[mdxstang]

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.

These examples aren't exactly the same as the wheel nut example, especially the password example, but the door locking one is somewhat similar.

A big potential issue with the locking wheel nuts is if the key is lost or misplaced. I've had locking nuts before and felt the anxiety of the key not being exactly where I thought it was but thankfully I found it. We tend to use a car key and house key on a very frequent basis so usually are no more than a couple of days, or even hours from the last use and can find them easily. With a locking nut it can be many months since it was last used. If a mechanic does work with the wheels one needs to be extra careful to get the key back from them because they can easily be missing after getting the car back.

I don't bother with wheel locks anymore and haven't in decades and haven't had an issue and I always park the MDX and prior SUVs outside (in a driveway - not on the street) since I reserve the garage for other cars. I know it's too easy for thieves to remove the locking nuts - especially when they set out specifically to steal wheels.

The main thing is to have theft insurance. There likely would be some deductible but the loss would be lessened.

If I lived in a setting where I had to park the vehicle on the street and especially if my vehicle was nicer than most of the rest of the vehicles parked there I'd likely consider using the wheel locks as at least a bit of effort to avoid the theft.

Another theft deterrent if parking outside overnight is to use a car cover. While anyone can easily remove it, the cover just adds some hassle and makes the thieves that much more noticeable and makes it a little harder to scope out the vehicle beforehand.

 

[mdxstang]

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.

You're right, people can do what they want, but an advantage to forums like this is to see different perspectives on some of the topics so one can be more informed when they end up making their decision which is why even if two posters post differing opinions, like perhaps you and I in some cases (and agree on others), they can both be beneficial to others considering the topic.

In this particular post by the OP though, I suppose it's more about the 'type' of lock, specifically the lock's seat, rather than whether to use locks or not. I was mostly reacting to what stuart posted.

 

[mdxstang]

. 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.

(I realize I'm carrying on here but that's because the thread is carrying on)
But with the wheel locks it's some percentage of theft reduction along with some percentage of chance a thief will try to steal the wheels in the first place. The former will depend on the types of thieves operating in the particular area and the latter will depend largely on the area and circumstances - like my example of it being the most expensive set of wheels parked on a readily accessible street perhaps not in the greatest area of town - so it may be more like a 50% reduction on the odds of 1% that the vehicle will have the wheels stolen in the first place. Those numbers can skew so maybe it's a 30% reduction on odds of 5%. Either way it's not a big difference - but it is 'some' difference.

While my unlocked wheels on any SUV I've owned (37 tears in a row now) have never been stolen, we have no way of knowing if your wheel locks have saved your wheels, maybe even multiple times. Perhaps they helped in your situations.

The locks are inexpensive and won't hurt, unless the key is misplaced or the nut seizes to the lug, so if they leave someone with a sense of more security, that's fine.

 

[mdxstang]

I usually go aftermarket rims on my vehicles.

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.