Originally Posted by
hokiefyd
Cool. I should also have said earlier -- I like pairing these with small fiber washers you can also pick up at your local home improvement store. It's like old school gasket material (that hard thin cardboard/wafer material). I like putting these washers between the bike frame and the accessory, to save the paint on the bike frame from being scratched/worn by the accessory. An OCD thing, for sure, but these things are about 60 cents for a little bag of four, so I back all of my metal accessories with them.
Reduces the chance of the screw rusting onto the frame too. That's less of an issue if you use a steel screw on an aluminum frame. That's more of an issue when both the screw and the frame are the same material (both aluminum or both steel)
But...still helps.
Also keeps water from seeping into the frame through the screw threading. Admittedly not a huge problem in the grand scheme of life. But for 60 cents per 4 pack...why not?