In this month’s blog post, we’re discussing the different ways automotive fasteners are used every day.
Nuts and Bolts: Building Blocks for Any Vehicle
In the world of automotive fasteners, nuts and bolts are generally considered the most essential binding agents for any vehicle.
Nuts
Nuts are a surprisingly diverse automotive fastener that comes in a wide range of styles . Generally, though, most folks are familiar with hex nuts, which are the hexagonal-shaped nuts that you can find almost anywhere.
Nuts as Automotive Fasteners. Nuts excel as a joining component, binding together two parts and preventing loosening over time. On top of that, different varieties of nuts lend different benefits. Cap nuts, for instance, have a thick ‘crown’ on top of them that protects a bolt’s threads from damage. Barrel nuts, by contrast, actually protrude out perpendicular to a bolt, which helps when bolting thin sheet metal parts with thicker, forged parts.
Bolts
In most cases, a nut isn’t much use without a bolt—and with automotive fasteners, that remains true. Hub bolts, for example, are essential for connecting a vehicle’s wheel to the axle.
Different Bolts as Automotive Fasteners. Bolts are also essential for holding the core components of the car together under the hood. Hex flange bolts are instrumental for holding the transmission and engine together, while U-bolts often hold the entire suspension system together.
Screws: Elegant and Essential Components
As automotive fasteners, screws hold a distinct advantage over nuts and bolts: their slender design and self-threading capabilities. Similar to nuts and bolts, screws are often used to join structural components in vehicles together, making them about equally as common in a vehicle as nuts and bolts. Thanks to that slender design we mentioned earlier, however, screws can excel in much harder to reach places.
Different Screws as Automotive Fasteners. Screws are essential for structural components of a car and are often best used for the vehicle’s frame and outermost parts. Pan head screws, as an example, are essential for properly positioning headlights and other accessories, while truss head screws are ideal for attaching car bumpers.