kobalt at lowes has sockets for life, if you lose or one breaks you get a replacement for free. Not sure if sears still does this or not on craftsman, I heard they are really picky about it. Kobalt tools at lowes are basically no questions asked replacement. Broken tape measure even if it's your fault is replaced to give you an idea. May not be snap on quality but ease of replacement and 1/4th the price, I have been using kobalt for about 10 years now, no complaints at all. Never had a socket or ratchet go bad on me either. I have way more lowes than sears in my area which also helps.

i like having a good snap on guy, and he stops by twice a week, mostly just to shoot the shit and drink beer, but he also lets me demo shit.

and he gives me great deals, oh shit this is scratched wink wink 60% off

Problem with cheap sockets... They tend to strip out the nuts you're trying to get off when the socket goes up.

Craftsman Pro are comparable to brands like Cornwell and Mac, but easier to replace and you don't have to wait for a truck.

Snapon is the best though, hands down.. All minus their swivel metric impact sockets, they fucking blow.

fuck metric in general lol

Well, when your a Honda tech...

My mac guy was like that lmao.

I told him I wanted one of the new macsimizer professional boxes but I didnt want to fork out the 20k they were going for...

Next week he showed up with a brand new one with a dent the size of a small door ding in the back of the box. Payed 8800 bucks cash for it. I'll never get rid of that box. Not 1 thing i dislike about it. Other than loaded it takes a god damn semi to move it

Sunex. You can get forged chromoly impact sockets that are practically unbreakable for much less than snap on, mac, or matco. Snap on ratchets and sunex sockets make a great combo.


Or you can buy snap on everything and have 5-10k in debt to the creepy tool truck guy like every other $40k a year mechanic. I have right at $1000 in hand tools and it fills a 13 drawer box. This is one of those places you can be smart with your money.

Snap on ratchets
Sunex sockets, swivels, and extensions
Sunex wrenches
Whatever screwdriver brand you like- I like Kobalt
Harbor freight for things that are easy to lose or not load bearing like magnets etc.

i also keep a full set of harbor freight sockets and ratchets so i have something shitty to loan out when someone wants to borrow tools.

i bought my Sunex stuff through toolwarehouse

http://www.sunextools.com/index.cfm?s=products_all&cat=1

snap on if you have too much money and dont know what to do with it. ive heard the prices our mechanics at work pays for shit off that truck and its like 3-4 times higher than kobalt tools at lowes or craftsman tools at sears. kmart also sells craftsman in case you didnt know it but returns have to go back to sears.

i dont pay retail prices.

i pay dealer cost

he pays cost for race car parts

so its a even trade.

i have a full set in the trailer

2 full sets in the shop+ random stuff

and a set of all the random stuff i had before i bought all my snap on stuff that i keep in my truck




my friend went to an estate sale, saw them selling a mac box, he pulled over just to see what they wanted for it, they said 500$ he said hold it for me im gunna go get a trailer and cash

he came back handed them the cash, and went to load the box, found out it was full of what looked to be never used tools, all organised and in place, nothing missing

30-35k in tools/box easy for 500$

got to love estate/ yard sales where you can find the good tools and they are almost giving them away.