Profil is coating its standard range of steel nuts with a corrosion resistant surface to achieve in excess of 1,000 hours of salt spray testing without the appearance of red rust. The Magni finish, which prevents bimetallic corrosion between nut and panel, consists of two layers: '565' - an inorganic, zinc-rich base-coat and 'B18' - an organic pigmented top-coat. The process was originally developed in the US and is available under licence in Europe.
Magni-plated fasteners were recently specified for a project carried out on behalf of Lotus involving an all-aluminium car, due to go into production in 2007. The finish will be offered as an optional extra on standard steel nuts; the combination of high strength and corrosion resistance means that they are likely to be specified for critical areas such as suspension and engine mounts, seat fixings and so on.