Stainless Wheel Nuts

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Has anyone ever heard of using stainless wheel nuts? or better still know someone who makes them?
Makes sense, rather than damaging the chrome ones etc, etc.
Are there any problems using stainless?

[bent8-58]

Hey Glenn,
 l've never heard of SS wheel nuts,but wouldn't they be nice? The main problem is that SS (unless specially treated) is very brittle & most of the time rather than bend or flex it breaks. There are different grades of SS for different applications too,304 316 316L,general purpose,marine,underwater spec. etc. etc. & knowing the way companies seem to operate these days if they did make SS wheel nuts,they would probably use the cheapest available raw materials. Of course its considered a no-no to mix materials(SS nuts on steel studs)because they more often than not bind together & mixing materials can lead to premature corrosion.
 Just a thought,l get a bit of speed equipment from the states for my project & in some of the (mouth-watering) catalogues they sell SS wheel-nut washers for mag wheels.Also they sell a brand of chrome-steel mag wheel nuts that are guaranteed not to rust for life. l would like to try a set of each on mine,but funds are limited at the moment & l'll stick to getting the thing out of the shed & on the road first.Hope l didnt waffle on too much to answer your simple question!     Daz

[craiga]

Glenn,

Try these guys:

Tefba Enterprises
124 Silverdale Road
Silverdale NSW 2752

(02) 47742045

Cheers,

Craig.

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Thanks Guys, I asked the engineer that is currently making some spacers for me (and SRVLIVES). They said it costs around 5 times more to machine out of stainless than normal steel. So unless I am going through wheel nuts at a rapid rate, it really isn't economical.

[COL58FE]

g'day stinky,
                 you might want to try your
local truck accessory shop as they sell
stainless nut & bolt cover's in the same
shape of a nut or bolt head.and already
highly polished for a lot less then 5
time's the amount of chrome wheel nut's,
they come in almost every size from
10mm upward's.  
                                            cheer's col.

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Thanks Col and everyone else, there's a store on my way to work.

[FCwagon]

Hi Stinky,
The reason you don't see stainless wheel nuts anywhere is they react chemically with the dissimilar steel in the studs. They would also cut into the softer (albeit tempered) steel stud if you have any minor thread damage & then requiring stud replacement.
cheers,
Leigh