Snap On help

Yeah i've got Snap-on tools, Much rather use them than my brothers KingChrome tools as they are much easier to handle as they are usally thicker and don't seem to hurt your hands either, plus there is always the Lifetime Guarantee* that seems to be a good thing if your heavy handed on your tools like me although most tooling suppliers like Sidchrome Proto and such also have a Lifetime Guarantee* on their tooling as well so it really just depends on your budget at the end of the day

 

If you are wrenching professionaly, snapon is one of the very best.

For an occasional weekend mechanic, you can probably have 85% of the tools for about 1/4 the cost going with Napa. I have done a lot of Craftsman stuff but the service is horrific. When i worked at sears, i assembled a "pick your favorite minority group" took kit, from some of the better craftsman bits i came across - stuff like sockets with a round not square drive, sockets with no flutes, you know the ones designed to fit over round nuts...the list goes on.

Absolutely, no question, Snapon is the very fine stuff, but how much money do you have and what do you want to spend it on. I would rather put the few discretionary bucks i have into the car.

hth,
chris

 

Weekend use..use Crasftman pro series. Very nice tools to use. In fact I have a few in my tool box.

I'm a Snap-on junkie unfortunatly, and my account balance shows it. I have near 40k in Snap-on hand tools and other testing equipment. They are perhapes the best available and rarely do I break one, but they can be a little sticky on warrenty claims because of the cost of the tools.

If you need screwdrivers and prybars, get the Snap-on, even if they are the only Snap-on tools you buy, they are worth the extra cost because they work like nothing else I have ever used.

For air tools (if you have a compressor) Ingersol Rand is the best of the bunch. Never had a problem with them that wasen't my fault (fit or rage, lack of oiling etc). They are definatly worth the money.

 

Go with craftsmen for home use, snap on will be a waste of money in your case.

 

Yeah, never heard of that brand, probably the same sort of tooling like my brothers got like KingChrome, cost about x4 times as less as Snap-on but you get x4 times the tooling

Like everyone said, It all depends on your budget and the usage, I myself would rather spend a little bit extra and have something that I will use for my lifetime but each to their own I guess

I'm sure either way at the end of the day you will make the right desion Xavior

 

Well, speaking from the standpoint of a professional wrench, here is what I can offer..

Snap-on: Best hand tools, bar none. If you pay your bills by using tools, it pays (no pun intended) to use the best. No down time with broken tools, etc...and if one breaks, there's always a Snap-on dealer nearby!

MAC/Matco: Has played second fiddle to Snap-on for years. Very good quality, but I've broken a few critical MAC and Matco tools and had to hunt down a dealer to get them warrantied.

Cornwell: Professional-grade junk.

SK: Pretty good, definitely better than Cornwell. Not as expensive either but good luck finding an SK dealer. And DON'T buy their screwdrivers! We affectionately refer to them as Slip and Kill.

Hazet/Stahlwille: These are the Snap-ons of Germany. Extremely high quality stuff. Lifetime warrantied like the US brands listed above, but sometimes difficult to get replaced due to lack of exposure in this country. I have a lot of Hazet and Stahlwille tools because of my Mercedes-Benz experience, and these two companies make a lot of the special MB tools.

Facom: Very high quality French made tools. Hard to find, harder to get replaced.

Beta: Italian made, good quality tools. The choice of Ferrari pit crews. Again, not easy to find.

Basically, if you are just an at home DIYer, Craftsman tools will be your best bet. If you break something (and you WILL), you can run down the road to your nearest Sears and have it replaced. For me though, I have to have the best tools I can buy. I've got about $40,000 worth of hand tools (I'll post a tool box pic if you want ) and about $30,000 of that has been spent with Snap-on. I think my box alone was around $13,000. I cannot afford to have a fastener round off or break due to "cheap" tools. So nary a Craftsman is to be found in my box. Of course, if you have the extra discretionary income to buy all Snap-on, you won't regret it. Like a fine watch, tools are something you have for a lifetime

Cheers,
Aaron
'82 GTSi
'83 400iA

 

We have all the mentioned tools in the shops. I cannot honestly say one is much better than the other. With abuse they will all break, snap on has the best warranty out of all mentioned. I am just not sure Snap on is worth it. I like the way there tools feel, but much like a fine suit, it is just the feel.

 

Snap On tools are made in different plants in different parts of the world and the quality is not the same. Of all the off shore Snap On tools I have ever seen there was not one I would own. There are many outstanding tool makers and if supply and service was readily available I would buy Beta, Hazet or Stahlwille in a second and never even consider Snap On.

30 years ago Snap On was almost as good as those but not now and it has never been good from the offshore plants.
Snap On quality has changed so much I will not warranty my older tools for minor reasons anymore. The replacements are not nearly as good.

 

and for tuffness reasons

 

Mine are mix of some Snap-On, MAC, Husky, and Craftsman. For hand tools and hand held electronics Snap-On is the best, for Air Power guns Mac is the one for me.

 

My Dad bought a set of snap on combination wrenches in 1944. I have them today, and except for one I have the complete set. Darn nice wrenches, incredibly thin and strong. I originally bought all Craftsman stuff when I was a kid to save money, and like many have said, replacement was a cinch. But in the last 10 years or so the replacement stuff is breaking at a faster rate. I still have some original 30 year old sockets that havent broke, but all the replacement sockets have broken several times. Their ratchets totally suck, and thier wrenches are almost crude next to any other wrench. The main problem is that to make them strong using crap steel, they make them thicker. I have had bolts in recessed areas that only a slim open end, or thin box end wrench could get onto. To be real honest, I have a set of chinese wrenches I like so much I dont even use the craftsman junk anymore. And I no longer replace it. When it breaks I replace it with something else. I let the kid use the cheap tools and i keep the Snap-on stuff locked up for my own personal use.

I cant speak for the new Snap-on tool quality, but all the old stuff I have or have used is the best stuff I have ever had my hands on. Mac and Matco are both running second. S-K I would never buy. In two cases I have broken S-K tools, and had the guys across the counter looking it over to see if it had been abused. Snap-on, Mac, Matco, and for sure Craftsman dont pull that stuff.

Most large cities have used tool houses and pawn shops that always carry used hand tools, or you can look on eBay. A snap-on wrench or socket has the same lifetime warrantee no matter how you aquire it into your toolbox, no matter how old it is.

 

The important word to remember when purchasing hand tools is "forged". Certainly there is alot of crap out there. Snap-on is one of the finest but like everyone has noted very expensive. A good quality low cost alternative is Husky which is available I believe from H.Depot. Forged steel and chrome plated and will last a long time.

 

Aaeon says: "Cornwell: Professional-grade junk."

Hah! That's the truth! We actually have a PG-13 reference that we use around the shop.

I have mostly Snap-On (thanks to my twenty-five years of "revolving account") for working at the shop and some Matco for my home and race tool boxes. Only Snap-On boxes and roll arounds. I have a Hazet "Assistant" which is great and a fair bit of Stahlwile (remnants of my BMW past). The Beta stuff I've seen is ok, the Facom stuff pretty good (but my understanding is SK bought Facom) but for every day, Snap-On has got the pole position.

-Peter

 

There's tons of Snap-On on eBay. Might check it out

 

Since you're in Japan, you might want to consider Kokan tools.

 

If you are a weekend DIYer like many of us, Craftsman tools are generally sufficient. I've been doing car work since I was a kid, and I have a mix of tools, at this point mostly Craftsman and find them to be more than adequate. If I were doing this stuff day in and day out, I would definitely go for Snap-on or one of the true commercial sets. But for the home shop, for what I do, the Craftsman stuff and odds and ends I pick up here and there work just fine.

 

it's funny how tools can become one of those things passed down. provided they're the good enough to last.

for DIY who's doing oil changes and some simple stuff craftsman going to do just fine. now if you're a DIY'fer who's going to be rebuilding or restoring your car, move up to MAC or Snap-On. it'll save you trips to the store and distruction of fastners. Blue-Point is also another one, owned by Snap-On.

i've got the usual hodge podge of tools collected thru my yrs of fiddling on cars. my best stuff is the stuff i got from dad after passed. he was a tool and die maker so he lived by the tools he used. now i understand why we had so little growing up. i've got cases of snap-on, blue point, brown & sharpe, mitymoto and starrett tools even some craftsman tools from the 30's. the old craftsman were droped forged, good stuff but large.

 

Ah, Starrett, now that's a good name! Went to school not far from there and bought my first dial indicator at their factory to rebuild my VW transporter engine in my dorm room. No wonder they threw me out! <grin>

-Peter

 

One other thing though, is what you'll be working on. The Ferrari needs very few tools to work on, as most everything is studs, nuts, or screws, and all in incremental sizes mostly 8,10,13,and 17MM. Four sockets and four wrenches and a screwdriver plus a ratchet and few extensions and you can just about take the whole car apart. This is not unlike working on an airplane. You do need a couple other sizes on either end, but those four are far and away the most common.

On the other hand, I got conned into helping a friend change a clutch on a Ford Ranger about 10 years back. Every dang bolt it seemed was a different size, goofy clips, different sized tork screws, or 12 point bolts needing 12 point sockets, and so many rediculously retarded brackets and junk, it seemed we emptied the entire tool box to work on that POS. It seems you need a Giant tool box and a lot of tools to work on anything domestic.

 

having duplicates of those is a big help, other than that i find it's all the extensions and wobble joints that you'll need the most to get into those tiney tiny spots. i even have 1/4" drive sockets all the way to 13mm due to tight fits.

 

I have used plenty of Snap-On tools and they are still good after 40 years of use. Due to the downward sliding quality of today's new tools, I prowl every flea market, estate sale, and junk shop for any older American made tools. When other people are searching for hoity-toity furniture and crystal goblets, I am able to pick up the older American tools for dirt cheap to add to the collection.
Another good thing about Snap-On: Before everybody got politically correct in the 1990s, they had some pretty good promotional items such as calendars and clocks that help decorate a shop wall.