If you’ve ever gone into a professional restoration or repair shop you’d be amazed by the size of the toolboxes that they have. Some of them are as big, heavy, and expensive as a car! We’ve found that when you ask the pros which tools they use most often, they will rattle off 5-10 tools that are their favorites. Obviously it’s a great help to have all of the expensive specialty tools for those odd jobs they encounter, but there’s always a core group of products that they can’t live without. We put together this list of tools that the pros commonly list off of as their favorites.
1. A Complete Ratchet and Socket Set– Regardless if you’re doing autobody, maintenance, or full restorations, everyone can use a comprehensive ratchet and socket set. A good start is to get the tools that will allow you to complete the widest variety of jobs. We suggest a mid-length ratchet with an adjustable head like the GearWrench Flex Head 3/8 Ratchet and a comprehensive mixed set of standard and metric sockets. More and more cars are using metric hardware these days, and it is a good idea to have at least the common sizes on hand!
2.Quality Hammer selection– It’s inevitable that you’ll be faced with the need to “persuade” something to move with a hammer on your car. Hammers are amazing tools and in the right hands can do anything from fix a dent to remove a stuck bolt in your suspension. We’d suggest investing in a quality hammer kit with both rubber and soft face hammers and traditional metal dead blow hammers (we affectionately call “BFH’s”). If you plan to do body work, you can’t use just any old hammer, make sure you pick up a Hammer and Dollies to assure dead straight metal forming.
3. Dual Action Sander-Dual action or DA sanders are great to keep around, and a necessity if you plan to do any paint or body work. These are a time saver when removing paint or flattening out filler, and are extremely simple to use. We suggest a palm DA sander for anyone that plans to tackle any sort of body work.
4. MIG Welder- If you’re working on anything mechanical there will come a time when you’ll need metal stuck together. It doesn’t matter if it’s custom fabricated parts or just fixing rust, a good MIG welder is essential to your garage. The Eastwood MIG 175 is a 220V welder that can handle most anything a DIY enthusiast can throw at it, we even throw in the spool gun for aluminum welding!
5. Ratchet Wrenches- We love tools that save time, especially in a small package. Ratcheting wrenches give you the ability to quickly remove hardware that a ratchet can’t get reach, but they still retain the ratcheting feature so you don’t have to take the wrench off each quarter turn (we hate that!). Check out the selection of Ratcheting Wrenches we offer. There’s a good chance we offer a set that will fit your needs.
6. Screwdrivers- This seems to be a no-brainer, but everyone needs a good set of screwdrivers in their tool box, garage, kitchen junk drawer, shed, etc. You can never have enough screwdrivers. They seem to be one of the most universal tools that ALWAYS come in handy. If you want the best bang for your buck we suggest picking up either the Fairmount Drill and Driver Bit Kit or the Channellock Ratcheting Screwdriver Kit that will allow you to remove and tighten just about any screw, hex head, and torx style screws.
7. Locking Pliers- We’d all love a perfect world where every part, nut, bolt, and screw comes off easily with the proper tool, but cruel reality comes to ruin your day when you find that rounded off nut or bolt on your project. While we wouldn’t advocate using the locking pliers as your go-to item in your toolbox, they are a valuable universal tool that can make many tough jobs easier! We have used the Eastwood Locking Pliers to save our necks countless times!
8. Sharp Snips/Cutters- At some point a DIY guy is going to need to cut metal, wiring, or something on their vehicle. The Eastwood Aviation Snips can cut anything from 18 and 20 gauge sheet metal for fabrication to electrical wiring in a pinch. Some of the most experienced metal workers will name their tin snips as one of the tools they can’t live with out. We’d have to agree!
9. A strong Pry Bar- Like locking pliers, Pry Bars are one of those tools that are a necessity and need to be used with care. You will surely run up against something that needs more force than your prying hands can handle. That’s where leverage and a quality pry bar comes into play. Use these to help remove stuck brake calipers, suspension parts, or even the belts on your tractor. It really is one of the most universal tools you can have in the toolbox.
10. Hex Key Wrenches- Hex socket cap bolts used to be hardware that was predominately found on European cars in the past, but as the years have passed most auto and motorcycle manufacturers have begun to use them. These days a complete set of Hex Key Wrenches are almost as important as a set of standard wrenches.
If you stock your toolbox with these items you can tackle most any job when maintaining, restoring, or repairing your car, truck, motorcycle, ATV, or most anything else that has hardware. Be sure you check the Eastwood website for all of the must-have tools no matter how basic or unique, we probably have them!
Hello author, thank you so much for sharing such an informative post wit us. All these tools are so useful when a person is going to repair his car. It makes their work easier and give them a great relax as well.
These tools will make the people to repair their car parts easier and your post will give the idea that which tools are helpful for them in repairing their car parts.
Great list of tools. Looks like I need to go shopping!