[Rick Parker]

Dan:

One could say you "Hit the nail on the head". Your brief and knowlegable summary is excellent. Those with the desire to increse their understanding on this complex subject would do well to read one of the many books available on 'High Performance Fasteners". As you have briefly described, different applications require different grades or types of fasteners The quality control used for a typical grade 8 fastener leaves a lot to be desired, at best they are very brittle. Factor in the fact that many of the "off shore" fasteners on many shelves are made from metal of unknown origin in countries using questionable manufacturing standards and you have a bad situation waiting to happen. This entire subject is not one to be taken lightly. Hardware store bolts have a very limited application in automotive construction.

Rick