| Author | Message | ||
     Dirk Commandeur (Dirklc) New Member Username: Dirklc Post Number: 13 Registered: 07-2003 |
Noticed that my license plates are held on by little plastic screws (nice). Anybody replace these with some real, honest-to-goodness metal screws? What size threads? I want to hang a LR tag frame and the plastic screws just ain't going to cut it. | ||
| Pedro (Discoverys) Member Username: Discoverys Post Number: 63 Registered: 08-2003 |
Dirk, I changed mine with some I bought at Home Depot. Be careful with the length of the screw, they can damage your bumper and/or door. I will try to find the size since I have to go today to buy several stuff. Later, Pedro | ||
| Alyssa Brown (Alyssa) Senior Member Username: Alyssa Post Number: 258 Registered: 01-2003 |
We use plastic screws because metal screws interact with the metal in the door, then they corrode together and when you try to get them out, they rip the screw retainer right out of the door. Then you have a very expensive problem on your hands. | ||
| Bill Bettridge (Billb) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Billb Post Number: 1110 Registered: 02-2002 |
6mm is correct size - use s/s and they won't corrode Bill | ||
| Joey (Joey4420) Senior Member Username: Joey4420 Post Number: 261 Registered: 04-2003 |
s/s will corrode, just normally not as fast. Stainless steel corrosion mystery solved by UK researchers From cutlery and cooking pans to the inside of a Formula 1 car engine or a huge chemical process plant, stainless steel is all around us. It’s not meant to corrode, but it can, and when it does the results can be disastrous, whether it’s a hole in your dishwasher or a failed industrial plant. Unlike rusting, stainless steel corrosion is highly localised and apparently random. Tiny holes called pits can drill through a substantial thickness of steel in a relatively short time. The pits can cause leaks or act as points from which cracks initiate, similar to the type of defect caused by scoring glass before breaking it, and can cause some of the most catastrophic industrial accidents known. Why stainless steel fails has long been a mystery, but with the publication of research in the journal Nature, British researchers claim to have solved it. ‘Stainlessness’ is created by alloying iron with chromium. As the steel ingot cools after it has been made, tiny sulphur-rich impurity particles, about 10 millionths of a metre in diameter, solidify at a lower temperature than the steel, remaining molten for a time after the metal has solidified. Using an advanced new microscope the team from Imperial College and University College London found a region around these impurity particles that has significantly less chromium than the rest of the steel. During cooling of the steel the impurity particles ‘suck’ chromium out of the steel around them, creating a tiny nutshell of steel that is not stainless. Corrosion of this layer, just one 10 millionth of a metre thick, is the virus that triggers the main attack say scientists Dr Mary Ryan of Imperial College and Professor David Williams of University College London. “Most of your household appliances contain stainless steel,” said Dr Ryan of the department of materials at Imperial College. “It’s quick to clean and has an attractive shiny appearance – this cleanability also makes it the material of choice for applications requiring sterile surfaces such as surgical instruments or plants for producing pharmaceuticals. “Overall it’s used in countless engineering applications and, in general, it has very good resistance and performs well but it is susceptible to this devastating pitting corrosion. Now we’ve worked out the sequence of events that cause it, we know what causes this Achilles heel, and we can use this information to work out how to fix it,” she said. The authors suggest that altering the conditions under which it is made could cure the problem without using very expensive low sulphur steels. Another alternative is to use heat treatments after the steel is processed, causing chromium to replenish those sites it has been depleted from, they suggest. Stainless steel was first made in Sheffield, UK, in 1913. The research was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). | ||
| Dirk Commandeur (Dirklc) New Member Username: Dirklc Post Number: 14 Registered: 07-2003 |
Thanks for the recos and advice. I understand that SS can corrode and potentially pull out the screw retainer but a touch of antisieze should do the trick. The mounting plate for the license plate is held onto the rear door by metal screws so if corrosion is really a concern... I don't mind the little plastic screws - they are just too short to use with a tag frame. Maybe I'll look for some longer 6mm plastic screws. But I think SS with a bit of antisieze is a suitable alternative. | ||
| Joey (Joey4420) Senior Member Username: Joey4420 Post Number: 264 Registered: 04-2003 |
Sorry about the long post earlier..... I do that once in a while. I just went to the dealer and spoke to the parts manager. He just gave me 4 long tag screws....no cost. |
