Abstract: A shielding piece is adapted to be placed over the end of a socket wrench to protect the finish of decorative nuts from marring by the socket during wrenching operations, the shielding piece formed from a cushioning glass filled polyurethane material sufficiently soft to be non-marring to the nut and wheel surfaces. The shielding piece is configured with an inner liner portion and an outer shell portion joined together so that when in place the inside and outside of the open end of the socket is completely covered to protect the adjacent wheel and hub surfaces from marring by the socket as the nuts are wrenched tight. A composite preferred version of the shielding piece is also disclosed, in which an aluminum liner is molded to a polyurethane nose piece, the aluminum liner being highly resistant to compression failure while being sufficiently soft to be non-marring to the nut wrenching surfaces. A lug wrench adapter having an attached shielding piece is also disclosed.