Anyone here powdercoat lug nuts before?

After 6, yes 6 months of waiting my KMC enduros finally came in. Whoo hoo.

I have some Gorilla ET lugs spline drive ready to go, but I'm not really feeling the chrome.

Was thinking about powder coating the lug nuts black. I contacted a local, reputable powder coat place and they will do them. I asked about the durability of the coat and was told that they will hold up, but of course use caution and torque by hand, which I do anyway.

Anyone have experience with using powdercoated lug nuts before? If its going to look like hammered poop after the first time I mount them, I'm not going to bother.

Damn I wish they offered the ET's in black!!!

 

I would have to see pictures of hammerhead poop first to draw a comparison.

 

I would rattle can them vs powdercoating and also, they do make sockets with plastic inserts so help protect painted items so it's not metal on paint. I would rattle can them because they can be easily touched up and you know you need to remove them every 5,000 miles anyways for tire rotation. Paint, including powdercoat, will not take many cycles with a socket so you're better off being able to easily touch them up yourself.

 

I think they would hold up fine. I have a set of douglas wheels that I had powdercoated black for my quad. They take a beating on the the track from rocks and have yet to chip. The paint still looks fresh after 2 years. Just make sure they don't get any powdercoat on the threads. If they do you will have a helluva time getting them on the studs.

 

But how often to you take the rims off? The sockets can cut through the paint pretty easily, especially if the lugs are tight from being torqued and then being on the truck for 5,000 miles. Just being on the truck they'll hold up fine, it's the removal that can ruin the paint job.

 

Yeah that's what I'm thinking about. I dunno, maybe I'll just leave them chrome. Or get a set of NON ET black lugs and be "comfortable" with not having as much grip on the wheel stud.

Am I just being too overly anal about lug nuts? My god !

 

You are intensely anal...just get some other black lugs and call it a day.

 

Yes, I'd get the lug nuts powder coated with the rims, but not by themselves. That's just borderline TLC special kinda stuff.

 

You bring up a good point. There is a lot of force on a small area where the socket contacts the lug.
I'm just pleased with how well my wheels powdercoating have held up with the abuse that they take.
I personally would give the powdercoat a shot. If they didn't hold up then I'd rattle can em.

 

I have Enduros too and I have called every lug nut place in the country and cannot find a set of black ET lugs. I am not giving up though. Let us know how the powdercoating holds up.