[671tamuning]

I’ve been in tech school for a year now, and when the snap-on rep came to do his presentation.

He mentioned that they use a metal that is very rare and that it is in very limited supply.

Also, snap-on is pretty much no.1 in the world when it comes to tools, and aside from that if your buying a snap-on ratchet most of them are standard 72 tooth now instead of the industry standard 36.

and the research and development they put into their tools also jack up the price.

My suggestion for sockets, wrenches, ratchets, etc. would be either Craftsman from sears best quality for the price, duralast from autozone pretty much on par with craftsman, and autozone gives military discount so, if you know anyone whose military have them go with you, and kobalt from lowes, almost within the same price range as craftsman if not a little more expensive and kobalt is sister company with MATCO.

And if you have ANY issues with them you could easily bring them to any sears, autozone(they’re pretty much everywhere), and lowes for a warranty replacement.

Breaker bars, hammers, pry bars, punch and chisels, basically beater stuff to break things loose go for harbor freight sign up for their mail in ads.

For chemicals, I’ve always found them to be cheaper at walmart supercenters. unless they do a 2 for 1 deal at your local auto parts store.

portable air compressor for your van i would recommend the 10 gallon compressor from harbor freight. central pneumatic is their brand of compressors i believe.

A great place to find high quality tools from experience would be your local swap meets/flea markets, i’ve found some snap-ons,tons of craftsman,all kinds of power tools, MAC,sk, proto,silver eagle,gearwrench, blue-point…etc., try craigslist they always sell tools there, pawn shops are a good place they even have a return policy, ebay, yard sales, your local sears ad.

Anyone else care to add on?

Hope this helps…

[671tamuning]

I like this thread, i agree with clicknclack.

I’m 1 year in tech school in the local college. Next semester I’ll start on some diesel classes.

I’m the only one in my whole family that likes automotive repair and maintenance.

So, unlike some of my fellow students I don’t have the luxury of inheriting tools from a relative. Except some basic screwdrivers and the like.

Most of my tools are craftsman, including my box, I have some duralast, powerbuilt, evercraft, harbor freight, great neck ratchets, kobalt, stanley ratchets, and just recently started buying Matco tools.

Basically, a little over a year ago i bought a 266 pc. set from sears that i paid $150(it was 50% off for 1 day)

My advice is just start small and build it up from there.

I pay cash for my tools. Our school deals with Matco and Snap-on. I just recently started buying MATCO tools, this past Christmas I got some as gifts.

I don’t play favorites with tool brands but, I’ve been picking Matco over snap-on over and over because I get more value out of my dollar than I would with snap-on and their customer service is good.

And a tip for tool buying, just go for metric. nowadays you don’t use standard sizes that often unless for older american cars, but have them around you can buy alot of SAE sizes from swap meets/flea markets.

I think partly because American cars are being sold internationally and most of the world uses metric sizes. Just a theory.

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