Good way to keep steel lug nuts from rusting?

[Maxhouse97]

See below, think paint would come off, any idea?

[scary driving]

Anti-seize grease will keep them from rusting at the tread. It's also a good idea to place some at the seat of the wheel with the center. It keeps you from having to kick the tires to get them off. Maybe give the nuts a dip in phosphoric acid, it gives steel a protective coat. If that is not easy to find (as in you are not near a coast), the makers of pblaster make a product called corrosion stop, that works wonders.

[Canada Kev]

Phosphoric acid is available from lots of places as it's a great converter of rust and is often used to prep metal for paint or other coatings. You can probably find some at Lowes or Home Depot or a cleaning supply house or naval jelly or Ospho or cola or...

[Justin@Athens]

Try powdercoating them? Or soak them in Gibbs and just let them air dry.

[Uwon]

Yes, a constant problem. Zinc coating is expensive and mars easily. I have given up and now just periodically wire wheel the nuts and ends of the studs followed clear coat and some heat to cure/harden. A soft socket form our host helps. As "scary" said, anti-seize on the threads helps.

Cheers,
Johan

[safe]

There is probably some fancy coating one could use. I wouldn't try powder coating...
Blacksmiths used to (and probably still does) treat stuff with linseed oil, heated the steel and dipped in the oil. It created a black finish that had a protective effect.
The bluing on guns gives a rust protection to, doesn't it?

[Shaun @ Tru6]

best options are Cerakote and black zinc chromate

There are also some rattle can paints that harden when baked. That would be your cheapest solution and would probably be ok with some twill pants fabric over the nuts when tightening/loosening.