Does anyone know what strength bolts are needed for front beam and other suspension parts on a beetle? I have some which are 10.9 that I wanted to use. Also can these be stainless or not a good idea?

Also what is the go with using stainless bolts on mild steel threads e.g. wings, body bolts etc? Heard that it is not a good idea to mix - is this true?

Stainless on non structural areas is fine. Make sure you use anti seize to stop galling. Would not use on suspension parts due to impact fatigue. Check the head of your original bolt it should have the number or star marks setting material strength.

most bolts for suspension should be grade 8 as they are strong and yet still abit flexable. stainless is supposed to be inert however can still be a bit reactive if they arent the best quality. but all information contained in this ramble is not to be used as a replacement for qualified engineers advice!

The same engineers that built The Shuttle (-2),That Wobbly bridge,The Titanic, The P76 and The Hindenburg......Oh the humanity.

if you are using stainless make sure it is 316 grade not 304. the 316 is a marine grade so will hold up much better than the generic 304 grade.

Also most SS bolts are not high tensile grade so best to use these on only non strutural stuff, gaurds and such are okay but definitely not for suspension and safety type applications.

metric high tensile bolts start at grade 8.8 and as Mactaylor says they have the grade stamped on the bolt head.

These are the bolts I was planning to use. Does anyone know by the markings whether they are stainless or not???

Sounds like the other non structural ones in stainless will be OK with some copper grease anti sieze.

With regards to mixing materials I am assuming you mean things like stainless bolts and regular steel panels. In which case using stainless is a bad idea. This question has been asked many times on this forum. This article sums it all up for you, http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=98. 

It's like that experiment you do as a kid, putting a steel and copper nail into a lemon to create a battery. Same principal applies here. Using materials as similar as possible is best, hence steel panels and gal (zinc plated) bolts.

In that articles you will see steel and zinc are very closely located in that table, which is a good thing.

Steel and stainless on the other hand are far apart and that is a bad thing.

I for one will be using galvanized bolts when the time comes.

Quote:

Originally posted by Aussie These are the bolts I was planning to use. Does anyone know by the markings whether they are stainless or not??? Sounds like the other non structural ones in stainless will be OK with some copper grease anti sieze.

Some useful links:

http://www.totallystainless.com/yoursafety.htm 

http://www.totallystainless.com/totallystainless.htm 

hth