Accessory hardware

[Mike W.]

On my new bike purchased in early spring, had plans to install fenders, a rack and bottle holder. Was thinking I would use stainless steel screws for all of it. Then started reading about galvanic corrosion between aluminum frame and stainless screws. I used a product called Tef-gel, supposed to prevent the corrosion. Find myself having to periodically retighten some of the fasteners, but figure that to be better than having aluminum eaten away or screws seizing into the frame. Wondering if anyone has had any experiences from using loctite or using nothing at all. I used a mix of stainless and zinc plated screws, and used the Tef-gel on all of them.Thanks in advance for any replies.

[ReapThaWhirlwind]

I torque everything to spec, and I don't have this problem.

I don't use loctite, but that would definitely help.

[Jesper]

(07-07-2021, 02:18 PM)Mike W. Wrote:  On my new bike purchased in early spring, had plans to install fenders, a rack and bottle holder. Was thinking I would use stainless steel screws for all of it. Then started reading about galvanic corrosion between aluminum frame and stainless screws. I used a product called Tef-gel, supposed to prevent the corrosion. Find myself having to periodically retighten some of the fasteners, but figure that to be better than having aluminum eaten away or screws seizing into the frame. Wondering if anyone has had any experiences from using loctite or using nothing at all. I used a mix of stainless and zinc plated screws, and used the Tef-gel on all of them. Thanks in advance for any replies.

Technically, any dielectric type coating would keep the corrosion from happening when you have two different metals, but it might not keep it tight. You could use aluminum hardware as opposed to stainless steel. Saves you an iota of weight, but you can still have oxidation occurring between the aluminum surfaces it just occurs in a different way. Maybe you could contact the Loctite folks and ask them if it will prevent the corrosion as well a keeping things tight. I have never used Loctite for any bike work; I generally just use a little grease on mating surfaces, I have not had parts falling off, nor any undue corrosion.