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Good Coating for lugnuts

Q. Hello,

I am a Police Officer in Texas and I have created the ultimate wheel lock (a true wheel lock that you will be unable to remove unless with the key). The question has been asked to me "coating?" Your thoughts on any of the following: Cadmium, zinc or black oxide coating. Or is their something else I should coat them with?

Thank you,

Toby Sims
- Bedford, Texas, USA
April 22, 2012

A. Hi, Toby.

Cadmium plating should not be specified these days as it is a cumulative biotoxin to be reserved for only the most special needs. Black oxide won't hold up.

Last time I looked, the concealed lugnuts used on a car with hubcaps were zinc alloy plated, with a chromate conversion coating and probably a sealer. If the lugnuts aren't visable, that should be okay, but it may not be decorative enough today where lugnuts are often visable. In that case you may need to match the finish on the wheel.

Call me naive, but I only recently realized that those big "chrome lug nuts" on 18-wheelers are actually plastic covers. You may want to zinc alloy plate your lug nuts and fit them with a plastic cover.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
April 27, 2012

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