Nutserts - brass vs steel vs stainless?

Hey all -

Looking for some info on which type of nutsert would be best for exterior applications on a truck. For those that have drilled and installed these on a bare roof, would you recommend brass, steel, or stainless? Brass is common but would seem to be the weakest, steel makes sense but they will definitely be exposed to the elements and i dont want them to rust, stainless may be the way to go?

 

Stainless Steel - make sure you paint and prime the hole and drill the hole in the correct size!

 

My experience with all 3:

brass: only use this on woodworking projects. If you cross thread it you are screwed
steel: most versatile as long as you seal it from corrosion
stainless: obviously corrosion resistant, but the threads can gall easier than steel (https://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-information/materials-and-grades/thread-galling.aspx)

 

great info, thanks!

 

Good point on the galling - must use antisieze and ideally two different types of stainless to minimize galling

 

I used them on a fender project for my wife's JK. One thing I found helpful was to chase them with a tap. The installation tends to distort the threads a little and the tap cleans that up.

 

We keep a can of Caterpillar brand anti-seize handy, and it gets brushed on all stainless and dissimilar metal connections plus pretty much anything else. Galling and fish-hooking, especially on large stainless bolts is a P.I.T.A.