't posted in awhile but I'm going to warn anyone from buying these expensive so called "professional lug nuts". Volk/Rays should be sued for this BS! Forget the little cute cap that strips. Thats easy, drill a pilot hole and use a screderiver.
The main issue is each lug is a key and they f**king strip! EVEN IF HAND TORQUED TO SPECS!!!! I've had this an issue both times where I had to have them drilled or over socket size used to remove them. STAY CLEAR AWAY FROM THIS GARBAGE!!!! Shame on them for not pulling this off the shelves.Oh yeah no one will get your wheels off including you the owner haha!