Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hello guys ! i was thinking about upgrading my ancient set of tools ( i have been using the one's since my old man had since 20 lol ! )

I need a suggestion of what brands are decent and good in price ?

I was looking at a stanley socket tool set ? 132 piece for about $200

what do you boys use ?

Edited by Longz
Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/372445-buying-a-new-set-of-tools/
Share on other sites

just a tool set for any type of mechanical \ house work thought it was about time i bought my own set.

Well my dad's ones are old bit dirty and starting to rust a bit.... and they look like stone age tools compared to nowadays when i saw my mates ones.

Edited by Longz

just a tool set for any type of mechanical \ house work thought it was about time i bought my own set.

Well my dad's ones are old bit dirty and starting to rust a bit.... and they look like stone age tools compared to nowadays when i saw my mates ones.

Oh I thought you meant like a full mechanics tool kit.

I've got an SP tools chest at work, most of the newer Snap on sheet doesn't seem all that much better than any other half decent brand.

I bought a couple of new tooly things a few months ago.

Firstly I bought a Bahco 106 Piece Socket Set. Really pleased with the quality of the tools. Got it from Bunnings for $240. I've used Bahco stuff for work (rigging), and have always been happy with the quality of their tools.

About 5 minutes later I bought a Bahco Metric Reversible Ratchet Spanner Set. Such a tasy little cluster of toolness! All in a groovy pouch. Super happy with these, use them all the time on my car, and at work. The 5° action of the ratchets means you need sweet FA room to move them for them to work. Great stuff! Got these from Bunnings aswell for $74.

Bahco was the only brand on sale there that didn't have a lifetime warranty. They also had Kinchrome and Stanley. If it's just around the home I guess you could settle for Stanley. But wouldn't you want your kids to be replacing their old mans tool kit in 30 years time? lol

Nothing wrong with Bahco.....

Sidchrome - dear as but one of the best you can get

Kinchrome - very good, but buy their premium range cos they also sell cheaper versions sometimes

Snap On - I don't own any, but supposed to be good

Dowidat - german excellence, not quite as common as it used to be, but a top brand

Blackhawk - make the best small spanner set you can find [as in little spanners]

VBW - make good stuff. usually extractors or stud removers

Eastwing - are the best claw hammers

Wiss - tinsnips/cutters

Dawn - vices

Visegrip - visegrips although theres another brand with blue covered handles that I've got that is also good [name escapes me for now]

Maun - best hole punch sets

Masterfix - the best rivnut set

and the list goes on...........

There are others, but you get what you pay for.

I have a Repco tool set for my work vehicle [supplied] and it seems OK - but I probably wouldn't buy one personally - the other brands listed do the same job and I trust them.

You need to buy good tools Longz, I don't want any rounded off nuts or broken studs on that R34 of yours...........when I win the lottery [and don't spend so much on tools] I'm buying it!!!!

Snap-on or Blupoint or even Westrac branded tools IF you are using the tools all day every day and could get away with using them as a tax right off. if not I love the good old medium range Sidchrome gear. 1 thing that I highly suggest is a decent quality impact socket set. in 6 not 12 point.

PS if you want some really good gear and don't wanna pay aussy prices or have access to freight coming out of Singapore. I highly recommend Promax USA tools, if people want the addy to the supplier I'll add it later. The impact gear works out atleast half the price of buying in Perth depending on if I airfreight or seafreight them.

But might not be worthwhile to most people unless your buying big sockets in like 3/4" to 2 1/2" drive gear like I do for my work.

any tool that comes with a lifetime warranty is usually good.

But whose lifetime? If the tool breaks, wouldn't that be the end of its lifetime?

Like a "concrete warranty" - once its off my concrete, what warranty?

Bunnings has a Supatool kit, 159 pieces in 5-tray cantilever tool box - only $89. And get a Stanley screwdriver box - 16 pc at Bunnings $34.

I bent the f**k out of a sidchrome 3/16" whitworth spanner. Was hanging off it with a peice of steel tube about a yard long. I went to my local agent and they replaced it no questions asked. And it was 10 years old.

But whose lifetime? If the tool breaks, wouldn't that be the end of its lifetime?

Like a "concrete warranty" - once its off my concrete, what warranty?

Bunnings has a Supatool kit, 159 pieces in 5-tray cantilever tool box - only $89. And get a Stanley screwdriver box - 16 pc at Bunnings $34.

by lifetime warranty they mean for the life of the company (that made the tool) thay will replace/ fix the tool if it's broken.

so it's best to buy you tools from a long running company because they have a better chance of being around in the future, but if your not using the tools every day go with the tools that feel good because they will last as long as you will be using them but will probably cost less.

Snap on is good gear but unless you use it for work (ie you're a fitter / mechanic) it's major overkill. Any home handyman or enthusiast who tells you otherwise is just trying to be cool, and doesn't know what he's talking about.

For the amount of use a tool set will get with a typical car enthusiast, Sidchrome or other mid-range gear (as per a few of the brands listed above) will do the job fine. My socket set is 25 years old and still going strong. It's scratched up and dirty, but everything works well. Stanley gear is fine as well - I have a screwdriver set (25 years old) and ROE spanner set and again it hasn't let me down (except when I snapped the blade off one screw driver trying to use it as a lever).

Stay away from the cheap and nasty supercheap gear and you should be OK. The only tools I've ever broken without ridiculous abuse is the cheapo stuff. Even the Repco gear surprised me with its quality. I wanted a small 1/4" drive socket set for the tight fiddly jobs that the 1/2" gear couldn't quite fit, and the Repco set is surprisingly good quality. I use it a lot more than I had intended, although it's only 12 months old so can't vouch for its longevity.

Repco brand, Kinchrome or Supatool.

I assume this is a shed set and not a set you'll be using for hours a day.

Forget Snap On and Sidchrome. Far too expensive for tools not being used constantly. Kinchrome are bloody good quality and will last decades. Repco brand tools are also very, very good. Supatool are just rebranded Kinchrome stuff and very good quality.

I don't know about the Stanley stuff. I've never used it and don't know anyone who has. It seems a little too cheap to be a contender. The link you put up to the Stanley stuff, it doesn't look great and the price says no IMO.

That Sidchrome set looks bloody good.

There's a 174 piece Supatool set on special at the moment from Kinchrome for $299 - http://www.kincrome.com.au/web/support/promotions.php Have a look at the cattledog.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Even more fun, leave all the ADAS stuff plugged in, but in different locations, hopefully avoid any codes!   And honestly, all these new cars with their weird electronics. Pull all the electronics out Duncan, and just shove an aftermarket ECU and if needed a trans controller in, along with a PDM. Make it run basic but race car styled!
    • To follow up a question from earlier too since I had the front bar off again (fking!) This is what is between the bumper and the drivers side wheel And this is the navigator side, only one thing but its a biggy! So basically....no putting coolers in the wheel arches without a lot of moving other stuff. Assuming I move to properly race prepping this car I'll take that job on and see how the computers respond to removing a whole bunch of ADAS modules
    • So I prepped the car for another track day on Wednesday (will be interesting to see coolant temps post flushing out and the larger reservoir, with a forecast of 3-14 being 20o cooler than last time I took it out). Couple of things to mention; since I am just driving the car and not taking a support vehicle, I took the rear seats out and just loaded the back up Team Trackday style. Look at all that space! To cover off removing the rear seat....it is weird (note the hybrid is probably different because it wouldn't have folding rear seats) Basically, you remove the lower seat base, very similar to a r series but it is a clip that pulls forward to release the base rather than it being bolted down. Easy Then, you need to remove the side section of the rear seat on each side. There is a 14mm head nut at the bottom of the side piece, the it slides upwards off a hook at the top to release; you also need to unhook the seatbelt from the loop at the top. Then the centre piece is weird. You need to release/fold the seats forward with the tab in the boot on each side From there, there are 2,x12mm headed bolts holding the rear of each seat to the folding bracket, under the trim between the rear seat and the boot (4x christmas tree clips there, they suck). The seat is out but you can see where the bolts attach to the bracket
    • As discussed in the previous post, the bushes in the 110 needed replacing. I took this opportunity to replace the castor bushes, the front lower control arm, lower the car and get the alignment dialled in with new tyres. I took it down to Alignment Motorsports on the GC to get this work done and also get more out of the Shockworks as I felt like I wasn't getting the full use out of them.  To cut a very long story short, it ended up being the case the passenger side castor arm wouldn't accept the brand new bush as the sleeve had worn badly enough to the point you could push the new bush in by hand and completely through. Trying a pair of TRD bushes didn't fix the issue either (I had originally gone with Hardrace bushes). We needed to urgently source another castor arm, and thankfully this was sourced and the guys at the shop worked on my car until 7pm on a Saturday to get everything done. The car rides a lot nicer now with the suspension dialled in properly. Lowered the car a little as well to suit the lower profile front tyres, and just bring the car down generally. Eternally thankful for the guys down at the shop to get the car sorted, we both pulled big favours from our contacts to get it done on the Saturday.  Also plugged in the new Stedi foglights into the S15, and even from a quick test in the garage I'm keen to see how they look out on the road. I had some concerns about the length of the LED body and whether it'd fit in the foglight housing but it's fine.  I've got a small window coming up next month where I'll likely get a little paint work done on the 110 to remove the rear wing, add a boot wing and roof wing, get the side skirt fixed up and colour match the little panel on the tail lights so that I can install some badges that I've kept in storage. I'm also tempted to put in a new pair of headlights on the 110.  Until then, here's some more pictures from Easter this year. 
    • I would put a fuel pressure gauge between the filter and the fuel rail, see if it's maintaining good fuel pressure at idle going up to the point when it stalls. Do you see any strange behavior in commanded fuel leading up to the point when it stalls? You might have to start going through the service manual and doing a long list of sensor tests if it's not the fuel system for whatever reason.
×
×
  • Create New...