Ross-Dean Locksmiths

Customer bought a car that needed different a different key for the ignition to the driver’s door. This is rebuilding the customer’s door lock to match all the other locks on the vehicle

If your car has been stolen/recovered without the keys you may wish to have the locks changed and the missing keys electronically erased from the vehicle. This will prevent any missing keys being used to re-steal the car.

One of the most common ways to steal a car is by taking the keys. Do not leave your keys within sight of the letterbox. I go to so many houses to see the keys hanging in full view, or lying on the hallway table.

We now stock and install the Yale Conexis smart lock.

Open either using your phone, key tag, phone tag or key card. Send ‘mobile keys’ remotely to anybody who needs access. (These can be set for a time period, or revoked as necessary).

Take a look at the video below to see some of the capabilities of this lock.

Most UPVC doors use a type of lock called a Euro cylinder.  I estimate less than 10% of houses in my area have BS kitemarked cylinders. The bulk of the other 90% of locks are to be frank ….. rubbish.

BS locks can also have additional ratings or certifications such as  1 to 3 stars, or the Sold Secure Diamond.

Below is a video of a high end BS cylinder. We supply and fit these Ultion locks if the customer wants one of the strongest locks available.

An important thing to consider is the lock length.  The lock should not be sticking out of the exterior handles more than a few mm, ideally it should be flush.  A lock that is too long on the outside leaves you more vulnerable to burglary.

Another common mistake you’ll see it the handles fitted the wrong way. If your screw holes are on the outside of the door then they’ve been fitted incorrectly. Again this is a security weakness.

A customer called late at night with the end of the key snapped off in the car door.  The key was badly worn and had not been turning without force and jiggling.  Finally the key snapped. Customer thought he would need new locks.

The key was extracted from the lock. A new key was then cut with a computerised machine which cut to the measurements the original key when it was brand new. The new key worked smoothly, new locks weren’t needed and customer could drive away happy.

This is the snapped key held together in the trace cutting jig.  It was necessary to reproduce a one piece copy of the snapped key. Only a key in one piece could be decoded by the computerised cutting machine.

Sometimes if used with a worn key over a period of time a lock will wear too.  In such a situation you might be advised to get a new lock too.

We’d only supplied this lock last month but somebody snapped a key off, then pushed the broken part even further in with an old nail. It was impossible to remove the snapped part. This is the larger body size of the Master Pro Series padlocks.

We had to do a destructive removal of this chunky padlock. It was a right pain to get off, and I was very impressed with the amount resistance it put up.  Getting it off was neither quick, nor quiet.  Well done this lock.