Can you use Stainless Steel for....

[Dave 500]

Suspenion bolts etc etc i've just been looking around the car today and the bolts used by TVR seem to be made from chocolate.

Cheers

Dave

[julian64]

I'm going out on a limb here and say you need some professional advice. I was advised using stainless steel for the bolts holding my split rims together. The advice was that stainless steel has a high tensile strength but is a bit brittle. Forgot the name of the stuff they did recommend. Might be worth checking before you buy something.

[TT Tim]

julian64 said:

I'm going out on a limb here and say you need some professional advice. I was advised using stainless steel for the bolts holding my split rims together. The advice was that stainless steel has a high tensile strength but is a bit brittle. Forgot the name of the stuff they did recommend. Might be worth checking before you buy something.

Was it titanium by any chance?

Tim

[JensenA]

JensenA said:

Yes you can

Sorry, should have been more specific, you have to be careful as to which grade of S/S you get, but to be on the safe side, and for under a tenner....

Sus_Bolts

Edited by JensenA on Tuesday 26th June 19:19

[GreenV8S]

JensenA said:

JensenA said:

Yes you can

Sorry, should have been more specific, you have to be careful as to which grade of S/S you get, but to be on the safe side, and for under a tenner....

Sus_Bolts

Edited by JensenA on Tuesday 26th June 19:19

Are you suggesting that the bolt kits Steve sells are stainless? I wouldn't expect them to be, and I don't see anything on his site to suggest they are. You have to be very careful using stainless steel in highly stressed applications, normally you would be recommended to use non-stainless high tensile bolts.

[julian64]

TT Tim said:

julian64 said:

I'm going out on a limb here and say you need some professional advice. I was advised using stainless steel for the bolts holding my split rims together. The advice was that stainless steel has a high tensile strength but is a bit brittle. Forgot the name of the stuff they did recommend. Might be worth checking before you buy something.

Was it titanium by any chance?

Tim

Not sure it was a little while ago. The cobra use to break its wheel rim bolts on hard acceleration. Yuo used to hear them go with a soft crack. Then the wheel would slowly deflate over a few miles.

The bolts used to be powdered black, the new ones are shiny metalic with a tinge of orange only. Guy runs moderm screws in bexley kent and is a bit of a boffin on this stuff. He told me if I managed to break one of his he'd replace it free of charge. Maybe titanium or possible just high tensile alloy with a protective coating. Not sure to be honest but could be. Not broken one yet despite trying

I havn't much knowledge in this area

[InverCerb]

Funnily enough i was speaking to Steve Heath this morning on this very subject. He stated that there was a risk that stainless bolts would shatter and also in the event of an accident, steel bolts would deform rather than shatter, so you wouldn't get pieces of suspension flying everywhere.

Edited by InverCerb on Wednesday 27th June 12:41

[julian64]

A slight thread hijack, but on the subjest of stainless steel. Are you meant to use a stainless wire brush of a brass one on it. I can never remember. One cleans it nicely and the other turns stainless red rusty.

[JensenA]

GreenV8S said:

JensenA said:

JensenA said:

Yes you can

Sorry, should have been more specific, you have to be careful as to which grade of S/S you get, but to be on the safe side, and for under a tenner....

Sus_Bolts

Edited by JensenA on Tuesday 26th June 19:19

Are you suggesting that the bolt kits Steve sells are stainless? I wouldn't expect them to be, and I don't see anything on his site to suggest they are. You have to be very careful using stainless steel in highly stressed applications, normally you would be recommended to use non-stainless high tensile bolts.

No GreenV8s - Just the opposite, I was saying use the Steve Heath ones because they are to the correct specification.

To explain my original - and too hasty answer, 'Yes you can' (use s/s) .....I have a friend who has his own engineering business specialising in stainless steel fabrications, so I asked him. His reply is that you can get s/s in many different grades, strengths etc etc. And so you could buy the correct grade and have a bolts specially made for you - he does this kind of thing. I was assuming (wrongly as it turned out) that the original poster of the topic was aware of this, and just wanted to use stainless steel.

So my answer should have been "No you can't - unless you get some specially made to the correct specification stainless steel"

(Now have I covered myself enough against any [possible legal action?)