Zinc vs. Yellow vs. Stainless

[CHILI]

Which is the best? I believe zinc can be both clear and yellow, right? At least that's the info I got when I did a search.

And what about stainless?

The reason I ask is I need to replace all of the front fender hardware and really wanted yellow (like they were stock), but the kit that Pelican carries is silver. If I go that route, I can use stainless from a local hardware store and save money. Or does stainless react with other metals (fenders and clips) in a bad way?

Here's what they carry...
PEL-PP910862

[911pcars]

Stainless would be nice as it has better anti-corrosion properties. In addition, stainless is neutral to most other materials. However, they are costlier than steel versions. And if you care, the preservationists might picket your car.

Unless you opt for costly aircraft grade, stainless fasterners are not as strong as regular grades of steel but should be fine for low-medium strength applications. Keep stainless away from structural suspension or engine parts.

I believe Wurth carries yellow zinc plated metric fasteners; perhaps others on the internet as well. Most sell clear zinc.

Sherwood

[dweymer]

the yellow that you want is a yellow chromate over a zinc base. Most people do not do real CAD anymore due to the EPA regs. You can have your hardware blasted and plated you know.

[CHILI]

Originally posted by dweymer
the yellow that you want is a yellow chromate over a zinc base. Most people do not do real CAD anymore due to the EPA regs. You can have your hardware blasted and plated you know.

My fender hardware is harldy ware. LOL But seriously, it's toast.

Thanks for the info guys. I will keep the stainless away from suspension and motor parts.

As for Wurth, I looked them up, but there's no prices on line? Do you have to call for a quote? Or did I miss something?

[DW SD]

check out www.eagleday.com they sell many zinc plated fasteners, amongst other things. I also bought a ton of M6 fasteners from www.mcmaster.com, I think a box of 100, maybe 200 for $20 or so. I think they are the most common fastener on the Porsche I don't reuse most M6 fasteners, now. Just make sure you buy the ones with zinc yellow finish. I think I bought M6 x 20mm.

Doug

Doug

[randywebb]

Wurth will have an outlet somewhere near you - they operate thru them.

Eagle-Day is very spendy but has the swag the concours people need.

[RLJ]

When I put my car back together I lived on the Washington coast. Almost all of the fastners and hardware (washers and such) went back in as stainless(body/trim/interior). I was lucky, Jack's Country Store in Ocean Park, WA. is still one of the old time hardware stores where you can walk in, grab a "box" of fastners from the shelf, count out how many you want, put them in a paper sack, write the price on the sack and go pay for it. No bubble pack with more than you need! Jack liked having wierd stuff so if I found something that I wanted and they didn't have the item, most times they would buy a box or two so they would. Being a coastal fishing community stainless steel fastners and hardware was a hot item.

Randy Jones
1971 911 "Iris"

[RoninLB]

Stainless screws that I got from McMaster took big to a magnet and were soft. Marine ss from a good store is great imo.

metric ss is hard to find but doable.

[ryanmt]

The yellow plated bolts are typically di-chromated, they also can be silver in color. The company I work for allows di-chromated bolts, nuts and washers to be yellow or silver. The problem with the di-chromated bolts is that the process required to plate these has hexavalent chromium (this is bad since the Erin Brochavich movie), but has incredible salt spray resistance and really good strength compared to stainless as we make them in grade 10.9 and 11.9. The only downside to di-chromate is in a true bolted joint they loose their preload after the first application, so if you torque these bolts more than once they are unpredictable in how they will affect a critical bolted joint. The bolted joint experts are not in favor of using plated bolts in bolted joints for this reason and prefer phos. and oiled bolts for any true bolts (low corrosion resistance). On the 911 I have seen dicromate used on critical bolted joints ( axles and engine mounts), history and over design is better than theory and it has seemed to not cause problems as I have re-used my half-shaft bolts.

[Jip]

"Good for our side, RLJ.' I live in old and poor Anacortes,Washington with very few 'bizillionaires' and appreciate a good hardware store that caters to the cheap metric crowd that sails in from Africa,Bosnia or Australia that might need a nut or a bolt. Good going,mate. 'Cheers' Roadslayer

[JasonAndreas]

Originally posted by ryanmt
The bolted joint experts are not in favor of using plated bolts in bolted joints for this reason and prefer phos. and oiled bolts for any true bolts (low corrosion resistance).

Lately Porsche has been using Dacromet. The only place I found it on my 964 was the engine mount nuts but its all over the 993 and 996 suspension fasteners.

[jpahemi]

Is Dacromet the greenish color?
j.p.

[vesnyder]

One of the advantages of living in the rust belt, where guys have been doing CAD for decades - check these out ...




I've seen both CAD and yellow zinc side by side and on the car would be difficult to distinguish - especially after a film of dirt.

[jpahemi]

Vance:
Are the plates new or did you replace the bushings?
Great job on the plating (drool).
j.p.
Ps Did you bake the Grade 10.9 & 12 hardware?

[vesnyder]

I just had the plates CAD plated while I was replacing the bushings. I had cleaned them too well on a previous clean-up and they began to rust, so I had to do something. Came out better than expected!

Not sure what is meant by "bake the Grade 10.9 & 12 hardware"?

[73TCoupe]

Vance,

Looks great. Did you get those plated here in NE Ohio? If so, where?

Thanks,

Steve

[vesnyder]

Steve - Had them done at a place called Century Plating on South Marginal Road near E. 185th. They do commercial plating and the guy will run small jobs for cash when they are running CAD. I've had several runs and each time it ~$60 - well worth it if you ask me. Leav me a PM if you are interested and I can give you the guys name.

[ryanmt]

Dacromet is supposed to be the replacement for dichromated parts. Dichromated parts are supposed to be phased out of the EU first. Knowing this the US will probably follow. We have not started using Dacromet because the cost in the past has been 4x dichromated parts. One good feature is the Dacromet has better preload characteristics. The rumor is if we ship parts to the EU with dichromate we will need to pay for thier disposal when the vehicle is scrapped.

[JasonAndreas]

Originally posted by jpahemi
Is Dacromet the greenish color?
j.p.

No, the Dacromet coated fasteners are aluminum gray in color.

[randywebb]

http://www.dacromet.com/hcoat.htm

- they can do colors - see the "ID" coatings button

It's water based - believe it or not...