I need a site that is repuable and has tools like breaker bar and extensions. As for quality, i'm willing to settle for kragen or autozone quality since I don't work on my car that much.

 

harborfreight.com they have physical stores and online shopping. Some of the cheapest prices known to man.
They are decent quality also. Since i have a store where i live most of my tools come from there.

 

If you're looking for cheap tools, I use Harbor Freight. If I need good quality tools or special tools, I use Tool Warehouse--some items are pretty inexpensive but they carry high end stuff and their prices are reasonable. Both have websites that you can order from. I don't work for/with either company.

 

Honestly your best bet is sears. not the cheapest, but the average saturday mechanic will NEVER have to replace them. and if they break, just go to sears and get a new one for free. they aren't too expensive either. the Homedepot and lowes brands aren't too bad either. I've got a couple pieces from both those places and they have worked out fine.

I started out buying cheap tools and I've just about replaced them all. think of tools as an investment, because if you use them, they are.

Don't go cheap on your 3/8 drive ratchet, it's probably the single most used tool for automotive work. the ratchet mechanism gets loose on the cheap ones and it steals torque from you, along with pissing you off

for the tool warehouse

 

Second the vouch for Sears stuff.

Get the craftsman 3/8's extension in 3 sizes - just about unbreakable. Another totally worthwhile tool for me has been a medium sized Craftsman Philips. I use to hate broken screwdriver tips until i met my craftsman philips.

If I only had a few bucks to spend.....quality tools I'd get would be:

1) a decent 3/8 rachet
2) craftman extentions - 3 sizes long/med/short
3) one craftsman philips head screwdriver
4) good quality needle nose pliers
5) a decent wire stripper/sizer

 

I agree. Sears is a good bet. There are Sears stores all over which makes it easy to return broken tools when you break something. Just hop in the car and drive a few miles to Sears and exchange the tool with a new one and your back to work on your car with little time lost.

 

You can find Craftsman tools dirt cheap on Ebay. Harbor Freight is pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as quality goes.

 

I checked out harbor freight and damn the price are good! But what about the quality? Any bad experiences? I only use the tools like maybe once every 2 or 3 month.

 

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My neighbor bought an ATV jack and a hydraulic press. The ATV jack didn't work out of the box and the press looks like it's ready to collapse under its own weight. Other than that, he seems happy.

 

are harbor tools quality equal or worst than autozone and kragen tools?

 

Id guess equal, but it kind of depends. I bought a 22mm box wrench from auto zone not too long ago, because I was too lazy to drive the complete opposite direction to sears, and it was only $2.50, so it's not a big loss if it breaks. It worked fine for the one bolt I needed it for, but then again, it was only torqued down to like 20 lb/ft. When I needed a 14mm 12pt socket for my head bolts, you better believe I went and bought crafsman. cheap tools are more likely to round off bolt heads, and that alone justifies the cost of good tools in my mind.


cheap tools WILL break. most likely sunday night at 9pm, when everything is closed, you car is torn apart, and you have to be at work early monday morning.

 

WIth Autozone they too have a line, Great Hawk I think, that carries a lifetime warranty. Same as Sears. I purchased and axle socket and a 17mm socket from Autozone. Haven't had any issues yet.

 

One more important tool I'd get so long as on the subject is a good quality torque wrench. I have the Craftsman digitorque wrenches and love them.

These are really important if you're working on an engine with aluminum block or head since that aluminum will strip out in no time if you overtorque--and it's really easy to do if you're not paying much attention.

 

eastwood.com

 

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never bought any tools from them, but their other products are good stuff

 

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/catalog.asp?id=1

if you want real tools thats where to get them if you want play tools go to sears or harbor frieght

on torque wrench i just bought this one http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog...talog

 

I have a sears set, been using them for alot work on the ol accord since december, best thing I ever got!

 

The AutoZone brand of tool with the lifetime warranty is called Great Neck. I call them "Snap" Neck because a friend brought his set over to help me work on my car. We broke twice as many "Snap" Neck tools than Craftsman tools. Also, I tried to return it for my friend cause it was on my from work and they wouldn't exchange it cause I didn't have the receipt, Sears is so much easier.

 

as for torque wrenches, I agree with Stripped Honda. Craftsman torque wrenches don't have a long enough warranty, the longest I saw was like 1 year. The digitorques only have like a 90 day warranty or something like that. I'll stick with Snap-On for this tool.

Edit: The only flaw with Snap-On is it's a bit harder to return broken tools unless you live close to a Snap-On retailer, there aren't many of them.