Spec me some tools for working on cars

My own kit which does pretty much anything is the halford pro kit (half price) an old school bendy arm torque wrench, a draper breaker bar, set of draper pry bars, a set of airtool sockets for the 6 sided thing and an electric impact gun. I have two tool boxes extra full of stuff but that's what gets used 99% of the time.
 
Purchased one of these Bahco S138 Mixed Socket & Spanner Set 138 Piece - for working on the car.
Great kit - used a fair bit nothing has broken and its very good quality. Definitely want a breaker bar to accompany it!
 
Rather than start a new thread, thought I'd ask in here.

I have a £75 voucher for Halfords and was thinking to buy one of their socket sets.

The 170 piece is on half price at £150 but the 200 isn't at £350.

Do they offer the 200 at half price sometimes? I don't mind waiting.

Is the difference between the 170 and 200 worth holding out for?
 
j_walsh said:
Purchased one of these Bahco S138 Mixed Socket & Spanner Set 138 Piece - for working on the car.
Great kit - used a fair bit nothing has broken and its very good quality. Definitely want a breaker bar to accompany it!
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I have the bahco 240 set and its fantastic for the money.

I bought a 750mm 1/2 breaker bar off amazon for £12 and that too is great
 
Homebase have the Crescent sets on clearance at the moment (i'll check price in a bit for those interested) I've had mine for about 5 years from Costco and all still works as well as the day I got them :)
 
EddScott said:
Rather than start a new thread, thought I'd ask in here.

I have a £75 voucher for Halfords and was thinking to buy one of their socket sets.

The 170 piece is on half price at £150 but the 200 isn't at £350.

Do they offer the 200 at half price sometimes? I don't mind waiting.

Is the difference between the 170 and 200 worth holding out for?
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Never, ever, ever pay full price for one of the Halfords kits. They pretty much have them on a rolling 50% minimum discount.
 
Buy cheap, buy twice. Always go for a reasonable brand and no Ebay rubbish.

Telescoptic Magnetic Pen is probably one of the best things i purchased recently, saved by bacon a few times! LOL!
 
For axle stands, I wouldn't buy the small ones, the '3 tons'. I got a pair of these, and I've put my Z3 on them at the highest settings and there's barely 40cm under the car -- not really enough to slide under the car for a normal bloke! Also, they LOOK flimsy when extended. If you want to be serious, buy 6 tons ones, or something else.
The 3 tons ones are fine if you don't want to spend time actually under the car (ie changing brakes, shocks and stuff is fine).

Same with the jack, don't cheap out; go for a nice one not the entry level. I find the raising and lowering of the car always a bit stressful -- and if you want to go under the car, well, personally I don't like the idea of a 2 tons car landing on my chest...

I got the 'advanced' Halford set at the usual half price, it's a pretty nice piece of kit
 
Whilst this thread is back at the forefront, does anyone have any recommendations for air tools?

Decided to take the plunge and obtained a decent compressor from a friend that's upgrading his to one with a bigger tank and quieter operation, but have no idea what brands of tools and hoses to look at.
 
Mysterae_ said:
I'd love a 'Quick Jack' they are a bit expensive :(. £1,335 for the 5000 pound lift capacity one.

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Err, you can get a 3.5t 2 post lift, delivered and commissioned for less than that junk thing :/

paradigm said:
Whilst this thread is back at the forefront, does anyone have any recommendations for air tools?

Decided to take the plunge and obtained a decent compressor from a friend that's upgrading his to one with a bigger tank and quieter operation, but have no idea what brands of tools and hoses to look at.
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What kind of tools you looking at using?
 
paradigm said:
Whilst this thread is back at the forefront, does anyone have any recommendations for air tools?

Decided to take the plunge and obtained a decent compressor from a friend that's upgrading his to one with a bigger tank and quieter operation, but have no idea what brands of tools and hoses to look at.
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Impact wrench, air gun/blower, air ratchet, proper air inflator, and optional air chisel :). Stay away from anything with an orange plastic hose attached as they are crap, become brittle and break at the joints. Taking of joints, I'd recommend you use Loctite 55 pipe sealing cord for sealing your connections, far better than PTFE tape.

Clarkey said:
Err, you can get a 3.5t 2 post lift, delivered and commissioned for less than that junk thing :/
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However, a 2 post lift won't fit in my garage and would look a bit odd bolted to front driveway...

Nasher said:
I think you can find them cheaper than that. But yea, if I had a level driveway...
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How much cheaper? I've only found them online more expensive than the manufacturer.
 
Mysterae_ said:
Impact wrench, air gun/blower, air ratchet, proper air inflator, and optional air chisel :). Stay away from anything with an orange plastic hose attached as they are crap, become brittle and break at the joints. Taking of joints, I'd recommend you use Loctite 55 pipe sealing cord for sealing your connections, far better than PTFE tape.
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Thanks. Any particular value for money brands for stuff like the wrench/ratchet/gun?
 
lordrobs said:
I'd start with a decent socket set (another shout out for Halfords Pro), trolley jack, axle stands and build up from there. You can buy all the tools from day 1 but I find it better to get tools as and when I need them or when I see a decent offer. For example I managed to pick up a set of Halfords Pro ratchet spanners for 80% off. I didn't need them at the time but they have been really handy since!
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im still abusing my £50 sealy socket set from 20 years ago use them with an impact wrench in the trade.
I traded the ratchet for mac I also brought their box deals, buy the box and get a load of free tools. Screwdrivers molegrips didt last long tho also replaced with mac.
I had a set of Halfords ratchet spanners, got board of taking back the 13mm for warranty so I traded in for mac.

If you're doing loads of work an impact wrench would come in handy. I had a mackita for £100, forgot to take it off the ramp and ran over it so..... I traded in for a mac 18v that could undo wheel nuts with ease.
 
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