I was supposed to receive wheel locks on my 2006 HCH so when I popped off the wheel caps today I assumed I would see them. But the only things of significance under the caps are the nuts (that secure the wheels to the car). Where should I be expecting to see the wheel locks?

Also, with the caps removed, I noticed that the center circles on the wheels(about two or three inches in diameter) are completely rusted. Is this normal?

Sorry if these are ignorant questions, but this is my first car .

 

The wheel locks look pretty much like normal lug bolts, except instead of having the typical hexagonal outside, they've got a sort of ring cut into the inside that is keyed to a particular crowbar adapter. That key should have been provided by whoever installed the locks (your dealer, most likely). Are you sure that's rust your seeing? Unless your car was sitting in a flooded compartment on the entire ride across the Pacific, I can't imagine how you'd have any rust on your wheels already.

 

It very well could be just surface rust from moisture.rain or it could have been rail dust. A lot of times veh5c3es are sent across country and rust/rail dust will get on the vehicle's paint and or parts of the vehicle. Either way nothing to worry about, this type of surface rust will come right off and is not into the metal.

 

"Wheel Locks" are sort of a misnomer. They're really just lugnuts (one per wheel) that you need a special socket to remove. They're round (so you can't turn them with a wrench) and have a weird flower-like pattern on top. The set comes with a matching socket that slips over the "lock". The other end of the socket fits your lugwrench. Here's a pic:




As for the central hub being rusty, that's normal. I've seen that on every car I've ever owned. That's not part of the wheel, it's the hub.

 

Based on your responses, it seems that my dealer negelected to install the wheel locks, so I'll have to call them to get that straightened out.

As for the rust, what you said blinkard makes sense. Though, I find it odd that there would be that much rust when the car is virtually brand new. Perhaps rain seeps in and creates a humid environment in the lug nut "chamber", leading to the formation of rust...

 

On an unrelated subject, how did you attach that image of the wheel locks to your post blinkard? I tried including a picture of my wheel by pasting the image directly into the message entry screen. It pasted fine, but when I submitted the post, the file path of the image was displayed in my post, rather than the image itself.

 

Use the regular reply, instead of a Quick Reply. Click the icon that looks like a postcard of mountains. A dialog box will pop up, then you type in the URL of the image you want to show up there. You can't paste a picture in, you have to put in the URL of a photo that's already out on the web somewhere.

 

Be sure to check your glove box, center console armrest, and cup-holder area. I've seen dealers just leave the wheel locks laying in any of those places.


I dunno. I noticed that mine was starting to rust already, and my HCH2 was built in December. It's not rusted all the way across, but there are a bunch of spots probably 5-7mm in diameter.

 

My HCHII was manufactured in November 2005, and I've owned it for less than a month. (I've attached a picture of the wheel/rusty hub if anyone wishes to comment).

 

Yeah, that's not much different from mine. It'll form a good coating of rust, which will (strangely) protect the lower layers from rusting.