Thread: Best brand of tools for the price?

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In 2 months I will be starting my new job as an auto tech. and will need a complete set of tools. I cant afford anything like snap-on but I do want nice tools.

What type of tools do you guys perfere and why?

Craftsman tools are nice, LIFE TIME GUARANTEE!!!. I am not sure but I remember hearing snap on were craftsman rejects? Dont know , others will be sure to follow in.....

Tweak, if you are starting a new job, you should have some tools already and have a feel for them. Tools that a guy uses to build his hot rod are much different than the tools that a guy uses to make his living.... holding a tool for a few hours on Saturday is completely different than holding a wrench for a 40 hour week. The driveway guy doesnt care if he makes a few more wrist turns, gets a blister from the wrench casting, etc...while the professional mechanic cares a bunch!

You should talk to your co workers at your new job to see what they are using. They should be able to help you define a starter set of whatever brand you choose.

Craftsman makes their legacy wrenches that have cheapened considerably in the last decade or so. I have Craftsman wrenches that were made in the 1950's that are decent wrenches while the later stuff is stuff to put in your trunk for emergency use. Craftsman also makes a professional line with polished handles that are better. Snap On has gotten stupid-expensive in the last five years but it is still the standard of the industry.

Dont spend your money on the gimmick tools, buy basic combo wrenches, sockets, etc. It takes years to build a good set of tools but, if you buy good stuff, your wife can sell them at the garage sale when you're gone.

mike in tucson

Originally Posted by BigTruckDriver

Craftsman tools are nice, LIFE TIME GUARANTEE!!!. I am not sure but I remember hearing snap on were craftsman rejects? Dont know , others will be sure to follow in.....

In your dreams!!!! Snap-on makes the majority of their own tools, especially the hand tools.

As others have said, Craftsman is probably fine for a weekender, but when you use them all day every day I prefer something better. Guarantee doesn't mean much when you have to keep going back to Sears to get the same stuff replaced all the time.... Time wasted waiting for some cashier who doesn't know anything about tools is not a good time.....

Another way to save some money is to shop the pawn shops. There are two kinds of pawn shops. The first one takes each socket and wrench out of an unclaimed box and sells them individually (at stupid prices). The second pawn shop just leaves the box intact and sells it as is. I used to hit various pawn shops as I traveled, and if I looked inside a tool box they had for sale and saw some name brand stuff mixed in with the jap tools, I did some quick figuring in my head and made them an offer.

I ended up with lots of SnapOn, Mac, Craftsman, etc tools, and some jap stuff that I keep around to weld and cut on to make special, one time wrenches.

One word of advice. When you start your job do not become a tool truck addict until you start making some money and know you can afford to buy them. I have seen so many techs at the body shop and marina's I have worked at get caught up in the "one-upmanship" out trying to outdo the other techs buy buying tool after tool. One guy bought a $ 20,000.00 tool box from SnapOn (EMPTY TOOLBOX) and all the other guys were drooling. It is very seductive and you have to keep your wits about you.

Don

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

In your dreams!!!! Snap-on makes the majority of their own tools, especially the hand tools.

As others have said, Craftsman is probably fine for a weekender, but when you use them all day every day I prefer something better. Guarantee doesn't mean much when you have to keep going back to Sears to get the same stuff replaced all the time.... Time wasted waiting for some cashier who doesn't know anything about tools is not a good time.....

Snap-On is a distributor, NOT a manufacturer, all they do is sell. Danaher makes the tools for Snap-On, MAC, Matco, Craftsman Professional and NAPA. The only difference is finish and name. Blue Point, Evercraft and Craftsman are a second line. Not as slim, professionals don't want a bulky tool to get into tight spots. Finish is not as nice, but same lifetime warranty.

I was not meaning that snap on tools were craftsman rejects in a "bad way". Craftsman and others that might have a small blemish get taken down to the slim line "snap on" brand tools....

Being a hobbiest, I don't nessarily need proquality tools, for the most part Craftsman are fine with me. However, I do see how someone who did it day in day out would want tools that feel better in your hand and are made to be slimmer. This week when we pulled the headers back off of my Kids T I had to go get a MAC 3/8 wrench off of my pegboard because the Craftsman one we too thick and wouldn't slip over the bolts because of them being so close to the header tubes. The MAC went right on.
Don

I got the above statement from google as I am sure you did. Do they manufacture the tools , as in pouring steel and such? Or were they sanding down tools that were all ready made else where?

My info could be dated.... I'll let it go ,dont have time

I'm at the point that I just cannot justify paying the price for Snap-on tools any longer now that I'm not doing much mech work for anyone but me so am "settling" for lesser tools but being selective - made in the US is a must.

Here's about $1.98 worth of some of my well used Snap-on hoard of tools

Originally Posted by BigTruckDriver

Snap-On is a distributor, NOT a manufacturer, all they do is sell. Danaher makes the tools for Snap-On, MAC, Matco, Craftsman Professional and NAPA. The only difference is finish and name. Blue Point, Evercraft and Craftsman are a second line. Not as slim, professionals don't want a bulky tool to get into tight spots. Finish is not as nice, but same lifetime warranty.

.

Where in the heck do you come up with this stuff??? I've been through a couple of the plants where some of the Snap-on stuff is made!!!! Trust me, Napa and Craftsman tools are not near the quality of Snap-on and Matco.... I've been using them everyday for many, many years....

This is from the Snap-on site..... I guess you better tell them to stop manufacturing....



Company Profile

Snap-on Incorporated is a leading global innovator, manufacturer and marketer of tools, diagnostics and equipment solutions for professional users. Product lines include hand and power tools, tool storage, diagnostics software, information and management systems, shop equipment and other solutions for vehicle manufacturers, dealerships and repair centers, as well as customers in industry, government, agriculture and construction. Products are sold through its franchisees, company-direct sales and distributor channels, as well as over the Internet. Founded in 1920, Snap-on is a $2.5 billion, S&P 500 company headquartered in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Mission
The most valued productivity solutions in the world.

Address
Snap-on Incorporated
P.O. Box 1410
Kenosha, WI 53141-1410, U.S.A.
262-656-5200

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Where in the heck do you come up with this stuff??? I've been through a couple of the plants where some of the Snap-on stuff is made!!!! Trust me, Napa and Craftsman tools are not near the quality of Snap-on and Matco.... I've been using them everyday for many, many years....

This is from the Snap-on site..... I guess you better tell them to stop manufacturing....

I SAID IN MY FIRST POST "I WAS NOT SURE BUT REMEBERED HEARING THEY WERE REJECTS" THIS WAS 15 YEARS OR SO AGO AND IT LOOKS LIKE I GOT THE NAMES MIXED UP, EXCUSE THE F OUT OF ME!!!!!!!

Now, I am no expert on turning wrenches, I dont turn them day in and day out and dont have the money or need for snap on.The different brands are not etched in my brain like yours. If what I keep finding on google is correct it was another top name brand that I heard about 15 years ago, I think they ride around in a truck too. Anyways here a little something I read thought it might be useful.Dont know how true it is some engineer claimed the writing but it pretty much the same story I kept finding


"Here's something that you might be interested in:
Someone wrote [in part]:

... but I never could figure out who makes the [Craftsman] hand tools.

To which someone else replied:

I'm not the final word on tools by any means, but since I work in the business, I've learned a little bit about it. Okay, here's more than you ever wanted to know.

Lowes now (as of earlier this year) is selling a line of Mechanics Tools called Kobalt which is made by Snap-On. They are good tools.

Home Depot's Husky brand is made by Stanley Mechanics Tools, a division of the Stanley Works. Husky are also good tools and have a good lifetime warranty (they'll even replace your broken Craftsman with an equivalent Husky).

Until 1994 or so, Stanley also made Sears Craftsman tools. Sears Craftsman is now made by Danaher Tools. They beat out Stanley on the contract over price. Danaher also manufactures MatCo Tools, the third largest player in the Mobile Automotive industry (behind MAC and Snap-On). Odds are, if you own any Craftsman tools that are older than about five years ago, they were made by Stanley in plants in Dallas, Texas, Witchita Falls, Texas, and Sabina, Ohio.

Stanley also owns MAC Tools and manufactures MAC tools in the same plants. Now here's the kicker: MAC Tools, Proto Tools (a very expensive industrial brand), Husky Tools, and, (prior to five or so years ago) Craftsman Tools are all made from the same forgings in the same plants. Proto is unique because it goes through addtional testing and certification because it is used by NASA, the military, and industrial customers (including General Motors).

There are three MAJOR players in the USA mechanics tool business: Stanley, Danaher, and Snap-On. Stanley and Danaher (almost identical in sales revenue at about $28 billion each) are the biggest followed by Snap-On. Each of these three manufacture and sell tools under a variety of brands (there are many other brands that Stanley makes that I haven't even named). The quality between these three manufacturers is roughly the same. I know its a bit of a let-down to hear that, but its a simple fact.

There are a hand full of other minor players (Vermont American, etc) and an endless list of Taiwanese import tool companies (some of which Stanley own as well as Danaher to serve the lower end consumer import brands at WalMart, etc). How do I know all of this? I work for Stanley Mechanics Tools, specifically with the Proto Industrial brand. I personally do not think that MAC, MatCo, or Snap-On branded tools are worth the extra markup since they use the same forgings and manufacturing processes that make Husky and Kobalt and pre-1994 Craftsman. Where you need to pay attention are things like ratchets and torque wrenches. There are different specifications of ratchets and you do pay for the difference. Some mechanics require a finer, more precise ratcheting mechanism than guys like me who just bang around in the garage on the weekends.

By the way, Metwrench is basically considered a "gimick" infomercial tool brand that is not considered as a serious competitor to Danaher, Snap-On, or Stanley. Then again, IBM once didn't see Microsoft as a serious force in the personal computer business. Hmmmm....

Then there was this discourse on FACOM brand tools:

> FACOM has been around forever. French company, says "American" in the name
> though I forget the whole acronym.

FACOM is Franco-Americaine de Construction d'Outillage Mecanique. French for "French-American Mechanical Tool Manufacturing". Got points in my french class for that.

> It's now one of the largest tool conglomerates in Europe.
>
> SK, I think, is an American company that recently has had a large part of
> its stock purchased by FACOM.

FACOM owns S-K outright. You'll notice (if you look through the catalogs from preceeding years) that the tools are becoming more and more alike. The S-K "pro" screwdrivers are now FACOM ergotwist screwdrivers. The "tuff1" ratchets are S-K pro ratchet handles avec FACOM innards. FACOM's ratcheting flare wrench now has S-K stamped on the side of it. I don't like it because we could get FACOM tools from S-K dealers for over 10 years, but now they're getting more and more reluctant to give us FACOM stuff, they'd rather sell S-K stuff. Which is why you get S-K catalogs instead of FACOM. If you specifically request (demand) a FACOM catalog, you get their _american_ catalog, which is abbreviated, along with a note to contact Griot's Garage. I've asked a French friend to get me a French market FACOM catalog, as they have all the good stuff that hasn't yet been absorbed into the S-K line. Ultimate Garage is a FACOM dealer as well as Griots, and I've been told (by richard?) they've got a catalog, dunno if it's FACOM's, but I'll order something and find out.

I was also wondering what the deal was with the S-K foundry? Presumably they still make some stuff stateside? No? I know there are others not mentioned, Cornwell has a foundry in Ohio, I think?

I'd kinda doubt that Williams uses the _exact_ same dies for Koalt and Snap-On. I compared the Kobalt combo wrench to one of my Snap-Ons, and they aren't the same. The Kobalt handle is pretty much rectangular in cross-section, and really does hurt your hand when you pull hard. The Snap-On is more rounded. As well, the Kobalt is visibly looser on the fastener. Maybe these are Snap-On rejects? Can't explain the handle differences, though. The breaker bars seem to share the same grip, though, it just seems the kobalt doesn't have those nifty machined indentations at the base.

I know Stanley owns Mac and Blackhawk (didn't know about Husky), but the Blackhawk stuff doesn't seem similar to the Mac stuff. These look awfully different to be from the same dies, shape wise. So the price difference is different steel in the better tools? Surely they can't be charging Mac prices for better plated Blackhawk stuff?

> FACOM also owns (large parts of) USAG (Italian?) and Beissbarth...

didn't know this. I'd like to find some USAG tools, just to try them "

Also the company that your going to work for should all ready have a place they use and will more than likely get you a break on the price.

It does take forever to buy up good tools. fortunately for me my uncle just brought his box to the shop, I haven't had to get anything.

Snap-On, Proto, Mac, Matco, Cornwell. Good tools. Proto I like, they are suppsoed to be what they use in aerospace industry. they can be purchased at stores rather than waiting for the truck. you can find many things used in classifieds and on e-bay. watch your local craigslist, sometimes you see fantastic deals. I bought a drop front proto chest brand new off of ebay for like 200 bucks plus the shipping. guy learned his lesson and raised price to close to wholesale after that. big box, cheaper than you can get the craftsman version for.

make a list of what you will need and keep it by the computer, start doing regular searches and as you find things check them off. the big outfits, snap-on specifically, do loans and credit as well. they know you need the stuff to work, and need work to give them money, so they work with you. the deals are out there. my mechanic for years moved out of state, before moving he was selling his home set (did shadetree work) which was mostly snapon, all tools, rolling chest and top box with the air tools for under 2k. If I had the money I would have jumped on it like a frat boy on a beer.

I am sure the pros will weigh in with their more qualified thoughts now. good luck with the new work

Red

If you're going to be a mechanic tools are an investment, not an expense. I'd stick with the tool trucks, Snap-on, and Matco have always been my favorites. I'd suggest you use what you have for now, starting building a good set as you can afford it. Wouldn't be too smart to invest a lot of money in tools till you see if turning wrenches is what you really want to do the rest of your life....