Stainless Exhaust Manifold Studs or Regular Steel Studs for 3V 4.6

[sharonis3]

HI:

Wondering if I should buy the Ford Stainless Studs and Stainless Nuts to do the exhaust manifold on my 2008 V8 Exploder....... I plan to keep this vehicle for another 8 years and would be happy to pay the extra price, if the Ford Stainless parts actually last longer....

Ford Stainless Stud Part # W703902-S403 and the nut is W701706-S2 (From TSB 09-22-8 and the earlier 05-5-4)

Do these last longer ? Has anyone found these to be a problem ?

I am wary of EBay stainless studs as some stainless grades are soft actually much weaker than a cheap regular steel stud...

If you answer - let me know if you have used the Ford Stainless studs, 3rd party stainless or regular studs....

 

[SixPonies]

How much do the Ford SS studs cost? Here's a set of SS studs on Amazon for around $18, with 94% 4-5 star ratings.

Ford 4.6 & 5.4 Liter V8 Stainless Exhaust Manifold Studs Stud Kit (one side)

 

[Explorer_PL]

I installed ebay SS studs and nuts on mine 2-3 years ago, and no issues after over 50k miles.

 

[Bill MacLeod]

I have the Metric Screw s/s studs that are sold on Amazon. Installed about 16 months ago with no problems. My son also used the same studs about 2 1/2 years ago on his Adrenalin. Since the torque specs are not high, don't think tensile strength is an issue. Corrosion could become an issue, so use anti seize.