Stainless Steel fasteners

[Steve W]

Hi, does anyone have details of good supplier of stainless steel fasteners for the Stag?
cheers Steve

[Goldstar]

westfield fasteners has a good selection

[MandM]

You must have a factor in your local area that will stock, unc and unf stainless, just do a Google search it will come up with something

[JOHNS]

During my restoration I replaced most of my bolts, except rear suspension, with stainless steel. I used both Westfield Fasteners and Spalding Fasteners. When it comes to buying fasteners the more you buy the cheaper they get, so for machine screws it is worthwhile assessing how many you need by diameter and then buying a load of the longest one and cutting them down to size. This is one advantage of stainless over plated as the plating is destroyed when you cut them. There is also a big difference in the grade of stainless you can buy. Grade A2 is the cheapest but I would only use them for internal bolts. Go for grade A4 for all other applications.

[MandM]

Classic Car Fasteners | Bespoke | Obsolete | Cheshire | Leyton Fasteners

Leyton Fasteners
9-15 Cook St, Ellesmere Port CH65 4AU

Not used them, but seem to cater for classic cars

[mole42]

Bear in mind that A2 is too weak to be used for structural or suspension fastenings, only A4 has sufficient tensile strength. However, note that the extra chromium in A4 makes it more susceptible to fatigue and cracking, so if you are planning to drive your car it's probably better not to use stainless bolts or setscrews.....

[JOHNS]

Bear in mind that A2 is too weak to be used for structural or suspension fastenings, only A4 has sufficient tensile strength. However, note that the extra chromium in A4 makes it more susceptible to fatigue and cracking, so if you are planning to drive your car it's probably better not to use stainless bolts or setscrews.....

I wasn't aware there were mechanical property differences between A2 and A4, if they are the same grade ie 70, only corrosion resistance due to the addition of molybdenum. See table below


A2 Stainless Steel


A2 > Type 304 can also be called 18/8 because it ‘approximately’ contains 18% Chromium and 8 % nickel

A2 (304, 18/8, EN 1.4301) is an austenitic steel and is non-magnetic. The chromium provides a corrosion and oxidation resistance, however it can tarnish. It is immune to foodstuffs, sterilizing solutions, most organic chemicals and dyestuffs, also a wide variety of inorganic chemicals. As such it is used extensively for sinks, tabletops, stoves, refrigerators , pots, pans dairy equipment, brewing industry, fruit industry, food processing plants, dye tanks, pipelines, and more
A4 Stainless Steel


For marine conditions you need more resistance to corrosion. Adding molybdenum (2-3%) to the mix provides this extra cover – and gives us the A4 grade

A4 > Type T316 (Spec: EN 10088-3:2005, 1.4401 Steel With 16% chromium, 10% nickel and 2% molybdenum) grade is also austenitic, non magnetic and suitable for all the situations as A2 BUT has the added advantage of being suitable for marine solutions. Often called Marine Grade stainless steel. The molybdenum content increases the corrosion resistance to withstand attack from many industrial chemicals and solvents and of course, chlorides (Salt!). Used in the production of inks, photographic chemicals, surgical implants, and the marine environment
Are A2 & A4 Stainless Steel Magnetic?


Although A2 and A4 are classed as non-magnetic it is not the whole story. Steels are either austentic or ferretic - terms that are about the configuration of the atoms within the steel. Austenetic refers to atoms being face centered cubic in nature, Ferritic atoms are body centered cubic. I wont go into details, but mechancial deformation of the stainless steel can cause local changes to the structure from austentic to ferritic and is why, on occasion, stainless steel can be magnetic - and is the source of much confusion.
Mechanical Properties


Both A2 and A4 grades come in three property classes: 50 (soft) , 70 (cold-worked) & 80 (high-strength) – the most common of which is the 70 class which is cold drawn” from bar stock.

These classes have different mechanical properties. For example A2-70 has a tensile strength of 700 Nmm-2 and 450 Nmm-2 proof stress.

50	500	210	0.6d	500
70	700	450	0.4d	700
80	800	600	0.3d	800
100	1000	800	0.2d	1000

However I only used stainless on ares with low stress ie not steering or suspension.

[mjheathcote]

I used stainless fasteners on my rebuild.
Everywhere but the suspension.

[dasadrew]

Each to his own, I guess, but the ability to search for dropped nuts, bolts and washers in all sorts of inaccessible places - starting with the "V" and finishing with the sills - wih a magnet on a telescopic or flexible rod outweighs the advantage of bling every time for me!

[Roy_S]

It's when those expensive stainless bolts you bought off eBay are found to be magnetic..........hmmmmmm

[dasadrew]

Like IKEA stainless steel items!

[jbuckl]

Like IKEA stainless steel items!

15 years ago I saved £80 by going to IKEA to buy a handle. But the queuing for parking & leaving was 4 hours, so haven’t been back since