Concours lug nut choices for rally wheels

Jason,

I use the stainless ones. Most observers won't know the difference.

 

So the originals are the ones with stainless caps? I'd have to see one of the capped repros in hand before buying them. If they are nice repro thats what I'd go with. My 66 originally had solid chrome nuts and there are no repros for them except the stainless. I thought I would be forced to use stainless due to cost of rechroming my originals but found out I could rechrome 20 nuts for $15 less than the new stainless. Had I bought stainless, I would have had to polish them to look chrome.
With "concourse" being the key word in your post, the moral of the story is try to match the originals any way possible. Even concourse restos have to make consessions in some areas but if thats your ultimate goal I'd select the option that provides the most original appearing part.

 

Jason,
If you are looking for the correct appearance.........................

The Chevelle "capped" lug nuts do not look the same as the ones used on the Buicks. If you are looking for 70-72 Buick lug nuts then the Cars repros are the best match. They are basically a solid stainless "acorn" style lug nut, while the Chevelle capped nuts have angular sides with an almost flat top and a small raised point in the center.

They are definately not what you need.
Duane

 

Right...solid SS acorn shaped nuts, that's what I'm using. Got them from Fusick, they were less $ and picked them up to save SH. Those were used on early Olds 442, like the SS I wheels.

 

Some of the earlier cars used an acorn nut with a different exterior shape. If you want to buy the correct appearance nuts you need to be careful to buy the right ones for the year car you are working on.

If I remember correctly the 66-67 Buicks used a different style nut then the 70-72 cars.
Duane

 

Also check the ones sold by Mitch Romanowski (mitchr) here on the board. Not sure how perfect they are to originals, but many people here use them, including myself.

- Bill

 

I think it may be the other way around, 'cuz my understanding is Mitch buys the center emblems from CARS. Honestly, I looked at all 3 mentioned above and I'm pretty sure they are all the same. They are good quality, but they ARE from Taiwan or made of Chinesium.

 

NO idea on the origin of Cars lugnuts But I have used them for years and they are nice. The flat top capped reproductions are garbage.

 

I bought center caps and lugs for mine from Mitch about 3 years ago, they are really nice and held up great. Ron

 

OK, heres the history of the Cars lug nuts.

I was the first company to offer them, and my first batch was around 20 sets. The outside shape was identical to the originals but they were very hard to make with the elongated dome. Once the Concours guys found out about them they really started selling and I could not keep up with production.

My worry was that I would not have enough sets available and a Car coming to the Concours Class would get points deducted because I could not deliver them in time. I certainly didn't need to have this happen, and it came very close to becoming a reality that first year.

Glenn said he could get them made in volume, so I gave him a nice original to use as a pattern and he started producing them. They are very close to the correct shape and work perfectly for the Concour classes. The main difference is they don't "wiggle" like the originals do when the Stainless Steel caps get loose, but the Judges are not supposed to touch the cars so they should never know.

As to where Glenn gets them made.........I have no idea.
Duane

 

My guess is Santas workshop.

 

Jason,
That is the correct outer shape for the 70-72 A-body Buicks.

The originals had a slightly higher/elongated dome, but this is as close as you can get and is acceptable for Concours Judging.
Duane