Haynes manuals yes or no?

Uther

Uther

Uther

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I used them a lot years ago, with bikes and cars, but not had one for years. Are they still worth having, or is it better just to use the 'net these days?
 
good question, they have things like torque settings etc. in but I believe nowadays they don't have a full break down of how to or anything in them. probably what is available in them you can get online or from a dealer as print out
 
They still have their uses but they are nowhere near as comprehensive as they used to be.

(Basically, the books are the same size as they always were, but there is so much more to cover today. The basics are still there but information relating to electrical/electronc systems is very limited)
 
still a must if you are working on the car (obviously if you have a newish car and just take to a garage its pointless). the amount of different cars out there and youtube videos are still thin on the ground.
 
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I think they ares still worth it, very helpful and useful if you can get one for your car that is I can’t get one for my car, but i have one for the wife’s. I used one when i replaced the cam belt and water pump earlier in the year on my wife focus. They are also great for torque setting and explaining how to access the relevant parts that actually need replaceing. As modern cars have so many panels, hiding X,Y and Z. I tend use car owners forums for the information i require when i need to work on my car, as someone will have added a how to thread.
 
I'd have thought it was car/brand dependent.

For example with VAG group products or BMW, you can quite easily obtain the workshop software, with full step by step procedures for literally everything.
 
You can find the proper dealer reference manuals on the net or ebay these days.
You can also visit make/model specific forums for specific info.
Haynes were great back in the day, but I went off them about 15 years ago for the reasons already mentioned.
 
Back when I had my Audi S6, the Bentley manual was infinitely more useful than the Haynes equivalent.

I'd research the Bentley manual for your particular car. Not cheap though! I sold my Audi C5 manual for about £80 recently, Haynes manuals go for about a tenner!
 
These seem like an outdated concept to me, every job I've ever needed to do (on a whole variety of cars) had always been covered online be that via YouTube or walk through and advice on forums.

I'm sure they were great before the internet was so vast, but these days a little black and white book doesn't really seem much point.
 
I'd say yes.
If it's a mechanical, you can probably find 2/3rds of it right there in the Haynes/Clymer, with detailed tech info instantly. With forums, you have to wait for replies and then sift through the arguments between the 'experts' over which is the right/official/best way, before a genuine expert comes along and posts long walls of text with photos to prove it.
Hayneses do occasionally contain small errors, so better than a Haynes is usually a workshop manual and/or an actual video by an experienced professional.

If it's electrical and needs plugging in to a PC with expensive software, you might as well get a trusted pro to do it.
 
Jez said:
These seem like an outdated concept to me, every job I've ever needed to do (on a whole variety of cars) had always been covered online be that via YouTube or walk through and advice on forums.

I'm sure they were great before the internet was so vast, but these days a little black and white book doesn't really seem much point.
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One thing they used to have going for them was the comprehensive tear down and rebuilding that went into producing the manuals - about 5 years ago IIRC they laid off a lot of the experienced people (living in the general area this effected a good few people I know) and aren't produced with anything like the old depth any more from what I hear (though that might be bitter people talking).
 
I didn't realise they still made these, to be honest.

Last couple of cars I couldn't find anything of the sort, so assumed they'd stopped making them. (Hyundai i10 and i30, so common enough one would think).
 
Tried looking for them for a Porsche. They stopped making them after the 80s lol.

I was gutted as I've always sworn by them however with all the electronics on cars now I'd imagine they'd be pretty useless other than getting them checked on diagnostics machines first.
 
still very relevant for older models - the one for my saxo is great. Owners forums used to be a great source of knowledge, a long term encyclopedia of information. now however the user bases of them seem sparse, so many have turned to facebook groups instead which are useless for finding info, the same questions get posted again and again as there is no proper way to search.
 
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