Prob. china bolts much lower grade. oem were grade 5 american made. roll your new bolts on a flat surface most are so low quality they are already bent. bought 2 at king bolt. both crap never again make sure they are a bramd name and the shank rolls perfict bring a bearing for fit. alot of china garbage out there. buier be ware china products still CRAP. LOL
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Grade 8 fasteners will normally not be plated with anything. There are some serious reasons for this. Grade 5 is overkill for a normal or even a 'flat track' mini. Use it because it is generally better looking...if you can find then plated as you wish them to be. Grade '3' or the lowest price stuff you get at the hardware store is adequate strength wise. Think about it, without going into tensile strength and bending moments, when was the last time anyone bent an axle and nothing else? No one. Upon a hard impact [which a frame or forks can't be built to withstand unless they weighed several hundred pounds] the frame or forks deflect and are permanently deformed way before the axle fails. The rim bends or a big hunk is broken out if it is aluminum. The bearings are shot. There does not seem to be an advantage to 'stronger' but less ductile grade 8 axles.
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A Grade 5, 5/8" bolt is fine and probably the most common axle used on minibikes since they were first built. As george3 has correctly stated:thumbsup:,the key is finding/using a QUALITY (read: straight) bolt, which can be tough to find. I too use the "roll test" to check out a bolt and see if it wobbles.:no:
