Been thinking about keys myself having seen a number of recent posts about them. I've only ever had one key for my 75 and the main obstacle for me in obtaining a spare has been, as other members have posted about too, the absence of someone local to cut the blade. However I've very recently taken a punt on a key in the post from China which will be cut from a photo I've sent. In addition to cutting a key from a photo the seller also offers to cut a key to a code, which presumably for our cars the key codes are kept at BMW's facility in Germany and for its own exclusive use.
The cutting to code bit has got me thinking. In order to cut a key to a code the Chinese seller or his cutting machine must have reference to the cutting pattern/instructions for a particular code. This begs the question, can a key's code be derived from a photo of the key blade?
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