My first toolbox..

[sebotobes]

..yes seriously, I don't have a toolbox.

Pardon me if this is a stupid question, but is your average mechanics toolbox fit for purpose? Countless times I've gone to mess around with my car, and found I don't have the right spanner etc.

You can get anything from like 25 piece to 2500 piece toolkits these days, I'm just wondering if anyone knows the best value for money in the market? I won't be replacing any clutches or anything, but handy work here and there when I get spare time on weekends is desirable.

[DonnyMac]

Not that I have one, but the Halfords Professional kits are highly regarded around these parts.

[PHuzzy]

DonnyMac said:

Not that I have one, but the Halfords Professional kits are highly regarded around these parts.

They are, I bought mine 6 years or so ago and every piece is still in it's carry case and works perfectly.
Probably gets used an average of twice a week.
I'd recommend them to anyone but only when they have the 50% off offer on.

[Benbay001]

Get to a car boot.

[Crosswise]

I've got 2 tool chests, probably around 50 draws in total and I'd say around 2/3 full. I've spent about 11 years building it up and I would guess well in excess of £10k and I still frequently have the situation where I need to buy a tool for the job I'm doing. I have a mixture of Draper, Sealey, Facom, Snap-on, Teng tools, Churchill, clarke, Halfords professional a few Aussie ones like Sidchrome and Kincrome from when I worked out there, as well as various others. All those brands seem generally good, I'm more careful when buying Sealey or Clarke as some of their stuff is a bit cheap feeling but that is also reflected in the price, it's easy to get a feel for what will work well and last and what won't. My best advise is not to buy cheap tool kits which seem to cover everything, I find you end up with a much more comprehensive range by buying stuff individually. However, if you want one kit which is easy to carry around then buy a really good quality one. One thing I find frustrating about those kits is that as soon as you need something which isn't in them you don't have a place to put it and you just end up with one odd socket or something.