I had to replace my drivers side fender. The new fender did not have the Riv-Nuts installed. I bought a kit with new hardware including Riv-Nuts, plastic nuts, bolts, washers and screws. The Riv-Nuts and bolts are supposed to be stainless, but they are not high quality, I tested them with a magnet. Overall happy with the kit. One problem is that the washers they give you are too small so I went to Ace Hdwr and bought some fender washers and painted black. I bought a Riv-Nut tool on E-bay for about $10. I think I recall @mrblaine posting a thread on how to make one. All in all the flares are back on.
Negative. Saying that there is less nickel and/ or chromium in the stainless they used.
If you add the nickel and chromium in then the stainless would be to hard to properly flare and squish the rivnut. When I was a kid stainless was hard. Real hard. Never rusted, but you couldn't bend and form it like the "stainless" today. No mufflers and pipes. Basically table tops and such for the food industry. Could barely get a drill bit though the stuff. These new versions allow it to be workable. Always a tradeoff.
I think you have a great idea for your environment. Here in the rust belt they fail quickly. They rust and seize then spin freely and become a PITA...thus the disdain for them.
I did this as well (probably sub consciously remembered this post) , what screws length/type did you use? I used 20mm long SS button head screws because that's what I had on hand and it was a mistake. I think shorter hex head screws would have been better.
I just started prepping for my Bushwacker install and already have 2 rivnuts spinning. Where did you get the M5X8 rivnuts?
