each of my 4 tires are missing 1 of the 5 lug nuts.. how dangerous is this?

Question

i never paid attention or realized until I thought I had a slow leak in my tire and a mechanic told me he cannot take the tire off without the lug nut I was missing. He told me they were potentially in my trunk with my spare, in the center counsel or perhaps in my glove box. He recommended i go to the Honda dealership to get the lug nut so he could then check for the slow leak. it’s been a few weeks since this but I am super confused. Why are all four tires missing one lug nut? My car is driving around normally.. does anyone understand why all four tires are missing one? how urgent is it to replace them? it it expensive to have them put on.. I know lug nuts themselves are not expensive

Answer 1

You need to replace the lug nuts. The previous owner probably had locking lug nuts, which you put on, one per tire. He probably lost the original lug nuts and when he sold the car he kept the locking lug nuts. The easiest way for you to replace them is to go online and order a set of locking lug nuts for your car. You just screw them on, use the key and your lug wrench to tighten them up.

Answer 2

Because it probably had those locking lugs removed and never replaced with a standard lug nut, then again, I can't understand why he can't remove the wheel unless the lock lugs were still in place and the lock lug tool is lost.

Answer 3

It's likely that the dealer who originally sold your car installed a locking lug nut on each wheel. Somewhere along the line, the locking lug nuts were removed and not replaced. It's easy enough to get four new lug nuts from a Honda dealer's parts room and replace them.

Answer 4

What's confusing me is why you say you can't get the tires off with out a lug nut and that 4 lug nuts are missing. I think you are totally confused. If a tire/wheel can't be removed it's because you don't have the key socket that removes the wheel locks.

With out the locking lug nut key socket you can't remove the wheel lock on each wheel. There are special tools for removing wheel locks that the key socket has been lost for. The dealer should have a complete set of wheel locks and they can figure out which of the dozen different wheel locks you have and sell you a key socket.

I'd buy 4 stock lug nuts at an auto part store and get rid of any wheel locks.

Answer 5

Why have you driven your car like this for WEEKS? C'mon, man!!!

Answer 6

Go buy four lug nuts to fit your car.



The reason the mechanic won't take the wheel off the car is because the business will not accept the risk of putting the wheel back on short a lug nut and then something happening, and being sued for it.



You can put them on yourself without having to jack up the car. Just take out your tire iron/jack handle and use the wrench end to tighten the bolts. Then take the car in and have the wheels checked out.

Answer 7

It is not dangerous but you need to watch that any others don't loosen up. Then things can go down hill fast. Get four nuts and solve your problem.

Answer 8

My tire shop has them in stock and will put them on for no charge. You need to find a better tire shop. There is no reason the tire cannot be removed because of a missing lug nut.

Answer 9

Someone it FLAT OUT LYING. A missing lug nut would make it EASIER to remove the wheel, not harder.

Note: A DECENT mechanic has extra lug nuts in stock as replacements.



Update: A COMPETENT mechanic will tell you where to BUY lug nuts and it WILL NOT be the dealership.

Answer 10

Tighten all your lug nuts and go buy some damn lug nuts and stop messing around!

Answer 11

Super but you love living on the edge

Answer 12

Start worrying if you have one tire missing.

Answer 13

Reading between the lines, your wheels are probably held on by four regular lug nuts, and the fifth is a security type that you need a special "key" to remove. Unlike most lug nuts which are hexagonal and can be removed using standard tools, the security nut has a head cut to a particular profile which you can only "normally" remove using a socket shaped to fit it. This is intended to make it harder for scum bags to steal your mags. People normally keep these "keys" in their car because they'll need it to change a flat. Look in the ashtray, glovebox, or with the spare wheel/tools in the trunk. If all else fails, take the car to a tyre shop. They can remove security bolts easily. Security lug nuts are designed to deter casual thieves, but a workshop with a full array of tools at their disposal can take them off in seconds.

Answer 14

No its probably just a leaky spark tube

Answer 15

Maybe there once was a set of wheel locks that were removed.



Buy another set or just get 4 lugnuts.

Then pay the mechanic to install them.

Then he can take the tires off.



How dangerous?

Well, I don't know, but it would be 4 times less dangerous if there were 20 lugnuts.

Answer 16

If the 5 were not needed there would only be 4 lugs not 5. The why is not nearly as important as getting replacement nuts and installing them.

Answer 17

Probably you misunderstood, and are actually missing the special key to remove the security nuts on the wheel.

Answer 18

Don't drive with one missing. They need be tightened in a pattern. the pattern broken if one missing. Especially bad if 4 lug nuts and you are down to 3. This can warp disks, drums. At best, it throws wheel balance off. Only a dollar or so at the 'Zone or a junk yard. Get 5 spares while you are at it...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwF4qieecEM

Answer 19

You misunderstood what you were told.



Each of your 5-stud wheels uses one security nut/stud which cannot be removed with a conventional wrench. The key to those nuts is missing and the mechanic told you where it might be.



He or she has a tool which can remove the security nuts without the correct key but it will destroy them in the process. That will leave each wheel short of one nut and no responsible mechanic will do that.



So you’re being told to return another time with either the correct key for those nuts, or with four replacement nuts/studs to replace those which will be ruined when they are destructively removed. Or you can turn up with a new set of four security nuts/studs with their matching key. The choice is yours.

Answer 20

Possibly the wheels had locking nuts on before and previous owner etc. removed them. If it was me I would just go and buy some more nuts ... cannot be that expensive for a little peace of mind.

Answer 21

They are probably missing because they are a key nut, and you will need a key to take them off. If that key was missing you would not be able to get the wheel off

Answer 22

You are not missing a lug nut, you are missing the special key that goes into your locking lug nut. It has a nut on it and a shape that locks into your locking lug nuts so that you can put a wrench on them to remove them. Without the key it will be difficult to remove the wheels.

Answer 23

Go and buy some lug nuts at the parts store. Ya big lug.

Answer 24

You don't know much about your car. Possibly your wheels had locks until the last time the tires were rotated and the idiot failed to put them back on, having misplaced the key. At any rate, you can buy lug nuts at a car part store- better yet, a set of wheels locks and keep up with it whenever you have your car serviced. Running with 4 out of 5 lugs on isn't especially dangerous, but you should make it priority to replace the missing lugs. Go on and look in the console, the trunk and glove compartment, and good luck, but I think they're laying on the floor of the last shop you went to.

Answer 25

At $2 each, the 4 missing lug nuts will set you back $8 and require about 4 minutes to install with your tire iron.

Answer 26

You are overthinking. Buy the lug nuts, install them with a lug nut wrench (there is one in the trunk). Move on. The engineers did not put 5 lug studs so you can only put 4 lug nuts. Of course you can also be just trolling.

Answer 27

It's super easy to put them on. (They might not even charge you for it.) That does sound dangerous though. It unbalances the wheels, causes uneven strain and makes them more likely to fall off. So I'd definitely get that taken care of asap.