SINCE 1984 · ST. CHARLES, IL
Who We Are.
What We Do.
The Bradley Group of Companies is a service company. We apply pre-applied thread locking adhesives and sealant to fasteners and fittings that you supply to us. We’ve done exactly that, since 1984.
3635 Swenson Avenue · St. Charles, IL
Forty years of fasteners.
Founded in 1984 in St. Charles, Illinois, The Bradley Group has spent four decades coating other people’s fasteners. The chemistries are better, OEM specs are stricter, and lead-time pressure is harder — the core service hasn’t changed.
Bradley was built in 1984 as a regional service center for the fastener industry — taking anaerobic thread-locking chemistries, applying them to inbound fasteners, and getting them back out the door. The model was unusual: most coating operations sold the chemistry. Bradley sold the application.
That distinction has held for forty years. We don’t manufacture fasteners. We don’t sell raw chemicals. Our operation is built around one deliverable: take your fasteners, apply a coating to your exact specification, and return them on a predictable schedule.
The job is to make the OEM spec match the bolt that ships. Everything else is logistics.
Over four decades, the catalog has grown from a single Loctite line to 14 brand lines and 50+ SKUs — thread locking, sealing, thread masking, and product ID. The cross-reference database has grown from a stack of binders to ~250 specs across six issuing agencies. What hasn’t grown — by design — is the scope of what we do. We coat fasteners. That’s the business.
The corporate office and coating operation are at 3635 Swenson Avenue in St. Charles, Illinois — a single, consolidated service center serving customers nationwide. All quoting routes through the engineering desk in St. Charles — same engineers in many cases since the early ’90s.
The promise to customers is straightforward: quote in hours, ship in 1–2 weeks, no surprises on the spec sheet. The rest of this site explains how we make that work.
1984
FOUNDED
St. Charles, IL · Continuous operation
14
BRAND LINES
Loctite Dri-Loc · Precote · Bradley Nylon Patch · Tectorius · Plastisol · more
50+
SKUS IN CATALOG
Thread Locking · Thread Sealing · Thread Masking
1
SERVICE CENTER
St. Charles, IL · Consolidated operations
~250
OEM SPECS INDEXED
IFI-124/125/524/525 · Ford · GM · Cat · John Deere
ISO
QUALITY SYSTEM
9001:2015 certified · through 2027
Four decades in operation
1984
Founded as a regional fastener-coating service center
First contracts with regional fastener distributors and automotive Tier 2 suppliers out of Addison, IL.
1991
Moved to St. Charles, IL
24K sq ft coating facility — purpose-built for high-throughput pre-applied applications. Capacity tripled within 18 months.
1998
First OEM cross-reference database
Began indexing customer-supplied OEM specs against the catalog. Initial database: Ford WSS and GM material specs. Foundation of today’s six-agency cross-reference system.
2003
ISO 9001 first certification
Continuously certified since the first audit. Transitioned through ISO 9001:2008 to the current 9001:2015 standard.
2009
Consolidated all branches
Closed MN, NC, CA satellite processing centers to prepare for future move.
2018
Moved again
70K sq ft coating facility. Faster equipment, more employees, and greater capacity.
2026
New ERP system
Bradley upgrading entire ERP system.
A service company. By design.
Engineers are sometimes surprised by what Bradley does — and doesn’t do. The shape of this business is a deliberate choice, not an accident.
WHAT WE ARE
A coating service.
- Customer-supplied fastener coating. You ship the parts; we coat them to spec; we ship them back.
- Pre-applied chemistry specialist. Anaerobic thread lockers, microencapsulated adhesives, mechanical nylon patches — applied to your specification.
- OEM-spec matched. ~250 specs indexed across Ford, GM, IFI, CAT, John Deere, and more. Bring your print — we’ll find the right patch.
- ISO 9001:2015 certified. Continuously certified since 2003. Lot traceability from receipt to ship.
- Engineer-direct quoting. Quotes route to the engineering desk, not a sales queue. Most answered the same business day within hours.
WHAT WE’RE NOT
Not a fastener supplier.
- Not a fastener manufacturer. We don’t make screws, bolts, or nuts. Never have.
- Not a fastener distributor. We don’t stock or sell uncoated fasteners, or already patched parts.
- Not a chemistry seller. We don’t sell drums of resin for your shop floor.
- Not a freight carrier. Customer pays inbound and outbound shipping.
- Not a coating-removal shop. If you need a coating stripped, we’ll point you to the right resource.
The chemistries we apply.
We coat to 14 brand lines from the major pre-applied chemistry manufacturers. Most of these relationships go back decades. The catalog reflects real working knowledge of which chemistry suits which application — not just what’s on the shelf.
CHEMICAL · PRIMARY
Loctite
Dri-Loc, Brass-Loc, Vibra-Seal, Dri-Seal — largest share of volume. Industry-standard pre-applied chemistries trusted across automotive, small engine, and appliance OEMs.
MICROENCAPSULATED
PRECOTE
Solvent-free microencapsulated acrylates. Common on imported drivetrain assemblies and European OEM specifications where dry-to-touch handling is required.
MICROENCAPSULATED
ND Industries
Room-temperature curing microencapsulated adhesives. Strong fit for moderate-to-high break-loose torque applications where in-line application isn’t practical.
MECHANICAL
Bradley Nylon Patch
A permanently bonded nylon element applied directly to the fastener thread. Provides consistent prevailing torque, reusable through multiple assembly cycles.
SEALING · THREAD
Federal Process
Everseal pipe-thread sealing chemistries for fluid-handling and pressure-fitting applications where anaerobic thread sealant is specified.
PLASTISOL · MASKING
Lakeside Plastics
Plastisol coatings for under-the-head sealing applications. Niche but durable — for specialty programs that need an alternative to tape masking.
SPECIALTY · MASKING
Tectorius
Tec-Stay, Tec-Flon, Tec-U-Seal — purpose-built masking and sealing chemistries for applications outside standard anaerobic or nylon-patch specs.
OTHER · SOLUTIONS
Other solutions
Head identification markings, DTI washers, and custom applications outside the standard catalog.
Continuously ISO certified since 2003.
Quality system documentation is part of the deliverable — not a separate sales pitch. ISO 9001:2015, IFI test data, certs can be included with every order. PPAP service available.
Documentation as table stakes.
For most of our customers, the coating itself is just one line on a much larger purchase order. What makes the line item supportable in their internal QA system is the documentation that ships with it.
Material certifications and mechanical test data certifications are issued at no extra charge with every shipment. Full Level 3 PPAP packages are issued per program — FMEA, control plan, part submission warrant, material cert, all on company letterhead.
We, the employees of The Bradley Group of Companies, are committed to delivering quality in every product and service we provide to all of our customers.
QUALITY SYSTEM
ISO 9001:2015 Certified
PRODUCTION PART APPROVAL
Level 3 PPAP
TEST STANDARDS
IFI 124, 524, 125, 525, 155, 160
TRACEABILITY
Lot Tracking · Receipt → Ship
Headquartered in St. Charles, IL
Corporate office and primary coating operation in St. Charles, IL. All quoting routes through the engineering desk in Illinois.
CORPORATE · HQ · SERVICE CENTER
ILLINOIS · MIDWEST
St. Charles, IL
Bradley Coating, Inc.
3635 Swenson Avenue
St. Charles, IL 60174
USA