Dream Weaver

Moving house in 5 weeks and after 6 years of living on a terraced street on a pub route, I will finally have my own big garage to tinker with the 205.

First job will be to setup the workbench area and tools, so just wondered what sort of setup you have? Tools, workbench, floor paint, jacks, lifts etc??

Garage is 20' x 11'

Noticed some decent tool sets in the Demon Tweeks catalogue - Sealey power products 3 drawer roller chest, with 5 drawer top chest, comes stacked full of tools including pliers, spanners, sockets, lamps, angle grinder etc. Supposed to be £1200 separately, is on at £400.

Anyone used these?

When setup its time to remove the Mi16 engine and get to work on the stem seals

Gutmann pug

not sure you wanna tell everyone what you have in your garage mate?

jjones

stacked full of tools usually means stacked full of crap.

buy the basics then purchase things as you need or you will end up with hundreds of pounds worth of tools that you have never used.

S.B.

Is the address there then?

Dream Weaver

Fair point Gary, but it will be secured up to the nines and I work from home and will have a clear view of it from the office window

<Adds baseball bat to list>

BOB.T

Seally stuff is OK, that's from a trade point of view though so you'll be fine with it I guess.

The thing with those deals is that you get arm fulls of stuff that you don't know what it is never mind get any use from it!

New To Scoob

Used some of the Sealey stuff and found it good so far, personally I use Teng never had a problem with it once, I've got to second the statement above though by the basics first then add to it or you'll end up with loads of stuff your never use.
For workbenches and tool boxes you could always try machine mart also.

John.

TopBanana

It had to happen didn't it. Someone turn these frickin fonts off!

TopBanana

Does anyone know any cheap Snap-On suppliers, by the way... moving in with the missus and part of the deal is that I get a double garage all to myself!! Happy days

dsmith

Well I've been tinkering with assorted cars including some fairly heavy restoration of an MG midget for many years and Sealey are great. Just the right balance of quality/value imho.

There a quality enough brand that you can get spares if you do need them. (Pinion gears eventually give up in an angle grinder after 5 years heavy use!) Love to have Snap-on but simply cant justify it for home use. Any tools you buy look after them - dont abuse them and they'll last far far longer.

Deano

Proby521

iTrader: (1)

There is no such thing as a "CHEAP SNAP-ON" dealer. Snap-on stuff IS a rip off. I have no doubt it IS the best you can buy, I have lots of snap-on gear which has been in use by me for around 10 years, but I would not justify spending the sort of wonga on this stuff for use at home in the garage. If I were looking to set up a home workshop, you can't go wrong with 'halfords professional stuff'. Don't laugh until you have checked it out. I have none myself, but the apprentice at work has full socket sets/spanners and I'm very impressed with the quality. Tools I use don't get ***** footed around with either, as I work on heavy cranes/plant, and not your general automotive stuff. Check out Halfords, I would. (Unless you are loaded, and money is no expense, go to Snap-on.)

Chris.

dome

I'll second that vote for the halfords profesional stuff. Never had a problem with them and the prices are good.

igratton

Mixture of Halfords Pro, Snap-on and Facom (The facom stuff was on sale) for me. Other specialist stuff (like rivnut guns etc) tends to be masterfix.

Generally speaking the Halfords stuff is good, the ratchets work well and last a long time, ratchet spanners are also very good. I think I've only managed to break a long 19mm socket in the last 3 years.

TopBanana

Might stock up at Halfords then. Most of mine is cheap tat at the moment

Dream Weaver

Have had a basic Halfords socket and tool set for about 14 years now (dad bought me it years ago) and never had any problems with that so may take a look.

David_Dickson

The problem with these deals that include "400 quality tools" is that 350 of these tools are assorted 1/4" drive torx sockets and allen keys and wee brass-headed brushes and other crap that you never use. Best bet is to buy a good socket set and spanners and a set of screwdrivers.
I started with a Halfords Professional 1/2" drive socket set and a set of combination spanners, and add to it as and when i need stuff. this means I get usefull stuff without having to put up with drawers full of crap.
I have to say though, a good roller cabinet is nice, but a good workbench is even better!
I do all my tinkering at work and one of the benches there is made from 6mm plate steel with legs made from huge bits of angle-iron. It takes 4 people just to lift this thing and even then its a struggle. Bolted to it is a huge vice, pillar drill and bench grinder. Its great to be able to put a suspension strut into the vice and pull on it with a huge breaker bar without the bench skidding across the floor!
Also, as its metal, we have the earth-clamp of the welder on the bench leg and whatever I am welding just needs to be either in the vice or sitting on the bench for it to be earthed.

Bunge

Some hopefully helpful advice:

I have worked for one of the uks biggest companies in the tool industry for 17 years now and know the industry inside out i can tell you that those complete tool kit deals are a generally a con (imo).
As David says above you tend to get 350 screwdriver and torx bits or screws or fuses etc its all a numbers game and the tools supplied are generally lower quality gear to meet a price point, very rarley the best stuff.
At the end of the day you pays yer money and takes yer choice and with regards superstores own brand gear do you really think they have their own factories? when you buy a tin of asda baked beans who makes them asda? or another well known brand??.......same for tools chaps

Regards

Nick

Bunge

p.s. there is nowt wrong with Halfords gear!

CraigH

"I think I've only managed to break a long 19mm socket in the last 3 years"

Yeah, but that wasn't a Pro socket was it?

All the Pro stuff has a lifetime guarantee not that we've had to use it.

They're also heavy enough, that if you were to **** someone with them, they'd hurt

jjones

most of the halfords pro sockets are the 12 pointed things. ok for general use but when you get a stubborn bugger 6 sided is better as it is less likely to round the bugger off

halfords pro ratchet spanners are essential.

Jer

Taskmaster stuff is quite good. Go into your local motor factor and see what they have. Companies like Partco, Brown Brothers etc.

scoobypreza

Mrs Scoobypreza was very nice to me christmas before last and bought me Halfords Professional stuff, 1/2" socket set, 1/4 and 3/8 socket set and complete spanner set, she also got me the tool chest to put it in, lucky boy I know! To me the quality is excellent and had no problems with any of it, lifetime guarantee as well. I was also told by my gas service fella that he uses halfords professional because he knows it's all made by sycks pickavant (excuse the spelling!), don't know if this is true but what the heck, quality stuff anyway.

Dave

Dave T-S

I've got loads of Snap on stuff, and use Halfords Pro too. The Halfrauds stuff is surprisingly good

Smiler1

Snap-on, Proto, Facom, Britool, Taskmaster are some of the best. These are all at the top end of the price range though. The Halfords pro stuff is very good for the price.

For home use I would go for the halfords stuff and see if you can pick up the more expensive stuff which you use the most (like ratchets etc) as you go along.

Ebay is a good place for snap-on etc but make sure you check prices online before you bid, its easy to get carried away. Other than that keep your eyes open when you visit carboot sales. I have picked up some nice bits of Snap-on, Facom etc over the years at the bootsales

Cheers
Iain

davedipster

Rhino ramps, very handy indeed.
They are drive on ramps with a shallow 12degree slope so they will miss most front splitters. They miss my 03STI front anyway.
Made by Blitz of America and I got mine from MOSS uk.

Dipster