whilst i acknowledge that a top of the range/lifetime warranty is nice to have,

but as deezee has said, there are SO many tools that one builds up to having, the way i look upon buying tools is to buy a middle of the range type quality as i can then buy other tools within my budget,
if you damage "a socket" etc then they can be replaced quite cheaply on an indvidual basis, rather than spending lots on a top quality set but unable to afford other tools as you,ve spent up,

the socket set /spanner combination set that i have has so far lasted me 4 years for the cost of £50 & the only broken part was a screwdriver bit that snapped the tip which was my own fault.


andy

I have to agree, I bought my socket set when I was 16, that's 19 years ago now (god I feel old suddenly!). It was just a generic middle of the road set, 1/2" and 1/4" drives, with extensions and spark plug sockets etc. Over the years, I've added to it when I've needed an odd size, or occasionally broken something. I actually had to replace the 1/2" drive about 10 years ago, but replacing as and when things break does spread the cost out somewhat, and I reckon one ratchet every 10 years (with some pretty nasty abuse - 6' scaffold tube on end of drive to shift beetle rear hub nut!) is pretty good.

If you were a professional mechanic, and your living depended on your tools (and they were to be used 8 hours a day, 5 days a week), I would get expensive stuff with lifetime warranties, but for the home mechanic, I don't feel it's worth it.

Cheers

Adrian

My best mate used to be a tyre monkey at Kwik-sh1t. His tools kept going 'walkies' (mostly Sykes Pickavant - they can get a set when they start and spread the cost).

He got a really cheap and nasty (£4) set off the local market. Even though they weren't impact sockets, the 17, 19 & 21mm spent most of their life getting the living hell smashed out of them day in day out. A bit of flaky chrome was the biggest problem!!

A high price does not always mean a quality product either

He kept his nice tools for home.

Sean

Right we'll after reading all of your posts I've bid on the set that HandyAndy posted earlier, so we'll see how that goes. Cheers for all of your help.

From my limited experience, a 1/2" set is just right for suspension work. I even use sockets from the set with a bar type torquewrench when doing and undoing wheel lug nugs. The long torquewrench makes it quite effortless and exact.

However, 1/2" sockets and extensions are too clumsy for stuff like hard to get to intake manifold nuts (10mm-ish), something more nimble and compact would be useful. I suspect a 3/8" set would be ideal here.

Also, apparently even pro-grade 1/4" ratchets are not too durable, I've seen car mechanincs buy them several at a time, like pencils. Probably it's because they are too easy to abuse.

just for info it is Sykes Pickavant that make the halfords pro stuff.

also just a bit more info. draper pro stuff is not bad and can be found very cheeply on the likes of ebay etc

:eek: gulp :D

good luck with your bid, not long to go either , hope the set is ok for you:cool:

andy

Some body once told me that you only need two tools to fix things. If it moves and it's not supposed to use gaffer tape and if it don't move and it's ment to use wd40. I think that he had 3 tools though as the 3rd 'tool' owned the other two.

Thats the joy of a 1/2" drive, that you can just pop a 3/8" adapter on the wrench and use smaller socket if required...... save on a 2nd set of extension bars, wrenches. But I admit I have a 1/4" for bench work (carbs and the such)

Tatey if you get stuck just let me know.

"Halfords Pro" Who is kidding who ! (not directly pointed at you Ash)