are these real pictures of stainless bolts

[mason79]

i bought these on ebay and don't think they are real stainless, i think they are cheap chrome jobs as you can see the bolt head and some pitted marks, i just doesn't look very high quality,it does say a2-70, though

isn't stainless suppose to have smooth SURFACES? and not pitted?

does anyone know if these are cheap counterfeits? and how are bolts made?

[xschop]

stainless?

from my experience, Those are stainless steel. Every one i got from fastenal was pitted that way because the stock shank was poured into a mold then machined afterward, leaving the pitting. I had to use a palm sander, 100 grit, to sand smooth, then wheel and rouge to a mirror finish. There are companies that sell them (stainless) with a mirror finish, TO me it's worth the extra dough for time saved polishing...hope this helps...chop

[mason79]

Re: stainless?

Originally posted by xschop
from my experience, Those are stainless steel. Every one i got from fastenal was pitted that way because the stock shank was poured into a mold then machined afterward, leaving the pitting. I had to use a palm sander, 100 grit, to sand smooth, then wheel and rouge to a mirror finish. There are companies that sell them (stainless) with a mirror finish, TO me it's worth the extra dough for time saved polishing...hope this helps...chop

they were advertised polished, and he has 3200,100% feedback

but they are not polished, hmmm.....

[xswilly]

most types of stainless will not stick to a magnet

[knewsom]

Also, an easy way to tell if it's chrome or not is to grind/sand the surface a bit - if it's just chrome plated, then the steel underneath will be a different color. if it's stainless, it'll be the same. (and also a bitch and a half to sand/grind)

[excess11]

SS Bolts

I bought some bolts that looked like that. His story was they were SS bolts that came from Eastern Europe and were flat production finish. Then when he gets them they are put into a tumbler polisher to give them a polished finish. I think the pits are from the tumbling process. I guess some type of sand or agrigate is used to tumble the bolts with to make them shinny. Mine have never rusted and look good except for a close up inspection. They do have the pits like yours.

[skids]

Hey Mason, Where did you get that pirana picture? :-)

[osmosis4b]

I boght some 314 stainless bolts once, and somehow they got plated in nickel before I recieved them. They were not advertised as plated, but looked ;ike your pics. Soaking in 50% nitric acid/water solution will strip the nickel plating in a few minutes, and not touch the stainless beneath them. (but this is an exothermic reaction, so but the whole thing in an ice bath.)

[mason79]

Originally posted by skids
Hey Mason, Where did you get that pirana picture? :-)

a friend went vacationing in brazil and gifted me a dried fish, so the picture is of an actual...

[mason79]

Originally posted by xswilly
most types of stainless will not stick to a magnet

they stick a little with the neodynum hardrive magnets, nut not like to regualr steel...

[mason79]

Re: SS Bolts

Originally posted by excess11
I bought some bolts that looked like that. His story was they were SS bolts that came from Eastern Europe and were flat production finish. Then when he gets them they are put into a tumbler polisher to give them a polished finish. I think the pits are from the tumbling process. I guess some type of sand or agrigate is used to tumble the bolts with to make them shinny. Mine have never rusted and look good except for a close up inspection. They do have the pits like yours.

i put them under a 10x jeweler's loupe and the threads are shiny and i doubt the have been tumbled, i'm somewhat convinced of the metalurgy, suspicous of the "polishing" and disappointed about the quality, but i guess i'm splitting hairs

mines no where a show bike would you put them on?

[trbig]

I would. They look alot better than the half rusty used-to-be-black ones I have on mine!

Tod

[xschop]

he says polished

tumbling will not remove the pits, just shiny them up, it all depends on your definition of "polished"...chop....also forgot to mention that a belt sander will remove the pits very quickly by rotating the bolt head on the belt, use 120-180 grit. then polish with rouge, end result just like chrome.

[JWSanders]

I got mine on Ebay as well. They were completely smooth and look awesome. Ended up getting enough to do a whole engine and the carbs as well. All were smooth and super shiney.

Well, I say I got them on ebay....Actually, the guy was selling them on Ebay and I emailed to ask about the carb bolts. He figured up what I needed and I got a few extra of each size. I ordered them from his website after he quoted me all the peices I needed. Here's the site: http://www.westcoastmc.com/store/ind...keyword=xs1100 He's even added the xs1100 carbs as a kit since I had him do the quote for me.

He also said he'd got them from Europe. That isn't the same place is it? I sure hope not. They were super helpful. Was about to order a bunch more. What was the Ebay number?

[planedick]

Real stainless...

If you want real stainless fasteners of any size and/or configuration, go to McMaster.com and you can get it any way you want. Great company, no hassle returns, anything you could possibly want is on the shelf ready for delivery any way you want.