rabbitstew Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 My dad has always been into engineering and stuff so I was lucky he had a garage full of tools I could use. I started when I was a kid, I had an old 1971 Austin Mini 850cc which cost me £20 to buy. Anything went wrong on it, i simply couldnt afford to pay a garage to fix, so I did it all myself. I ended up doing loads to it. Engine out,New clutch, change head gasket, cv joints, bearings, wheels, brakes, exhaust, suspension. Basically rebuilt the whole car. This was before the internet days, so it was just a Haynes manual and common sense. I havent stopped since really, every car ive had since ive always serviced myself and anything which needed doing ive done. Over the years ive built up a collection of tools which would rival any local garage. You name it, ive got it. Air compressor, all the air tools, specialist sockets & pullers, mig & arc welders, a massive tool cabinet full of everything. All my mates & family now always bring their cars to me for any mechanical work, as you simply can not trust a lot of garages to do a decent job. If you service a car yourself you know exactly what oil & bits you have put in it. My mate took his Vectra to Vauxhall for a service last year and they didnt even bother changing the air filter or pollen filter, both of which only cost about £4 to buy and take minutes to change. He now brings his car to me instead! These days its much easier. If ive not done a job before, I just look online and theres always a guide on there where someone has done the same thing - makes it much easier! Some people are put off thinking you need a ramp & all sorts of tools, but really you dont. Even though ive a double garage I nearly always do the work on my drive. You just need a trolley jack & a set of axle stands... they cost pennies from any car parts place and a decent set of sockets. I made the mistake really of buying all my stuff separately whereas these days you can just buy a complete set of sockets & tools from halfords, including the toolbox for quite a reasonable price! One thing I will say is to buy decent tools. Not cheap crap. I tend to buy Halfords Professional when I can as they have a lifetime guarantee. You may have a bit of an outlay initially but it will soon pay for itself. An example is my mate with his vectra. He paid Vauxhall £140 for a minor service. The bits came to about £40, so you`d save £100 straight away. They wanted about £250 to change the brake pads. The pads came to £30 or £50 if you replaced the discs too. So instantly saving £200. The tools needed for that lot were just some torx spanners, 2 normal spanners and a piston rewind tool which cost £14. So hardly anything really! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OsakaBen Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 Lots of useful answers here, really appreciate it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumping350 Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Osakaben, where do you live; lol +1 plenty of reading and to be fair pretty much everything you ever want to know is on here somewhere already think mainly it comes down to experience/confidence i took apart a civic and put it back together (not that well tbh ) but it gave me confidence to do things on the zed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dblock Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 I agree dont buy cheap tools but IMO some cheap tools are great like silverline, draper and sealy. Some of the stuff is really cheap off ebay and if it breaks you dont care as it was cheap anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbitstew Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 I agree dont buy cheap tools but IMO some cheap tools are great like silverline, draper and sealy. Some of the stuff is really cheap off ebay and if it breaks you dont care as it was cheap anyway. Ive got quite a few sealey and clarke tools - they are pretty good & solid, but silverline & laser are a bit hit & miss. Depends on what tool it is tho. Some things like a hammer you cant go wrong with, but torx bits etc... can be a bit brittle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dblock Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 I agree dont buy cheap tools but IMO some cheap tools are great like silverline, draper and sealy. Some of the stuff is really cheap off ebay and if it breaks you dont care as it was cheap anyway. Ive got quite a few sealey and clarke tools - they are pretty good & solid, but silverline & laser are a bit hit & miss. Depends on what tool it is tho. Some things like a hammer you cant go wrong with, but torx bits etc... can be a bit brittle. Agreed but I'm glad they are out there as some stuff is silly cheap. Like use it once and throw it away if you want cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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