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General Forum : Key Knowledge

- BMW E21 Community
   - General Forum
      - Key Knowledge
melloh   Posted Tuesday, May 15th 12:58am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member
Post nr. 557
   
California, USA (San Jose)
1980 320is, 1991 318is
Some of you probably know this, but I was pleasantly surprised today. My old roommate lost the original key to my e21 so I only had the valet key (thankfully the trunk was unlocked already).

SO, went to my local hardware store (Southern Lumber/ACE) and had a spare made just in case my last remaining key also gets lost.

LO-AND-BEHOLD, the COPY of the valet key operates the trunk lock!

Thought I'd share this as it could save someone time and money from having to go to the dealer to get a non-valet key made. 3 keys made (one for e21, one for e30, and one house key) cost me <$5.00. Let's see the dealer beat that price...

Boost_me   Posted Tuesday, May 15th 1:15pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member
Post nr. 222
   
Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i
I only have 1 key for my car and as far as I know it lock's/unlock's my 2 door's, boot, glovebox and my ignition......I never know they have a valet key??? I never got one upon purchase....I dunno

But I must agree with you when you say let's see the dealer beat that price....What sort of key did you cut it from?? Did you get that from BMW?? I don't think we can just go and buy car key's here (Aus), dealer's only, all the other keysmith's hold only house and garage/paddlock style key's.....

Madhatter   Posted Tuesday, May 15th 4:45pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member
Post nr. 176

Australia - QLD
E21, E24, E30
you can walk into any person who cuts keys and simply ask for a bw7. It is a common key, silca make them, among other companies, and anyone who has a decent stock of key blanks will have one.

Boost_me   Posted Wednesday, May 16th 7:51am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member
Post nr. 227
   
Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i
Fair enough, all the key cutter's I've been too don't do car key's......

melloh   Posted Wednesday, May 16th 10:09am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member
Post nr. 560
   
California, USA (San Jose)
1980 320is, 1991 318is
The only drawback for me sofar is the key looks... well... generic! It's not a cool oem-looking key w/ the BMW logo stamped on it. Oh well.

I'm not sure if the key machine was special in any way, but I imagine you could bring in a blank (buy one onnline or heck, I can get some here and ship em to you) and have them copy it to the blank you bring in. Of course, you may want to go and ask first.

pjs323i   Posted Wednesday, May 16th 11:38am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member
Post nr. 51
   
Canberra, Australia
'81 323i
i have both original keys for my 323i, the larger main key and the spare. however my 318i was attemped to be stolen at some point (i think) as it only has one key which is a totally differnt type of key to the 323i and the drivers door keylock looks like its been tampered with. The ignition and boot lock also look differnt...

myersport   Posted Wednesday, May 16th 9:55pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member
Post nr. 184
   
east tennessee
'82 320iS. '91 327iC
The difference in the master and valet keys is the actual thickness of the blank. The cut is identical, but the valet will not physically fit into the glovebox, trunk, or gas cap (if it is the locking style) because it has a thicker cross section.
--Dennis

NSR21L   Posted Thursday, May 17th 11:27am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]
Member
Post nr. 34
   
Sydney NSW
BMW E21 323i
If it's one thing i really hate is when thieves try to break into the car trying to bust the door locking barrel it's happend to my sister, leaving the car at the train station car park, i think one solution would be to eliminate the door locks all together weld a patch and reinforce it with Devcon F or stainless steel reinforced putty. although thieves can still get in via the windows!

Simon


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