Touring - stainless steel hardware

Howdy - after my first tour the nuts (some already stripped) on my stem started rusting...so I'm thinking about going the stainless steel route. Problem is, I'm not sure that they carry them at the local hardware store/chain stores. Anyone know a good place to find them (I googled "stainless steel allen bolts" and was pretty overwhelmed with Paintball gun parts, big motorcycle bolts, and the like).
thanks,
marcus

Ask at your LBS.

A marine supply house if you live near the coast or a large lake. Also look in the yellow pages of your local phone book for Fasteners. Every major city has a locally owned fastener specialty shop. In the Raleigh, NC area it is Wilder's in Mobile, AL it is Threaded Fasteners, Inc. These are not the national stores like Fastenal or Triangle Fasteners (those aren't bad places either) The ones I mentioned are locally owned and usually have a massive number of fasteners in every size and style.

Aaron:)

Actually I've done pretty well at my local Lowes store. But, I don't know about all Lowes locations. The one I go to was previously an Eagle hardware store, and Lowes took over a lot of their inventory. Like wahoonc suggests, most medium to large metro areas have faterner speciality stores, and they should be a good source.

Thanks for the help guys!

Turns out the local chain hardware store had them. Yoink!

Couldn't find the rare .7 metric size for my adjustable stem (which is why I went looking in the first place...clamp bolts are already stripped) but...ya know what...stems a piece of crap anyways. Wobbles all over. I'm going Nitto Technomic ASAP once I figure out my optimum angle/height.

Oh right (back out of gear-head la-la land)...I'd reccommend not getting the following stem:

Aluminum Adjustable Quill Stem by NL

I got one on ebay and the extension wobbled so I sent it back for another...and the extension still wobbled. Furthermore, it's designed really shoddily. Really low-quality bolts, the black finish scratches off very easily, and the adjustment bolt is near-inaccessible while the stem is mounted.

That's my buyer's remorse for the night!

Be careful what you buy from chain stores. To start with stainless fasteners are a lot less strong than coresponding steel fasterners. Some of the stainless additives just aren't all that tough.

Next problem is that within a genreally weaker group of fasteners stainless hardware varies enormously in quality, both as relates to stain resistence and, importantly, strength. Stainless hardware can be really weak so if you health depends on the performance of your bolts, check to seel is plated steel is advisable, and if SS is OK be sure you get the right grade.

One other thing to watch out for with stainless is your bolts seizing up. You've got to be careful putting SS bolts into aluminum threads. A dab of anti-seize (available at any auto parts store) will prevent problems down the road.

Here is another on for ya! Fastener Heaven (http://http://www.coburnmyers.com/index.asp) never bought from them, but they look pretty good.

Aaron:)

McMaster Carr http://www.mcmaster.com/ Great if your bying in the 100's, not so great if you only want one.