Titanium screws
 

Hi,

Like to seek some advise on titanium screws;

is there a demand for titanium screws ?

why people use them ? and why people don't ?

I am thinking that titanium should be pretty cool material
for fasteners for it been approx half the weight of steel,
and stronger. I also notice that most folks will first replace
all the turnbuckle from alloy steel to titanium but leave
the screws as it is. I guess the total weight of screws
on the car should be more, or equal to than the total weight
of screws onboard, so, why not titanium screws ?

please advise.

Yes titanium is the way to go if you can spen the money. It is lighter than aluminum, and stroger than steel, so you get the best of both worlds. Lunsford used to make them, but have stopped. Yokomo makes metric ones.

a good site is www.fastener-express.com They don't have titanium yet, I think, but I've heard they are coming out with a line of titanium screws.

Speedo

Check out T&D Motorsports: http://www.t-d-motorsports.com/

They have some titanium screw kits. I think you can find metric sizes from a company called Competition Products, I don't have any contact info on them though. I rigged my HPI RS4 Nitro 2 with all titanium screws awhile back. Haven't seen any on store shelves since then though.

titanium screws
 

If you dig around on the Integy website,you can find 3mm titanium screws. But as a matter of opinion,there are better ways to drop the weight on your car that don`t cost anything.
You`re better off spending the money on a new motor or battery or spending time on your setups. The miniscule amount of weight savings isn`t going to get you anywhere.

and titanium is rather expensive....

Would like to see other materials used, other than titanium, steel, and aluminium.

You're right, I wouldn't buy titanium screws to save weight.

However, I would buy them because they don't strip or break (in my experience). Nothing ticks me off more than being in a hurry to prepare for a race and stripping the head on a hex screw.

That, by itself, makes titanium screws worth it for me, at least in a few often-removed areas of a car.

Al is a bit lighter than Ti and much cheaper. Using titanium screws will take off 33% of the weight from steel screws. The weight savings for a typical sedan will be about half an ounce.

screws
 

Stripping screws was mentioned , a lot of r/c companies use cheap screws to save a few pennies. Most are a softer material. If you guys want a decent set of screws go to www.microfasteners.com They have metric and standard in all the hobby sizes and their priced right too. I replaced all the screws in my T-1 and haven`t stripped one yet.

This is one thing you can take into account for aluminum screws. Be sure to pre-thread the vehicle with a steel screw(if new) before you thread aluminum screws into it. If you don't you'll break the heads off the aluminum screws if you don't.

All the titanium screws have one thing in common, they all have phillips heads and NOBODY wants to live with that... , just my opinion...

Why are phillips head screws so bad? I find it easier to strip cheap hex screws than to strip phillips screws. I'm just wondering why hex is supposed to be better. It seems to me by design its easier to strip! If the tool isn't precisely the size of the hex, the screw can get stripped almost immediately. On my friend's associated B2 buggy, the hex socket for the screws are so small, it's so easy to strip. Proportionally, the screw socket is way too small for the screw size. All that force over such a small area makes it very difficult to unscrew and easy to strip.

I agree with you potato - I think america is just prejudiced against the phillips head.

You just have to make sure you're using the right size driver.

Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I race Schumacher and the metric hex screws (M3) have way bigger hexes. Oh, and I don't live in America ;-)
BR/ JesseT

I like Philips heads.... I use a Snap-on screwdriver and Hudy Allen drivers.....the Hudys are nice but they are still a long way off from Snap-on!!!:D :D

I like both hex and phillips. Do people like hexes because they fit better or something? I know phillips are sometimes hard to screw in if the driver keeps slipping out of the slot. A good hex screw and driver don't seem to have this problem. Is this why people prefer it, or is it something else? Just curious.