If the car is fitted with locking wheel nuts from the factory and you remove them your insurance company would consider this a modification and increased risk. Remove them by all means but don't expect them to pay out if the wheels get nicked. If you inform them you have replaced the locking nuts with standard ones they would pay out but would have incresed your premium.

Your decision.

Does this mean steel wheels are becoming rare and might require locking nuts?

>>>>>>I'm surprised more wheels don't get nicked.

They do, many police forces have alloy wheel recovery operations following spates of thefts - Citroen and Peugeots very common. . Loads of single wheels and tyres on ebay, provenance questionable.

Your insurer knows exactly what the standard fitments on your car were when it left the factory. If it left the factory with locking nuts and at the time of a claim they are missing it may affect what they pay out on.

Ever seen an assesor at work, they inspect the car very closely looking for ways of rejecting the claim.

I say let's return to the good old steel wheels with fancy plastic embellishers. I think, now, that Alloys are the spawn of the devil and offer no real practical advantage. A slight encounter with a protruding kerb scars them unless you are prepared to use these on site repairers which is a costly affair.

No, my initial love for these has now faded.

I have heard and read all about reduced unsprung weight and easier manufacturing to getter more accurate concentricity etc. but how would this affect the average Joe public.

And are they any lighter than their steel counterpart? The only way I could possiblly get steel wheels on my next Golf, might be to choose the most basic model although that may not be the case now.

No need to go and buy plastic wheel covers. Simply wander aorund and you'll find thousands discarded along the highways. Money saving tip #37.

Mine never fell off! I often replaced them, however, when they looked a bit tatty. My Rover 200 and 400 ones could be replaced for about £30 each which I thought expensive at the time but compared with and enduring damaged Alloy orn a expensive repair, was cheap. Anyway my current Golf's Alloys have polished mirrored surfaces which, I believe, cannot be repaired easily.