Has anyone used titanium bolts in their race car? Which areas did you use them in?
Anyone used them in your race cars front or rear suspension ?

I use them selectively. For example, I use composite leaf springs, and the extruded alum eye fittings on each end of the leaf are attached with 4 1/4" Ti hex bolts. I also have Ti wheel studs, but they make me anxious as TI doesn't have the robustness of typical Grade 8 stuff,

Yes we do. In many areas for sure. Anyplace we can actually. Wheel studs, wheelie bar bolts, wheel center and beadlock bolts, anything that holds parts of the car on, fender doors etc. Pretty much anywhere we can

Where, who, can you buy them from?

What’s the weight savings? Is there a rule of thumb, 20%?

I have not used titanium, but in areas that are low stress, I have used aluminum bolts. They are pretty cheap and readily available. And save a lot of weight over steel.

Racebolt, manufacturing bolts out of chrome moly tubing. I always thought that was a great compromise between weight and strength. Cheaper than Ti I suppose. $10 - 20 per bolt.

Most everything we do has a minimum weight. While we're OCD about weight, we look for the most cost effective ways to reduce it first. Using smaller fasteners to hold stuff together is another option.

Everything that goes into a car is looked at with a focus on "is there a lighter option".

I was thinking aluminium bolts for various parts of the car. I imagine using anti-sieze would be rather important?!?

Cab, you can buy them from here: https://wmtitanium.com.au/

An example 1/2" bolt by 2" long
316 S/S = 65 grams
Ti6Al4v = 36 grams
2024 Aluminium = 22.5 grams

I wonder how the titanium wheel nuts would hold up to street/strip use ? Definately would prefer the inbuilt face / washer than what i currently use on aluminium wheels which stuff the washers .

https://wmtitanium.com.au/products/wheel-nut-12-pt-1-2-unfx36-1-42

Tex

I think a Ti lug nut would be a proper Ti application, as there can be extra threads to improve strength, and they are not repetitively loaded like a wheel stud might be flexed.

Look up non ferrous fasteners. They have lots of stuff.

Quick calculation gets me .500 x .120 wall x 2" 4130 = 36 grams. Plus a few gram for the nut. Pretty close to Ti.

Thanks

Quick approximation;

Steel = 1.00

Titanium = .500

Aluminum = .333

Not 100% accurate, but close enough.

And fatigue comparison life would be steel 1, Ti .4, alum .1, as a wild guess.

Edit: my "wild guess" above on Ti fatigue life is a bit wild, I'll just go on record to say it's less than steel and more than Alum.
Might also consider for all the weight savings Ti offers, how rare it is found in Connecting rod bolt applications

I buy most of mine from TI-64. Have run titanium studs for YEARS on front and rear on a few cars. Never had an issue. That being said I am sure thye have a shelf life and will get cycled out at some point but they are checked visually frequently. AS for lugnuts aluminum is lighter...So that's what we use.

Link to TI64

https://www.ti64.com/#:~:text=Retrofit%20your%20race%20car,%20watercraft%20or%20sports%20gear%20with%20our

Keep in mind the 4130 bolts are hollow. Likely less than half the weight of a solid piece.