Stainless Steel Engine/Cover bolts

[Anonymous]

Thinking about replacing the stock engine/casing/cover bolts with stainless steel hex wrench types.

Any Feedback, negatives or positives?

[Billy Ricks]

I've replaced my exhaust bolts with stainless socket cap bolts. Just make sure to use anti-sieze compound on the threads.

[Dink]

The reason Billy sees this is because stainless steel and alloy interact very quickly, slectrolisis will weld them into your cases and damage the threads in the cases very quickly, so yes you can use them, but you must use an anti-seize compound on them , or try using nickel coated stell ones instead, the other thing to be aware of is that stainless is brittle and is more likely to snap due to load, age or vibration.
Dink

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the input! It sounds like it may be more trouble than it is worth for just some cosmetics. I appreciate the advice. There's nothing I hate more than dealing with broken bolts. :P

[Pete's GS]

Oh, stainless steel fasteners are worth the trouble. I put them on all my bikes. They look pretty and they're never going to rust or corrode. Using anti-seize compound is no biggie. You'd lube all nuts and fasteners anyways. You could also replate your original fasteners with zinc or cadmium but stainless is a better way to go. Sometimes you'll see kits for GS bikes on eBay.