Right:…chipped chrome on the wheel nuts. As mentioned, the blame falls
to careless mechanics using an airwrench instead of the proper torque wrench.
The nuts on the alloy wheels should be torqued at 55 to 65 lbs and NOT MORE.
This is easily done by hand. Once the nuts are chipped there is no recovery. La
st year I had the wheel nuts on my 82 xj6 (KENT wheels, not “roulette”)
rechromed. A new set of wheelnuts is $300 or so Canadian and the nuts will
still have the less than wonderful finish on the side. The rechroming, done
here in Victoria, cost me about $4 Canadian per nut. The finish is mirror-
smooth all round, which makes a great difference in appearance on the Kent whee
ls. I purchased a socket (SNAP-ON, 21 mm, I think) which has the cut-outs for
the nut edges to prevent chipping. This, and the use of a torque wrench,
as well as sevela coats of carnauba wax, have kept the wheel nuts concours
quality (9.995 in last August’s JCNA, Vancouver). I highly recommend this
to anyone wanting to improve the look of the wheels.
Gregory Andrachuk
Victoria, Canada
82 xj6 (5X "first in class")
84 Sovereign (daily driver)