Spare Tire Woes

[arbetrader]

My wife had a flat in the canadian tire parking lot a couple days ago. The service center was just closing up. They would not help her lower the spare, nor swap the tire. She got the flat in the Canadian Tire parking lot too !!!! She went inside the store to speak to the manager, but he said it's due to "liability issues" and no-one there would give her a hand.

Needless to say, I'm not very happy about this...

She was able to limp it home, and I had the tire repaired the next day.


Anyway, to get to the point... My Spare tire has a lock on it. If you look just above the bumper where the hole is, the lowering nut has what looks like a cover on it and a star shaped lock nut that needs a compatible key. I do not have the key anywhere in my truck, included tools, or anything anywhere that matches it. I am not the original owner.

I called the a few different dealerships, and apparently this was only available on American trucks, which mine is... However, it's in Canada now, and so am I. Would an American dealer have these tools to take it off? I don't care about ever having that lock on there anyway...

What other options do I have?

 

[scottm]

Some good info here:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/441716-spare-tire-wont-lower-how-fix.html

 

[arbetrader]

Thanks for that

 

[agaisin]

After trying to lower mine for a rotation I realized I've also got the spare tire lock and of course my PO didn't leave the tool kit (luckily do have the wheel lock key).

Found this thread - I went to the dealership and they have the master key set and gave me the number so I can order the key. Btw, these are made by McGard.com and they are not unique to Lexus. They provide the spare tire locks to many other manufacturers.

If you haven't already solved your issue - other non lexus dealerships or tire shops may have the mcgard master key set on hand and you can probably call, get someone knowledgeable and they can tell you if they have it or not.

Also, if you have the McGard ID card somewhere (dash, etc), you may have the code you need to order the part from mcgard.

 

[arbetrader]

The other night I checked the spare tire tools, and I didn't see anything like a compatible key in there. Well, today, lo and behold, it's there!! Yay! Just tested it, it lowers fine.

 

[SmoothLC]

...probably the Christmas elves or something.

 

[Brock]

Check in the fender well where the tool kit is stored...to see if it was put in there and rolled behind something.