New wheels,lug nuts questions.

I just got a set of alloys from a 2016 to replace my steelies. I'm wondering what to coat the chrome lug nuts with to help stop corrosion and keep them looking sharp.
Any good advice on lubing the studs or not? What is best treatment for the wheels themselves to keep them looking new? Keep in mind, these wheel will see some of the Ohio winter salt extravaganza. Thanks

 

If you're talking about the factory / OEM lug nuts, they are not chrome plated. They are actually a stainless steel cosmetic cap over a pretty normal steel lug nut. The outside cap does not normally corrode, but there have been instances of corrosion of the steel lug nut underneath the stainless cap. This leads to the cap expanding out from within driven by the corrosion and your lug wrench no longer fitting it. (Of course you know when you'll find that out for the first time.) As far as I know, there's not a whole lot you can do to prevent it other than making sure that the seam between the cap and nut is not opened up and your lug studs are not soaking wet when you put the nuts on.

As for the lug studs, I generally keep a light layer of Never Seize on them just in case. Living in an area where we use a lot of road salt, I also put a coat of High Temperature Never Seize around the center hubs where the wheel mates to them. If you don't, you may eventually run into a bit of trouble getting your wheel(s) to come off as they corrode and latch themselves on at this point.

Finally, as for what to use to protect your new wheels, I generally recommend keeping them clean first. Never wash a hot wheel or spray any kind of Wheel Cleaner on them when they're warm. Bad things happen if you do. As for protecting them, traditional carnauba waxes are pretty useless because of the heat from your brakes. This breaks down the wax in very short order. I recommend Synthetic Sealants or some of the newer Coatings that are starting to come out. They will last much longer.

 

Not a bad idea to lube the threads but keep in mind torque values are for dry threads. With lubed threads, you reduce torque up to 25% so you don't over clamp the bolts. Best way to measure torque on lubed threads is to torque the bolt with dry threads, then mark the nut. Put your lube on the threads and measure torque value to fasten the nut to the mark.
http://www.antiseize.com/PDFs/torque_specifications.pdf

 

Absolutely agree. I just under-torque by about 20%. Many people don't understand that one doesn't need to stretch the studs to hold a wheel on.