Alloy Lug Nuts - Can You Chrome Them?

[Tidybuoy]

I've seen many "chrome" lug nuts for alloy wheels but the prices are astronomical.

Is it possible to chrome my existing lug nuts. I'm wondering because it seems to me that chroming them would add a little metal an thus, make them too large to fit.

Any advice on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

Vern

[bperry]

I opted for using lug nut caps.
That way it doesn't matter what the actual lugs look like
plus you don't have to ever worry about scratching them wile
removing them.
You can find chrome or black covers. I actually have a set
of each.
The chrome ones look great. I picked up a full set (16) including
a tool to remove them for about $20 on ebay.
Not sure where the guy I bought them from got them but
I have seen them for sale at this web site:
http://www.prestigewheel.com


--- bill

[Tidybuoy]

Great & Thanks!

I currently have the same covers but mine are black and I'm missing a few of them. I'll take a look and maybe I'll find the chrome ones.

It makes sense to just cover them because I doubt I could keep them "scratch free" even on the initial install. And, at $100+ per set.......good grief.....I'd have to start parking in two stalls just to protect the lugs.....

Thanks again.....Vern

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

You can chrome the stock bolts (or nuts). You should not do so. Chroming a part can make it brittle, which can lead to cracking and failure. This, as you can imagine, is a Bad Thing Indeed when you're talking about wheel bolts (or lug nuts).

Chromed covers are cool. Lug nuts or bolts that were originally designed to be chromed should be cool. (No, I don't know what the difference is...) But I would stay away from having your existing hardware chromed.

--DD

[lapuwali]

Alternatively, you could just polish the heads, and perhaps have them anodized.

Chroming can be done w/o embrittlement, but it first requires you to copper plate the part, then nickel or chrome plate the copper. The soft copper stops any crack propogation from the brittle nickel/chrome finish getting into the base material.

I'd see little point in plating the threads or the shank, just the heads. Any additional thickness from the plating process will be very small, and not enough to affect the dimensions of the heads enough to make a wrench not fit.