Small mechanics tool kit for in car

[Olivera]

HustleRussell said:

Tell me what a full socket set, spanners and allen bits will enable you to do on your car at the roadside? (considering that the car’s own equipment should enable wheel, bulb and fuse changes)

Tighten up the battery clamps if they come loose? Tighten up a jubilee clip or nut? With cable ties and duct tape - temporarily patch up a fluid leak, or hold something that has came loose?

[Grumbly]

You certainly don't need much more than provided in the standard kit for most modernish cars. But I prefer a small tool roll with good quality equivalents, with a couple of extra bits and bobs.

[devnull]

I keep the Halfords advanced mini socket set handy in my cars. Yes, I hardly use them, but they have come in handy a few times:

1. Parked up after a long drive 80 odd miles from home. The onboard satnav froze and flat-out wouldn't power off. No problem, 10mm socket and I whipped the battery off to reboot the car.

2. Needed to partially dismantle some items that wouldn't quite fit in the car.

Nitrile gloves are a good shout too. Esp when you need to very quickly change your tyre on the M4 when you're due to be hosting a meeting in 60 mins!

[HustleRussell]

Olivera said:

HustleRussell said:

Tell me what a full socket set, spanners and allen bits will enable you to do on your car at the roadside? (considering that the car’s own equipment should enable wheel, bulb and fuse changes)

Tighten up the battery clamps if they come loose? Tighten up a jubilee clip or nut? With cable ties and duct tape - temporarily patch up a fluid leak, or hold something that has came loose?

8, 10, 11 or 12mm T-bar socket or spanner and screwdriver normally included in factory tool kit covers the first two.

Would like to know what kind of mission critical fluid leak you are going to patch up with cable ties or duct tape, because it isn’t coolant, fuel, oil or hydraulic.

So you’re down from a tool kit with full 3/8” socket set to the factory tool bag

Edited by HustleRussell on Sunday 11th April 15:12

[HustleRussell]

Imperial sockets

[Grumbly]

HustleRussell said:

Imperial sockets

Quite useful on a Caterham.

[Riff Raff]

On the subject of jubilee clips, I haven't seen a car with those for quite a while. Most now seem to come fited with oetiker or single ear clamps which just don't come loose. Sometimes they don't even come loose easily when you have the proper tools...

[HustleRussell]

Grumbly said:

HustleRussell said:

Imperial sockets

Quite useful on a Caterham.

My first Caterham was an imperial chassis, my second was metric, I didn’t have to buy AF sockets until after those when we went racing in 60s / early 70s cars.

[Grumbly]

My Westfield is a 1990 frame and has an eclectic mixture of metric and imperial fasteners, because it is Twin Cam powered I even have a couple of Whitworth spanners in the Race Box.

[Tye Green]

erm, how small is the mechanic?

[HustleRussell]

Grumbly said:

My Westfield is a 1990 frame and has an eclectic mixture of metric and imperial fasteners, because it is Twin Cam powered I even have a couple of Whitworth spanners in the Race Box.

TC powered 7 must be a great combination.

[Grumbly]

Yes thanks, It goes quite well, we've had a couple of FTDs over the years, sadly not at my hands. But it punches well above it's weight for a self built car with a fifty year old engine. It replaced a Royale RP27 that we never got really sorted.

[anonymous-user]

HustleRussell said:

I think it’s all a waste of space. In all my years of driving I have not had a breakdown which would have been fixable if I had tools in the car.

Unless you’re going to carry a pretty extensive toolkit, there is a probability that you won’t in fact have what you need.

This stuff is going to weigh your car down, take up space, rattle irritatingly etc etc, will 999 days out of 1000 be entirely superfluous and on that one occasion that you have a serious problem and are unable to complete your journey, will probably be of no help at all.

It’s not very ‘Lotus’ philosophy to drive around with your garage. Maintain your car in your garage. Carry only the phone number for your recovery service.

If you must carry things, there are a number of things which nobody has suggested yet that I think would be more useful than tools;
-tyreweld
-jump cables
-tow rope
-bottles of oil and other fluids the car may require
-a gallon of fuel

These things may actually help you get home without further damage if it goes wrong.

100% agree, Last time I broke down the coolant light came on so I pulled over on the M25. I had a couple of litres of coolant in the car so I thought I might be able to use that to limp to the next junction. Until I poured it in and watched it gush out of the broken thermostat housing all over the road.

The only things I ever carry are one of those little jump packs and a small 12v compressor. The only times I have had to use them is on other peoples cars.

I have a full size spare wheel in my car but I am getting tempted to buy one of those rubberised string puncture repair kits to keep in the car.

Cable ties and duct tape maybe useful, but I would be amazed if they could fix an issue that prevented you from getting home.

Removing the locking wheel nuts and replacing them with normal bolts may help you as I have struggled to remove them in the past on certain cars.

[alock]

Don't bother with tools anymore. I would suggest one of the cheap £15 OBD readers like this.


Along with a smartphone to lookup the code, it helps you understand most issues a modern car will have.

[AW111]

Joey Deacon said:

HustleRussell said:

I think it’s all a waste of space. In all my years of driving I have not had a breakdown which would have been fixable if I had tools in the car.

Unless you’re going to carry a pretty extensive toolkit, there is a probability that you won’t in fact have what you need.

This stuff is going to weigh your car down, take up space, rattle irritatingly etc etc, will 999 days out of 1000 be entirely superfluous and on that one occasion that you have a serious problem and are unable to complete your journey, will probably be of no help at all.

It’s not very ‘Lotus’ philosophy to drive around with your garage. Maintain your car in your garage. Carry only the phone number for your recovery service.

If you must carry things, there are a number of things which nobody has suggested yet that I think would be more useful than tools;
-tyreweld
-jump cables
-tow rope
-bottles of oil and other fluids the car may require
-a gallon of fuel

These things may actually help you get home without further damage if it goes wrong.

100% agree, Last time I broke down the coolant light came on so I pulled over on the M25. I had a couple of litres of coolant in the car so I thought I might be able to use that to limp to the next junction. Until I poured it in and watched it gush out of the broken thermostat housing all over the road.

The only things I ever carry are one of those little jump packs and a small 12v compressor. The only times I have had to use them is on other peoples cars.

I have a full size spare wheel in my car but I am getting tempted to buy one of those rubberised string puncture repair kits to keep in the car.

Cable ties and duct tape maybe useful, but I would be amazed if they could fix an issue that prevented you from getting home.

Removing the locking wheel nuts and replacing them with normal bolts may help you as I have struggled to remove them in the past on certain cars.

I've used tie wire to bodge a broken exhaust hanger, and cable ties for something I forget.

The only critical tool for me is a wheel brace - the factory bent socket things are marginal at best.
It's no use having a spare if you can't change it, and the last 2 flat tyres occurred on dirt roads 100+ km from the nearest help.

I agree on fluids when travelling long distance, although I've used the spare fuel & water to help other motorists far more often than for my car. Ditto jump leads.

[rev-erend]

Don't think anyone actually makes tools for small mechanics but I have seen stubby spanners for sale

[g3org3y]

Grumbly said:

You certainly don't need much more than provided in the standard kit for most modernish cars. But I prefer a small tool roll with good quality equivalents, with a couple of extra bits and bobs.

Unfortunately the tool kits supplied with cars are getting smaller.

Had a decent one on the E46


Not as good on the E91

[Grumbly]

g3org3y said:

Grumbly said:

You certainly don't need much more than provided in the standard kit for most modernish cars. But I prefer a small tool roll with good quality equivalents, with a couple of extra bits and bobs.

Unfortunately the tool kits supplied with cars are getting smaller.

Had a decent one on the E46


Not as good on the E91

I still use the tool roll from my old E30 Touring, as it's an ideal size, albeit the contents have evolved a bit.

[Olivera]

HustleRussell said:

So you’re down from a tool kit with full 3/8” socket set to the factory tool bag

Sorry but the factory toolkit is completely inadequate, hence my original question.

[SlimJim16v]

This is a handy little 3/8 socket set. It can be found for £30+

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fast-Shipping-Teng-Tool...

Edited by SlimJim16v on Tuesday 13th April 02:24