[mrgold35]

Not a lot of choices out there for ball wheel locks. Purchased the exact same wheel locks from my 19 MDX back in March of 2019. We don't get a lot of precipitation in NM at 7-9 inches per year. No issues so far with rust and always had good luck with Gorilla brand since my 06 TSX.

 

[mrgold35]

Make sense. We shouldn't lock our car doors, use door locks at home, and shouldn't password protect our sensitive information also for easy access for amateur and pro thiefs.. The same determined thief can also gain access to those things with around the same amount of effort of stealing rims.

 

[mrgold35]

Those examples are exactly the same as wheel locks. A determined thief will not be stopped by a locked window/door, rim locks, car door lock, or access to your personal accounts with the right tools and time. Why make it easy for them if your MDX without locks is parked next to mine with wheel locks.

Never had an issue losing my wheel lock key, house key, or car keys so zero anxiety there. It is A-OK for someone to use wheel locks, get AcuraCare extended warranty, add PPF/Ceramic coating, add running boards, etc... No damage done if you decide for or against any of those options.

 

[mrgold35]

I was watching the action thriller movie "Interceptor" on Netflix the other day. The main character had a plan to take back a missile platform. An advisor to the president didn't support the plan because it only had a 14% chance of success by his calculations. What struck me as strange was not attempting this plan would lead to 100% failure and 16 cities being nuked. I see wheel locks the same way as a 14% success in by favor compared to 100% failure against me if I'm in that situation on one of my coast-to-coast trips.

 

[mrgold35]

I usually go aftermarket rims on my vehicles. I opt for the closed end spline lug nuts that needs a specific socket key to undo the 4 lugs and the lugs fit almost flush with rim lug opening. I add another aftermarket wheel lock like Gorilla. I have two keys for each vehicle. Depending on the method used to steal the rims, the thief might end up damaging the rims in the process trying to remove 20 lugs. I figured $20-$40 for wheel locks is cheaper than paying my deductible and being stranded out of state waiting on rims+tires to come in.

The Wife's 18 RLX hybrid with aftermarket rims security lugs and extra wheel locks:

 

[mrgold35]

That's another factor - I have plain old factory wheels (which I like) on mine so a thief may be more attracted to the more noticeable aftermarket wheels like yours than the vanilla ones like I have. Another tactic is to try to park in an area that has more expensive vehicles than the one you have in hopes the thief will go after the MB or the BMW's fancy wheels (or entire car) rather than yours.

By now my 2014 MDX is 9 years old so hopefully the thieves will go after something newer and fancier.

The strange thing about going aftermarket rims is they can be cheaper than OEM. I ended up selling my used original rims for my MDX hybrid for almost the same price I purchased my brand new Berlina 20"X8" gloss black rims. The OEM 19" rims on my 11 MDX Adv are still in the +/- $450 range each compared to my RonJon legacy Type II at $415 brand new. I ended up selling 2 of my 11 MDX OEM rims to other members. I can see a thief stealing 1-2 OEM rims off an Acura because they are still so expensive.