Source for nuts & bolts?

Post by **duckdave** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:22 pm

Took my tank off yesterday to troubleshoot my battery. Several bolts missing on assorted pieces, including oil cooler covers, oil coolers and side covers. Went to my dealer to purchase some replacements. At first I'm feeling good I'm finally buying something from my dealer whom I've been avoiding (I just did my 12K service myself and levered/balanced new tires myself, both first time experiences). But as time wore on, pouring over the parts catalog looking for all the teeny tiny parts I needed, I started feeling guilty about taking up so much of their time just to buy a few bolts. In the end I got 6 M5x20 and 6 M5x~12 bolts + 2 M5 clip nuts. That's 12 little bolts and 2 little nuts. Cost? Over $23 (including tax)!

I bet I've spent $50 bucks on nuts and bolts this year. I'm all for helping out the dealer, but if I can find an alternate source of nuts & bolts I might just call it quits on dealership hardware for this year.

Any suggestions?

ScooterCop · Post by **ScooterCop** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:29 pm

http://www.mcmaster.com/

Trout · Post by **Trout** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:08 am

mcmaster.com
boltdepot.com
fastenal.com

Also, check the local Ace Hardware type stores and the farm supply stores... anyone who has an aisle dedicated to hardware with those little slide-out cardboard boxes filled with fasteners and such. You really just need a hardware store that has a good selection of metric fasteners. Most towns have at least one store like that.

Post by **Beemeridian** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 7:54 pm

Post by **HiOSilver** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 6:26 pm

Dave,

I've run into the need for specific nuts and bolts for my 04 RR on many occations. Here's where I look up the part numbers: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=16&fg=03 and then I order them from Bob's BMW or A&S. Hope that helps!

Post by **duckdave** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:17 pm

ScooterCop and Trout: http://www.mcmaster.com seems to have the most extensive collection, but torx screws seem to be a problem for most listings. But then, an allen headed screw would work just as well for all applications I can think of, and I'm already carrying a full assortment of allen wrenches.

Beemerridian: That link to the eBay sale was really interesting. That bucket of bolts ended up going for $53 (after adding in $14.50 shipping); still a good deal considering the real cost of new. I may end up looking for more of those. BTW: I wrote to Mike at Beemerboneyard and suggested they sell bolt buckets by the pound. He liked the idea and might use it sometime in the future.

HiOSilver: Thanks for the suggestion. I've been using a different parts fiche file.
http://www.ascycles.com/Illustrated_cat ... meset.html
Yours has clearer pictures, but not as many pages (or at least that I could find). I've bookmarked it.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions!

geothepencil · Post by **geothepencil** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:36 pm

I'm with Trout on the Ace recommendation. Have gotten a couple bolts from those specialty boxes there to replace missing parts after dealer service. They aren't always exactly the right length but just fine for non critical things like bag mounts, etc.

geo