Which tool kit?

[citizensnips]

hi

i'm not sure which section, this one seems as good as any.

i'm moving workshop to do my m60 conversion due to lack of space in the old one. one of the perks though was that i could use my mates tools of which he had a lot.

the main part being a halfords proffesional tool kit, which worked well and if i broke anyhting they are open seven days a week so i could have quickly replaced anything on the guarantee, not that i broke anything

so i'm looking at maybe getting the £200 set the main constituents being range of spanners, a few ratchet spanners, normal sockets and deepsockets, in 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 drives

basically it seems like a good starting point to building up a good toolset, nnot really interested in pliers and screwdrivers ect as it seems if they are in then the quality of the other stuff suffers as they try to build to a price

so can anyone recommend any other kits mainly consisting of spanners and sockets in the 100-300 proce range preferably with a lifetime gaurantee on them

thanks matt

[asmith88]

teng tools are suppposed to be the best, they give a good guarantee with most of theyr tools and are prety comprehensive..

very pricy have a google

[leeparkes]

I am very heavy handed and the amount of socket sets ive broke is unbelieveable,
4 years ago i brought a halfords pro socket set,it gets heavily used and the only thing ive broke is a t55 torx on a back bumper bolt! took it to the store (without receipt) and exchanged without quibble!
for the money they are very good!

[paulmitchell1984]

i too have the halfords set and cant grumble, i broke one of the screwdriver socket bits and as above took it back with no quibble try and find somebody with a trade card and you get discount too i think

[MrWhite]

I am very heavy handed and the amount of socket sets ive broke is unbelieveable,
4 years ago i brought a halfords pro socket set,it gets heavily used and the only thing ive broke is a t55 torx on a back bumper bolt! took it to the store (without receipt) and exchanged without quibble!
for the money they are very good!

I managed to break three t55 sockets within a fortnight trying to undo my bumper bolts. Halfords changed them every time, no questions. I eventually gave up with this approach and took an angle grinder to them instead.

[LeonNewton]

i have hurd a lot of good stuff about the halfods tools. replaced everytime thay brake... but the thing is thay do brake. leaving people thumping ther car and ganing bluddey nuckles in the process. i have an array of teng whitch i think are verey verey good. lighter and moor tacktile than halfords. agane hevaley garanteed but i havent broken any yet.

[leeparkes]

i have hurd a lot of good stuff about the halfods tools. replaced everytime thay brake... but the thing is thay do brake. leaving people thumping ther car and ganing bluddey nuckles in the process. i have an array of teng whitch i think are verey verey good. lighter and moor tacktile than halfords. agane hevaley garanteed but i havent broken any yet.

Ive give my set some proper stick with scaff bars on the rachets and nothing has broke,as said it seems the screwdriver/torx etc sockets are a bit weak!

[LeonNewton]

Fare enough. i wos not knocking the halfords kit. i have hurd good stuff. in my expereance though. my teng all a ok and the bikeshop sent 1 or 2 peces back to halfords for exchange everey cupple of months. full credit to halfords though. they are selling a good and cheep set and replacing bits verey fast.

[georob]

I bought the Halfords set at xmas, was £190 down to £100, good kit, can't fault it so far.

When you moving?

[robbo86]

try and find somebody with a trade card and you get discount too i think

Hell yeah. 4 mates in Halfrauds, all with trade cards

Yet oddly, ECP brake drums are 14.75 a side retail. Halfrauds brake drums, on trade are 28 squids a side

[citizensnips]

i've got access to a halfords card so looks like they might be a winner

I bought the Halfords set at xmas, was £190 down to £100, good kit, can't fault it so far.

When you moving?

i'm back in the office tomorrow so i'll drop you an e mail , but basically moving this week, then can hopefully get on with it

[robbo86]

The halfords set is a good move. My old man bought one. Don't however, let your dad try and use his, put a socket onto the ratchet, and have him complain that its broken. "The ball bearing that is supposed to pop in and out to hold the socket on is jammed, you cant get any sockets or attachments on" he says. Into Halfrauds he goes, where he says can you go and sort it out for me, I just need to look for something. Sure enough, I stroll up to the parts counter and explain to the nice bloke behind the counter what has happened and can I change it. He takes the ratchet bar, flips it over and explains to me the pushbutton on the back. "Push the button in" he says "and the socket goes right on. Do the same again to remove"

I dont bloody know, I have never used it, its not my set, next time sort it yourself dad!

[cecotto479]

Halfords Pro is good gear.

Teng is my favourite.

[gudgeon]

I've had 2 sets with no complaints, except that my mum's boyfriend fumbled the first set over the side of a boat and tried to persuade me that they'd been nicked.

I wonder who makes them?

[Topblag]

Bought a Halfords pro socket and ratchet set and can highly recommend them. About to buy a set of ratchet spanners from them as I'm so impressed with the quality of the socket set. However, haven't had to tackle any bolts that some WD40 and a breaker bar won't remove. Don't be tempted by cheaper halfords sets when you get there, get the Pro stuff.

[gudgeon]

Bought a Halfords pro socket and ratchet set and can highly recommend them. About to buy a set of ratchet spanners from them as I'm so impressed with the quality of the socket set. However, haven't had to tackle any bolts that some WD40 and a breaker bar won't remove. Don't be tempted by cheaper halfords sets when you get there, get the Pro stuff.

+1
Yeah, It's the pro stuff we're talking about not the cheap sets.

[robbo86]

I have a set of halfrauds profeesional felx-head ratchet spanners. At times they are a god send and at times they are annoying as sometimes just a bit to thick to fit round the bolt or nut when it is mounted close to something else.

[Topblag]

Interesting - would you recommend them in general, irrespective of make ? Normal spanners are much cheaper after all !

[robbo86]

I would recommend them, but a set of normal ring spanners will do the same job, but often with far more of the effort. I spent about 15 minutes today undoing a virtually rusted bolt with 2 ring spanners when my ratchet spanners would have down the same job in half the time ad not made my wrists ache at all.

They are at times too thick to fit over certain nuts or bolts, when its a bit reccessed and thats when normal ring/open ended combination or a socket comes into play, other times they are amazing and take half the time. I make do with a socket set and flex heads and will expand the collection in time.

[Topblag]

Nice one, thanks.

[Chase007]

That Halfords Advanced Pro 120 tool kit now at 99.99 they are saying up to half price on tool kits.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... =ClickInfo

[robbo86]

Thats the one my old man has and its pretty damn good!

[universal]

halfords pro set is good for diy use, it's not Snap-On mind you!! but please don't use scaffold bars on ratchet's, buy a breaker bar.

[gudgeon]

I have this one:
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165469
When I'm going to spend money I get 1/2" stuff. It then fits my air ratchet and torque wrenches.

I find that for 1/4" drive you can get away with cheap stuff. I make do with a tin full of assorted cheap sockets (most came with christmas gift screwdrivers), some wobble extension bars, and a £15 sealey gearless ratchet.

[citizensnips]

a couple of my mates have the big sets they do in the black cases, but they dont fit in the cabinet unless you cut the hinge or something, i'm tempted to get small top cabinet straight away and get the drawer sets so they fit in. at a later date i can then get the bottom cabinet section

[robbo86]

They were a couple of months ago doing buy the bottom get the top free-utter bargain that!

[citizensnips]

saw that today, its their most expensive one, think its 374 for the bottom, get the top free. very tempting

[wheelie_lv]

what about Biltema?

[citizensnips]

what about Biltema?

i had a google but i dont think you can get them here,

that halfords cabinet offer is good but i'd then have a very nice cabinet and not many tools, had a look and found this opinions?

teng tool kit

[stonesie]

I would recomend halfords professional tools to anyone, im on my 3rd or 4th breaker bar but have only destroyed 1 socket and that was by using it as a makeshift locking wheelnut remover when i lost the key (McGuard... not very secure).

Theyre about the only thing they sell thats worth buying imho.

[gudgeon]

what about Biltema?

i had a google but i dont think you can get them here,

that halfords cabinet offer is good but i'd then have a very nice cabinet and not many tools, had a look and found this opinions?

teng tool kit

The thing is I don't really understand why a person would want:
35 piece 1/4" drive regular/deep metric socket set
19 piece 3/8" drive regular metric socket set
17 piece 1/2" drive regular metric socket set

At the very least I would think you could skip the 3/8 altogether. Everything in regular and deep in all sizes. And no AF (just in case you do anything else apart from BMW)

[citizensnips]

i use 3/8ths the most i'd say, half inch for the big stuff, 1/4 for the diddy stuff but 90% of time i use 3/8. deep sockets are blooming handy though

[gudgeon]

Each to their own.

I use 1/2" for basically everything I can, when I need something small there's 1/4".
But then I don't have any 3/8" any more, and haven't missed it. My 1/2" goes down to 10mm.

Deep sockets are very useful I agree. And I was mistaken, with this set you only get them with 1/4".

Now that I have the basics I tend to buy only the minimum that I need to complete a job, even a single socket if that's all I need, but I buy and replace with good quality (and Teng is good stuff, I have some.)