BMW 1 Series Locking Wheel Nut Key

Lost the locking wheel key for your BMW 1 Series? Send us a photo of the locking bolt on your wheel and we'll identify exactly which key fits. No security code needed.

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First, a point of terminology

Almost everyone searches for a locking wheel nut key, and that's what we've called this page. But BMW doesn't use nuts — it uses bolts that thread directly into the hub, rather than nuts that spin onto a stud. It makes no difference to the matching process; it's just worth knowing so you're not thrown when the part arrives looking different from a nut key.

The 2012 split, and why your build year matters

BMW changed its locking bolt design around 2012, and the 1 Series straddles that change. Which side of it your car falls on decides what we're looking at in your photo.

• E81 / E82 / E87 / E88 (2004–2013) — the older spline or RIBE style, where the key engages a ring of internal splines cut into the bolt head.
• F20 / F21 (2011–2019) — the changeover generation. Early cars can carry either style, which is exactly why the build year alone doesn't settle it and the photograph does.
• F40 (2019–2024) and F70 (2024 onwards) — the current style, a keyed pattern on the bolt head, usually with a free-spinning outer collar as an anti-theft measure.

That free-spinning collar catches people out. If your key drops on and turns with no resistance at all, that's often the collar doing its job rather than a faulty key — though on older cars corrosion can break the bond between collar and body, and then it's a removal job rather than a key job.

There are hundreds of BMW patterns

Within those two families there are hundreds of individual combinations. Two 1 Series built the same week can carry different patterns, because BMW sourced bolts in batches and wheels get changed over a car's life. This is the single most common reason people order the wrong key: they assume the model and year is enough to identify it.

It isn't. The pattern on the bolt is.

Where the key normally lives in a 1 Series

Before you order anything, it's worth ten minutes looking. On the 1 Series the key is usually one of:

• In the boot, under the floor, in the foam tool tray alongside the jack and towing eye
• In the small side compartment in the boot — behind the trim panel on the right
• In the glovebox, often in a small black plastic case
• Under a front seat, where it ends up after a tyre fitter has handed it back

If the car has been to a tyre place in the last year, ring them before you buy. Keys get left in fitters' tool trays constantly.

How the matching works

1. Photograph the bolt. One wheel is enough — all four are the same. If there's a plastic cap over it, prise it off with a fingernail; the pattern is underneath. Wipe it clean, shoot straight on in daylight, no flash.
2. Send it with your model and year. WhatsApp is quickest. We match the pattern against our reference library and confirm the exact key.
3. You order once we've confirmed. Free UK delivery, Royal Mail Tracked 24, dispatched within one working day.

If we can't match it, or the bolt is already rounded past the point a key will grip, we'll tell you straight away rather than take your money.

What it costs

The identification is free. The BMW matching service is £18.25 including free UK delivery. If you already know your code, you can buy it directly from our BMW range.

For comparison, having a locking bolt professionally removed runs £40–£85 in the UK, and you're left needing a new set afterwards. Our page on how our keys are made explains why a cheap key that rounds your bolt costs you far more than it saved.

Other BMW models

3 Series · 5 Series · All BMW keys · Mini (Mini uses BMW patterns, so the same codes appear across both)

Not a BMW? Browse every make or send us a photo and we'll identify it.