Quote:
Originally Posted by PINeely
I use almost exclusively 3/8. A 1/2 ratchet with a 1/2f-3/8m adaptor will get you out of many troubles too.
Don't waste your time with Craftsman, they moved their manufacturing to Asia a few years ago and quality went way down but the prices stayed the same. Still OK tools but Harbor Freight or Northern Tool are an equivalent tool for cheaper with the same lifetime warranty. You do get what you pay for with tools, but those should be good for most home DIYers. Buy a set and replace the high-use ones (8, 10, 12, 14, 17) with better as they get lost or fail. Get 6 point, I hardly ever see 12pt fasteners and I've been doing this for a long time, all 12pt sockets do is round off 6pt bolt heads.
Some BMW spark plugs are 12pt 14mm deep socket with a thin wall profile. Get the schwaben socket, it works great and some of the others are too thick to fit.
Spend some extra money on the following:
-Frequent use tools like ratchets
-"Oops" tools- stripped bolt extractors, thread chasers, breaker bars, basically anything that's going to get you out of a bind.
-Tools specific to your car (check out OTC tools and assenmacher for a lot of the euro car tools)
-Diagnostic tools and measuring tools, for God's sake I can't believe the number of people who cheap on these things, how are you going to fix it if you don't have an accurate measurement to begin with! A good multimeter is especially important.
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+1 on bolt extractors and measuring instrumentation.