Automotive Key Making

[Zlockoutmz]

Hello everyone,

I'm a locksmith in the Metro-Detroit area. Being 1. A huge city and 2. The auto capital of the world it's almost impossible to not get calls everyday for auto locksmith services. I've been doing a lot of research about auto key making and I'm coming up with nothing. So what I'm trying to get to is that I need some help from some experts on here. I do residential and commercial and understand key impressions, but wasn't sure If I can impression the wafers in the locks. Also what do I do for cars that are newer like dimple keys and center cut keys? I see there are those lishi picks 2-in-1 but I currently don't have a code cutter machine. I have a High-Security Sidewinder duplicator but I just can't grasp how to make keys from scratch with the way cars are now. I feel like I have kind of a general idea, but need a lot more information to be able to actually get into this. I also don't really have to get into the new cars but like 1990-2007?

Mark

[MBI]

Welcome to the forum. It's always nice to have another locksmith join us.

Unfortunately discussion of automotive lockout and decoding techniques and tools is limited to the restricted forum.
Here is the information on applying for access.
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2474

I hope you stick around and participate in the forums here, it's an excellent resource.

[2octops]

You might want to consider visiting with a local association and network with other locksmiths in your area that do automotive work.

The Just Cars classes are very good hands on for learning techniques for automotive work as well as the Lockmasters classes.

There are also several manuals available from multiple distributors that go into great detail on originating keys for cars.