machining a press fit wheel bearing housing.. to plate or not to plate?

Hi Everyone!
Been working on this for a while now.. I am turning wheel bearing carriers out of an unknown alloy DOM steel tubing.. I will then be pressing in the wheel bearings. the outer shell of the bearing is about 3" and I need to turn the housings for an interference fit. I've found several engineering documents describing the different fits, but I'm not sure what class this application would fall under. is there a rule of thumb of thou per inch of diameter? or something like that? 2ndly since these are one off's I've been milling over a .010 coating of nickle, chrome for corrosion resistance inside the assembly to make it so the bearing and housing don't become one, what worries me about that is thickness variations, and delamination. so the 2nd option would be a coating of paint on the outside, and anti-seize. anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks folks!

I wouldn't plate, not worth the cost and (potential) embrittlement risks. On the press fit, at least in part you have to consider what the internal clearances are in the bearing, some are purposely made looser to allow for the hoop stress of a press fit for retention.

If the press fit security will be a safety issue (it slips and a wheel comes off) then you should consult with a proper engineer to get good numbers. First thing I'd do is try to find a mating OEM hub for the bearing application and carefully measure it for reference.

If the tubing is thin wall, and can flex easily when the press fit is made, you can put more interference on because you effectively lose some clamping force due to the stretching.

What kind of bearing are you talking about? Taper roller bearing cups are not very sensitive to excessive interference, but a ball bearing is. And, you don't engineer something to rely on a press fit to stay all axial forces, you use some retainer rings or some such.