Socket Set for Car Maintenance

Socket Set for Car Maintenance

Author
Discussion

Mr.Nobody

Original Poster:

1,192 posts

63 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
I’m looking to buy a Maintenance Kit for the car. I’ve heard Halfords Advanced are quite good. Although £330 for the 200 piece set seems A lot. Are there any other recommendations?

Richard-D

1,468 posts

79 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
The Halfords advanced kits are excellent. Better to hold off until one of their many offers though, they happen regularly enough. These strike a good balance between price and quality.

Super Sonic

9,549 posts

69 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
Do you need a 200 piece set?

InitialDave

13,203 posts

134 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
Well, it's down to £264 currently!

The Halfords stuff is great, just buy whatever size kit suits your needs.

Mr.Nobody

Original Poster:

1,192 posts

63 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
InitialDave said:
Well, it's down to £264 currently!

The Halfords stuff is great, just buy whatever size kit suits your needs.
It’s £330 online.

Mr.Nobody

Original Poster:

1,192 posts

63 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
Richard-D said:
The Halfords advanced kits are excellent. Better to hold off until one of their many offers though, they happen regularly enough. These strike a good balance between price and quality.
I know I was hoping they would have had an offer for easter.

Mars

9,493 posts

229 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
If you can determine that you DON'T need imperial sizes too, you might save yourself some money in buying a metric-only set.

InitialDave

13,203 posts

134 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
Mr.Nobody said:
It’s £330 online.

Alex Z

1,777 posts

91 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
Mr.Nobody said:
I know I was hoping they would have had an offer for easter.
The smaller set is on offer.

Mr.Nobody

Original Poster:

1,192 posts

63 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
InitialDave said:
It’s not showing up for me.

MajorMantra

1,578 posts

127 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
The Halfords sets are decent and the big ones will do most things and offer a great starting point, but they're still not 100% comprehensive.

For example, the spanners are too thick for some jobs, and you'll probably end up wanting extra tools like flexi-head ratchets, long breaker bars, specialist sockets etc.

andrewcliffe

1,294 posts

239 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
The Halfords Advance is a good balance of quality vs price, although not everyone needs the biggest set.
Some of their other sets offer good value too.

InitialDave

13,203 posts

134 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
Mr.Nobody said:
It’s not showing up for me.
Hmm, I think it may be it's showing me trade card pricing even though I wasn't logged in, just in the "sale price" red format rather than the usual trade card format (blue box, plus shows the ex-vat price)

Annoying. Apologies. It usually shows "normal" pricing to trade card holders unless you log in. Must be a cookies thing.

If you're anywhere near Leicestershire I can get you the discount, though.

Hanslow

826 posts

260 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
Definitely keep your eye out for when Halfords drops the price. Unfortunately you've just missed one of the price drops, friend of mine picked up the 150 piece set, this one https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/socket-s... for £125. If you're not in a rush, keep your eye on them. That was a couple of weeks ago.

They often get posted on the hotukdeals site ( https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/halfords-advanced... ) when they're on offer.

MC Bodge

24,786 posts

190 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
I would not buy a 200 piece set.

Buy a socket set.

Buy a spanner set.

Buy some decent Allen Keys.


Super Sonic

9,549 posts

69 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
MC Bodge said:
I would not buy a 200 piece set.

Buy a socket set.

Buy a spanner set.

Buy some decent Allen Keys.
This. No point spending loads of money on a big tool set when you'll only ever use a quarter of the tools.

MC Bodge

24,786 posts

190 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
Super Sonic said:
MC Bodge said:
I would not buy a 200 piece set.

Buy a socket set.

Buy a spanner set.

Buy some decent Allen Keys.
This. No point spending loads of money on a big tool set when you'll only ever use a quarter of the tools.
Quite.

I may be wrong, but I suspect that if somebody has gone from 0-200 tools in one go, very few of the tools indeed will be used.

beambeam1

1,499 posts

58 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
If I had to go around again I would start off with one of the empty socket cases or one of the tool chests and fit it out with the Advanced Modular tray range as and when I require it. You can get a decent saving if you combine trade discount with TopCashBack and a bit of patience.

OutInTheShed

11,300 posts

41 months

Friday 18th April
quotequote all
I've collected a lot of tools over time.
Mostly I first reach for a 1/4 drive set that cost about £30 and a few 1/2 inch sockets.

Mostly you use 8, 10, 13, 17, 19 that's five quality sockets for a few pounds each.
The same in combi spanners.
Ratchet, torque wrench, breaker bar...
I will buy any thing needed for a job in hand.
Or anything that might make it easier.
You've never got everything!

If I'm saving £100 by not getting a garage to do the job, I will merrily spend £25 on tools I might want/need.
Halfords sell you stuff of an evening, trade places will deliver next day.
A set in a nice box where you can put your hand on the right tool quickly is worth a premium sometimes.

usn90

1,759 posts

85 months

Saturday 19th April
quotequote all
I’ve been steadily building my tool set using mainly Halfords advanced when on offer, They seem really decent, certainly enough for me.

At some point I’d like the advanced tool chest, I certainly had a shock when I looked into a snap on Chest a few years back, makes the Halfords Chest seem great value