According to Brian Baylis, clear coats are very porous and contain natural pinhole perforations, which induce rust not long after they are painted onto a hub (or a show bike, which was Brian's experience.) It has been tried many times to clearcoat a show bike, but the result is always rusting, a few months later.
Why not spend US$33 and get a brush chroming set and do it right? I estimate that a plating kit would be good for about 5x hubs, or maybe 2x hubs and another large piece like a steel stem and/or seatpost, or maybe 50 pieces of hardware (nuts and bolts etc.) You can also use these kits to de-plate any remaining pieces of the hub before re-plating the whole shebang.
http://www.caswellplating.com/
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA, USA