Good set of tools for the boy?

[LittleBill21]

You need to be more interested in what comes in the kit, then the brand as far as I am concern, I own almost every large name brand there is, including HF and I have never broken any of them, and some get abused.

 

[Sigarms]

You need to be more interested in what comes in the kit, then the brand as far as I am concern, I own almost every large name brand there is, including HF and I have never broken any of them, and some get abused.

Point taken and considered.

His issue is he likes European cars.

I was never into cars growing up as a kid, this is new to me. I did get a good laugh. Apparently he did some exhaust work (added a doohicky in to make it sound more "sporty"). He explained what his buddy did with his Volvo and his exhaust (neither sounds to stupid when you hear them) and I asked him how in the heck did he ever get his car to pass inspection like that. He reminded me what county we lived in, and then reminded me about my personal truck, and I the only thing I could say was "oh, yeah'.

I tried to explain to him that cars are a lot like guns. You can spend a lot of money into them "making them what YOU want" with custom work, but when you go to sell it, don't expect to recoup the money you put into it.

I'll give him credit though, works hard, didn't blow his money, but I do scratch my head on what he spends on his car.

 

[LittleBill21]

foreign old bmw and mercedes etc, are cheap for a reason, I will leave it there.

that said i am currently replacing a wheel bearing in my truck, I am close to spending 600 dollars on tools to remove one bolt.

in my house I spent 420 dollars to drill one hole, it's all perspective I guess

 

[MossRoad]

Apparently I'm out of my free reads from the WSJ LOL Did find it elsewhere though.

Here is the thing, and this may sound sacrilegious to some here, but after dealing with all varieties of residential and commercial HVAC equipment over the decades, I'm at the point that IMO being made in America does not always equal to superior quality.

Oh, I agree.

I was just pointing out that even after all of the troubles with Sears, Craftsman tools are still guaranteed for life.

Are there better? Of course.

Will those brands be around in 20 years?

 

[Sigarms]

foreign old bmw and mercedes etc, are cheap for a reason, I will leave it there.

Believe me, I don't disagree with you.

He's learning... That said, he's still good with managing his money and he's learning quicker than I did when I was his age. We tried to talk him out of the Mercedes, but the car and seller did click all my boxes for a used car and it was his money. I didn't agree with his decision, but the best way I can put it is at this point in his life, it's his fun.

He was really excited to show me the car seat adjuster last night he bought for $70 that he'll be replacing over weekend. He dodged a bullet there thinking it might have been the seat motor (taking the seat out was not fun LOL). He didn't dodge a bullet on the AMP though he had to send in to get it rebuilt.

 

[Sigarms]

Oh, I agree.

I was just pointing out that even after all of the troubles with Sears, Craftsman tools are still guaranteed for life.

Are there better? Of course.

Will those brands be around in 20 years?

Point taken.

I do take "lifetime warranty" with a grain of salt though. End of the day, as long as your tools don't break, it's a good tool. Honestly, even with some of my dads old tools in my garage, I really can't remember any of them breaking.

Will admit I'm not to fond of Channel lock by bad luck of the draw. Only tool I can remember failing. Hurts to say that because I use to drive by their factory on my way to work everyday years ago. Good to see they're still going though.

Reality is sometimes, in rare occurrences, it could be the operator of the tool that causes the issue

 

[ultrarunner]

High School friend had a craftsman 1/2” breaker and large socket working on a VW axle nut… broke 3 breaker bars back in 1981.

He was standing and jumping on it… I took a little heat and did a little tapping with a ball peen hammer around the nut and that worked and good thing as the Sears manager said last one.

Sears closed its flagship store so no more local… remember when it opened in 62 with palm trees in front and acres of parking… we always went to Sears

Years ago I bought a jumbo 1” drive harbor freight socket set for $49

I don’t use it much but when I do all I can say is it has more than paid for itself…

Sometimes good enough is all that is needed.

Came by some broken MAC and Snap-On tools and the jobbers would not replace as I was not a customer… maybe too because I was 17?

 

[Jstpssng]

Pawn shops sometimes have some decent tool sets.

 

[MossRoad]

...
Sometimes good enough is all that is needed.

...

Yep. My last mentor gave me a good lesson on that when discussing what he called 'acceptable risk'. It was in regards to redundancy in computing power and data backup, but applies to many things, like getting the best tools or getting something that's good enough.

His quote: "You can redundancy yourself into the poorhouse."

So you decide what's an acceptable risk and how much cost it will require to recover from a catastrophe.

After I cracked my first socket by applying a cheater bar to the ratchet handle, I bought cheap impact sockets from Harbor Freight. I believe that was around 1980. I used them just last night to change a tire on my mother in-law's car. So 43 years and still good enough.

 

[marhar]

Any one particular brand of tools out there now that you would stay away from?

My one boy enjoys working on his car when he can do the work himself, and he's always using something from my tool box.

Pricing can be all over the board when it comes to tool sets.

He'll be leaving home shortly for the military, and I'd like to get him something that will last him a good 20 years as a "going away present".

I have some Klein tools that have held up well over 2 decades, but I still remember how expensive they were. I'd like to get him something like 100-200 piece set that doesn't break the bank for more than $300 (or is that a pipe dream?) and can be stored easy.

Saw a nice tool box of Craftsman tools, but are they junk now? Seems like everything comes with a "lifetime" warranty, but sometimes that doesn't work out like you think it does when you have a issue.

Craftsman, cobalt, and NAPA are all the same exact sockets. I worked at the plant that made them...Danaher Tool Group. The metal was the same, and the heat treatment and the plating were all the same. Some of the Matco sockets were also the same and some went through a different heat treat (the 1/2" and larger drive).