Whats everyone using these days ?

 

Any recommendations and deals going out there ?

 

I've currently got a small Halfords Advanced kit that done me good for two years but looking to upgrade my set to a proper toolkit,

budget is about £250 - £300

with the lifetime warranty, then a larger halfords pro set wouldnt be a bad shout imo Lee

If I were you in addition I would get a set of sockets which take out rounded nuts. I have a set of sort of bladed sockets which have saved my bacon.

Also a good spanner set and maybe some ratchet spanners would be good.

I would advise to get the 6 sided sockets instead of the 12 as they tend not to round nuts so easily.

with the lifetime warranty, then a larger halfords pro set wouldnt be a bad shout imo Lee

 

I bought the advanced large size pro set myself, so far I have only had to replace the medium ratchet wrench due to a missing ball catch.

Other than that, it's been great.

Mind you, I did get it at half price. Not sure I would of bought it other wise.

For your sort of budget, maybe worth looking at a more industry established brand.

 

Loving the snow flakes by the way.

Harry's advanced pro tools - find someone with a trade card. Rather than having large tool kits (most of which never get used),

I've stuck with buying small sets of sockets and spanners and then tools "as needed". Other than specialised tools for very specific

jobs, it is surprising the small range of tools you need to do jobs on our cars.

I've got a half inch socket set from Halfords which is not overly big and i use it weekly, probably before 'Advanced' was invented and i've had it 30 years in March '17, i've replaced 2 sockets in all that time...that is all and lost zero :thumbup1:.

 

Don't think it owes me anything.

Think i'm going to go for one of these sets :

 

Looks good to me, though personally I'd like some longer extensions also, but it should do fine.

I have mixture including Teng socket set, spannners, as well as Britool spanners in the larger sizes and their ratchet spanners. Like others have mentioned I have a few Halfords items as well, that have served me well, but I don't think their quality is quite as good as my other brands.

Im really needing to get my self a new socket set amd spanner set. Used my mates halfords stuff when we were working on the car in the summer and really liked it

I've got a fair few bits of Halfords Advanced and I highly rate it for the price. Some of the expensive stuff, sockets wise is no better. Drivers and more expensive/complex tools are worth the extra. I mostly use screwdrivers rather than spanners on a daily basis, I'm simply not replacing my expensive CK/Klien screwdrivers, the Stanley ones are actually better. A few of my close mates are Pro mechanics though and use car type tools more and still highly rate the Advanced stuff. SnapOn get moaned about but the warranty and convenience aspect make them worth money. Britool stuff is pretty damn good.

For a hobbyist Halfords Advanced is more than adequate and id add too rather than replace it. I do have a trade card which helps but often there on sale and the offer is good anyway. What do you feel your lacking?

The Halfords Pro stuf is on sale at the moment. Like AndrewG though I just tend to buy whatever specialised set I need at the time. Most of my sockets are a bit of a mixture, but I do have a nice set of 1/4"drive Facom sockets that I bought for about £30 about 25 years ago.

One of my very first set of sockets were Facom and they're still going strong nearly 20 years later. Mine get used an awful lot as part of my job and over the years I have destroyed many ratcheting tools; for those, snap on tools have been worth the investment.

 

I use a Halfords set at home on my cars and they do the job well, but for anything more than a hobby tool kit, I'd go for a premium 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" drive ratchet, ratcheting screwdriver, ratchet spanners etc.

Edited December 28, 20168 yr by Joely P

I own a facom 1/4 drive and i pretty much use it everyday for the lighter stuff, imo a brand worth consideration.