Tyre fitter snapped locking nut

[KevH18]

Bit of advice everyone, if you could be so kind.

Ordered two new tyres through Blackcircles, booked in to get them fitted on Saturday and the tyre fitter snapped the locking wheel key in the nut. My thought at the time was just to get the nut drilled out and it would be sorted. I called one place and he said it would be £60 to get the four drilled out so I thought, fuck that, I'll see what I can do to at least get two off for now as I had more spare normal nuts in the shed. With the right size socket bit, it looks easy enough to hammer it on and hopefully get it off that way. Biggest socket I had was 20mm and it was way too small. I ordered a 24mm from Halfords and picked it up the same day but it fits over the top rather be than tightly so needs to be smaller.

However, should I leave this to Blackcircles to sort out because the garage, working on behalf of them, has mucked it up? Just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience with them.

Thanks all

[Jobbo]

However, should I leave this to Blackcircles to sort out because the garage, working on behalf of them, has mucked it up?

Yes, anything you do to fix it takes the responsibility off them. It must happen all the time.

[KevH18]

Thanks Jobbo. I have emailed Blackcircles saying it was snapped while he tried to remove but left it at that.

I'll just wait for them to get back to me rather than do anything else.

[Jobbo]

Bit of an arse at the moment, though - wonder how long they'll take to respond? Is the car usable? If they delay it too much tell them you'll take it elsewhere and charge them the cost of getting the bolt off and replacing the set.

[KevH18]

It's usable in the sense that the nuts are all secured but the canvas is showing through the edge of the tyre. There's about 3mm on the tread in the middle but they'd been wearing on the edge before I had the track rod ends replaced. I've been using the the other car anyway so only used this one once in 9 weeks so not an immediate issue.

[mik]

Locknuts are notoriously fragile - not sure that the fitter can be held at-fault?

For removal - there are various dedicated removal socket sets on Amazon/eBay - better than trying to hammer a normal socket on imho.

[Zonda_]

Locknuts are notoriously fragile - not sure that the fitter can be held at-fault?

For removal - there are various dedicated removal socket sets on Amazon/eBay - better than trying to hammer a normal socket on imho.

I have a set I bought years ago when a car came without the key, just sort of sharp reverse thread things that you hammer on and they cut into the broken thing. Only used it once but it paid for itself.