Which tool kit should i get?

[slybunda]

looking to get a set for working on my personal cars. so need everything, spanners, sockets etc in one big kit.
iv seen these so far:

https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/socket-s...

and

https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/socket-s...

the 2nd link is on offer for £200 all in and iv heard good things about halfords lifetime warranty.

is there any alternative i should be looking at in this sort of price range? brands like snap-on etc appeal to me but not sure how easy the warranty is to deal with.

[Doofus]

slybunda said:

looking to get a set for working on my personal cars. so need everything, spanners, sockets etc in one big kit.
iv seen these so far:

https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/socket-s...

and

https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/socket-s...

the 2nd link is on offer for £200 all in and iv heard good things about halfords lifetime warranty.

is there any alternative i should be looking at in this sort of price range? brands like snap-on etc appeal to me but not sure how easy the warranty is to deal with.

What are the cars and what work will you be doing?

[InitialDave]

The Halfords stuff is good, I use a lot of it, and that £200 is even a hair cheaper than the trade card price.

[slybunda]

so far cars are: A reg mercedes SL, mk1 golf gti, metro, mk4 golf gti, bmw e28 m5, seat leon, merc 190e cosworth.
so need some tools to work on them.

im a fan of ratcheting spanners so wondeirng if its gonna be better to do something like this:

https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/tool-kit...
plus
https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/socket-s...

any other ideas?

[ARHarh]

Don't buy ratchet spanners to start off with, they will suffer with really tight stuff, when you're feeling flush buy stuff like that. Start with a good socket set and decent spanners, a breaker bar and a hammer or 2. Just add to your tools as you need them. My socket set was purchased 45 years ago as a small 1/2 inch set, and has expanded to fill 2 drawers of my tool cabinet since then. And I still needed to buy an new socket for the last job I did on one of my cars.

I have just bought an impact driver and after 45 years of buying tools it is by far the best tool I have ever bought

[slybunda]

halfords lifetime warranty as good as it says or is there hassle with returns?

[tapkaJohnD]

Halfords mean what they say.

Ive taken a broken tool in, and the manager gave me the replacement off the shelf. No argument.
JOhn

[mikey_b]

tapkaJohnD said:

Halfords mean what they say.

Ive taken a broken tool in, and the manager gave me the replacement off the shelf. No argument.
JOhn

Same experience here. I broke the hex bit holder from my ~20 year old 1/4" Halfords Professional socket set, and they took a new equivalent set off the shelf, opened the packaging and took out the piece I needed. No questions asked, just a cheerful apology. They do stand behind their stuff, even years later, so you can't go far wrong with it really.

Over the last 20 years I've ended up with a mixture of older Halford Pro (and Advanced), Teng, Draper Expert, Sealey, Facom, and a handful of eBay specials for one-off tools, or rarer oddities like my 50mm socket with 1/2" drive. TBH pretty much any major brand is fine for non-professional use, I've only had one tool which was useless crap (Sealey motorcycle chain tool) which was refunded no quibble anyway. Just look after them, and they'll probably outlast you.