urgent caliper bolt question
 

Okay, this is a weird situation, I'll explain why/how later.

Please if anybody knows, I need this information.

I'm currently out of town, and had to replace a front caliper bracket bolt (the larger one that connects the caliper bracket to the spindle).

Dealers didn't have the part. The ONLY bolt I could find to replace (which happened to be an exact match) was a 12mm stainless steel bolt.

I was told by Autozone that it should be a grade 8 bolt, but all those were in standard sizes, not metric.

Grade 8 compared to stainless steel, which is stronger?

just want to make sure I'm safe.

Autozone guys said it should be fine(they thought the stainless steel might be stronger), that there is no real load on the caliper bracket; the guys at Lowe's (where I bought the bolt) didn't know.

All I know is that the grade 8 bolt was .87 cents, and the stainless steel bolt was $4.00 each.

I've got the car fixed, but please let me know if this would be an unsafe alternative.

I just couldn't find a grade 8 to fit.

worst case, this would be temperary, just to get me home.

Thanks in advance.

grade 8 is stronger than all hell. my feeling with em is the reason he might have fear is if it gets REAL hot it is more brittle.

don't go playing with it on and you should be in the clear.

this is coming from someone who has had a grade 8 bolt hold upto 30,000 pound trailors being pulled with 4 of the bolts :thumb:

The equivelant in metric bolts is a grade 10.8.
The stainless bolt is strong enough to get you by for now. But defineately get the proper GM part in there as soon as you can.
Stainless is very tough but it will stretch more and easier than a proper hardened bolt.

Thanks