Refreshing hardware, nuts, bolts
 

I tried replacing my rear bumper strips today, and immediately ran into the old rusted fastener problem. I only broke one stud on my bumperettes, but nearly every nut and bolt I touch under my car seems to be pretty badly corroded. The PET of course doesn't list some of the specific ones (e.g. the nuts that hold the rear bumper cover on), so I assume they are "common", and while I am pretty sure I get new ones at the dealer, I do wonder if anyone offers an assortment of Pcar appropriate hardware, e.g. a grab bag of various common fasteners, washers, screws, nuts, etc. Couldn't find anything from our host, and google hasn't helped me so far. Any suggestions?

Ace Hardware has about all of them. I replaced most of mine with stainless steel. The bolt on the bumperett can be repaired, the rest push out. HTH

+1 on Ace.

This is another source but it depends how crazy you want to go.

General Purpose Metric Fastener Assortments

Maryland Metric or better yet MMC Metric. They have all the sizes you will commonly need in yellow zinc. I have found these to be very close to the original cad plating. Some of the larger fine pitch bolts and nuts you will need to get plated. The only thing they do not have are the split nut copper plated exhaust and intake manifold nuts, but these are readily available (make sure you get the 12mm flat to flat to keep it as close to spec as possible).

For those that go to stainless, check the stainless class as most hardware store stainless bolts are not as strong as class 8.8. The specs can be found at the Maryland Metric site.

Thanks for the tip on Ace - too bad they are becoming such an anachronism - not a single Ace in the city of Austin any more! A couple out in the burbs, though. And I think Lowe's does carry a bit better assortment than Home Depot.

The biggest problem I seem to have is knowing what size/pitch I need. I picked up some SS nuts at Home Depot for my bumper, only to find that the thread pitch was different.

I was hoping to find someone selling one of those little drawer racks stuffed with a useful assortment of SS or zinc plate in the "common" sizes, but I guess that is too much to hope for...the Eagle Day link is pretty close, though, I almost missed that, thanks, 1986911.

Grilot's Garage sells a nice assortment that comes in a great powdercoated red case. I bought just the case from them and an assortment of metric hardware from Pep Boys (they have 2 large metric sets, one for Asian and one for European cars. The Euro one has most of the commonly used nuts, bolts and washers in German cars. I believe PP and Pegasus racing sell larger assortments. Wuerth sells a huge assortment but it is probably overkill unless you run a shop.

Wow that Griot's assortment, at $349 is nice:
Griot's Garage Master Assortment Rack And Drawer Set - Fastener Kits - Storage Solutions - In Your Garage - Griot's Garage

The site that 1986911 posted, eagleday.com also offers a "944" assortment for $169, my guess is it would be pretty much good for 911s also:
944 General Purpose Fastener Kit

With the exception of the Wurth hardware and the eagleday stuff (both which are yellow cad/zinc) most of the other assortments are clear zinc (silver). Here are the links to the Maryland Metric: MARYLAND METRICS PRODUCT GUIDEand the MMC (Metric Multistandard Components) Metric Multistandard Components Corp.

These sources are considerably less expensive than even your hardware store, and that would include the shipping.

Metric MMC is fantastic. Also, consider a group buy including the plating for those items not readily available in yellow cad or yellow zinc.

Dan,
That Metric MMC site looks fantastic, thanks for the link. I ordered the 944 package from eagleday just to get me started, I am partial to the yellow zinc.

Thanks,
John

BTW, if anyone is into SS hardware, I also found this kit, also for 944s. At $80, seems like a good deal:

PORSCHE 944 MISC STAINLESS FASTENER KIT | eBay

No local hardware store in Central Austin?

HMM what about NW Hardware on Far West or Breed and Co on 29th street?

Breed has a huge selection of metric hardware. No, it is not yellow zinc coated in metric - though some is.

Hey Jamie,
What I was saying is there was no Ace hardware - I think there used to be one over on Burnet, but I guess it's gone The problem with any of these stores, is it's hit and miss. And when my car is up on jack stands, it's not easy to be sure that lock nut )or whatever) I spent an hour to find is actually going to fit. (I do wish Austin Bolt was open on weekends, they seem to have everything.) But it's still better to have a box of quality hardware in the garage you can raid without interrupting the project, which was my goal.

John