Among the many reasons our friends at Hagerty are a wonderful partner to the SCCA is that they love #FunWithCars just as much as we do — and they are a wealth of knowledge on a variety of car-related subjects. The following article originally appeared on Hagerty.com. For this and all of Hagerty’s car-related content, visit their media site here.
The fasteners that (literally) hold our beloved cars and motorcycles together often become an afterthought. If there is a something holding two or three components together, it must be good enough. That attitude is acceptable some of the time, but the hundreds of nuts and bolts keeping everything in one piece are absolutely critical to safe and proper function of our vehicles. A lot of people can glance at a bolt and tell you the size of wrench needed to tighten it, but there is far more information encoded on the head of that bolt than head size. Let’s take a look.
I’ll admit I am like many DIY folks who learn on the job. Depending on the project, we may or may not truly get all the information we need to be an informed mechanic. For something as crucial as hardware, however, it’s worth doing a little research to make sure you keep the proper components on hand and know what you are handling so that, if something strips or needs replacing, you can swap it out with the appropriate stuff.