Are these tools any good?

[NW_Merc]

What about Silverline?

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

So that would be more suitable for tinkering with the CLK? Does it look like it has torx bits? If not, I wonder if they can be purchased separatley?

I bought some Halfords Professional Torx bits a couple of years ago, and they were about £15 for the full strip (most sizes covered).

What about Silverline?

I used to sell Silverline tools, generally good value. Not the best, but good enough. Very popular with tradespeople as Silverline were always very generous when replacing under guarantee.

 

[Uncle Fester]

I bought this set when they were half price, so I thought it was a good deal, they are very useful, seem like decent quality and make a good start to a tool kit.

Halfords | Halfords Advanced Professional 150 piece Socket/Ratchet Set

 

[nick mercedes]

Halfords | Halfords Advanced Professional 120 piece Socket Set

Cheers

Spend £50 less on a decent brand, and avoid all the usless AF sockets you'll never use:

Bahco 33pc 1/4

 

[219]

I think this set would be better as it has a good selection of metric only sockets, including deep.
Then add spanners and screwdrivers as required.

Halfords : Product Detail

Yes , a decent little set . I bought one of these as I wanted a small set to keep in the boot of the car - only thing is the screwdriver set would be better suited to a watchmaker than for working on a car as all the bits are tiny . I replaced them with something larger and put those drivers into my electronic toolkit .

I have quite a lot of Halfords Professional/Advanced tools and think they are excellent .

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I've been dilly-dallying around wanting to buy some Halfords Professional kit for ages now but just haven't pulled the trigger. I have now though.

With the discount applied - although regularly discounted, I've never seen a better discount - plus the 20 shell points for every £8 spent I decided to go for it, and the following is ready for me to collect in store tomorrow:

Halfords Professional 36 piece 1/4" Socket Set
SKU : 154864-0
Instore price £18.99, save £4.00 1 £14.99 £14.99

>> Seems ideal to keep in the car as it's got a bit of everything in it, but takes up little space, and weighs next to nothing.

>> Doesn't state this is covered by the lifetime guarantee explicitly (note Professional and not Advanced Professional), however the official answer in the Customer Q&A states non-moving parts are covered. I'll ask in store.

>> Tempted to get two!!

Halfords 18 piece Advanced Professional Socket Set 3/8"
SKU : 926352-0
Instore price £23.99, save £4.00 1 £19.99 £19.99

>> I just couldn't believe how good value this is, so I got one anyway. No idea what I'll do with it just yet!! ML maybe?

Halfords Advanced Professional 120 piece Socket Set
SKU : 154831-0
Instore price £89.99, save £10.00 1 £79.99 £79.99

>> I'll keep this in the garage at home, to replace my equivalent non-Professional kit which will go in the ML now.

>> My gut feel was to go for the metric-only 64 piece kit as I currently have no need for imperial, but thought the ratchet/wrenches looked more robust in this one, plus for an extra £25 I've got imperial sockets ready and waiting for that classic!! One day

TOTAL (payable upon collection at store) £114.97

>> Seems entirely reasonable for all that!!

>> That's 280 Shell points!!

 

[Dieselman]

What a bunch of spanners...

Spanner sets tested | Products | Auto Express

 

[Will]

My advice would be to build up your tool collection as and when you need it, rather than buying too many or the wrong sort of stuff in one big kit.

Some of the Halfords tools are really quite good - more than adequate for keen DIY use etc. But as a couple of people have already said, some of those big kits are full of stuff that you'll never use (imperial/AF sockets etc).

I tend to buy the best tools that I can for specific jobs, some of them perhaps a bit OTT but if you buy nice tools they usually last a lifetime (or thereabouts!) Normally the savings of doing one job DIY pays for the necessary tools - that's the way I've always looked at it

When I was younger I bought some really nice Snap-on spanners, a 3/8 socket set and a really handy 1/4 drive kit too. Over the years have added odds and sods when needed some 1/2" drive stuff, hex drivers, torx bits, breaker bar, extensions etc. From the US you're looking about half the UK price, or used stuff on eBay etc will be ok.

Having said all that, it's the invaluable 'personal' tools that always seem the more handy - that random pick-up tool, scraper/hook or bent spanner that you always reach for when working on things. Won't find those in any ready-made kit

To give some credit to Halfords tools, I've got a set of flex-head ratchet spanners (I reckon they're re-branded 'Gearwrench' stuff) that I've had for years, and they're really handy for the occasional hard to reach stuff. Never broken or anything and a good fit on the fasteners. Wouldn't use them for everything but they are useful at times

Will

 

[tpwuk]

I'm tooled up now! Just picked up the 64 piece set from Halfords, paid £44.99. It's gone back up to £109 today too!

 

[BlackC55]

My advice is to buy a quality set of spanners. The Snap on Flank drive set is the best of the best. I have used them for 10 years and they just don't slip.

Even for diy use they will last you forever and you will never need to buy another set again.

 

[Justin1600]

My advice is to buy a quality set of spanners. The Snap on Flank drive set is the best of the best. I have used them for 10 years and they just don't slip.

Even for diy use they will last you forever and you will never need to buy another set again.

I bought a set of them when they first came out years ago. I use them everyday and are still ace
Even for un-doing brake pipes :bannana:

 

[Doodle]

I have 2 sets of spanners. One are Gearwrench ratchet spanners, a freebie that are handy for specific jobs where the ratchet makes life easier. Not very good when used hard though, the ratchets jam and the open jaws are too flexy for any serious work.

The other set I got from my dad when I first started kitting out my toolbox. No branding, no idea what they are but as tough as old boots despite seeing some serious abuse. A set of flank drives would be nice but hard to justify given how these have performed.

 

[Will]

My advice is to buy a quality set of spanners. The Snap on Flank drive set is the best of the best. I have used them for 10 years and they just don't slip.

Even for diy use they will last you forever and you will never need to buy another set again.

Yep - I bought a set of flank drive plus spanners years back. I'm fairly confident that they'll last me a lifetime for DIY use and have probably saved me some grief by not slipping on tight/rusty/old nuts and bolts over the years

Overkill perhaps (not cheap), but I'm sure they've earned their keep by now

Will

 

[312 Sprinter]

If you want a budget set I don't reckon you'll beat the Crescent set from Costco. It is on special offer at the moment. I've got a set I use in scrapyards, my workshop tools are mostly Snap On or Mac, these are not quite as good, but they're very good. A friend of mine uses a set daily, he works on generators on site and his tools go walkies. He's not broken anything yet. The whole set is under 70 quid.

 

[Wizeng]

When I started motoring I bought a set of Hilka sockets, and I only ever managed to break one, undoing a half shaft nut with a scaffold pipe on the T-bar, it stripped the 12 points off the end of the socket, i had it faced off to remove the damage ,went back, and with the increased length of engagement got it off. Cost me £30, 40 years ago best tools I ever bought.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Pleased with all three Halfords Professional kits I bought last week.

The ML and C now both have their sets in place - the medium size set fits perfectly in the side storage panel in the ML where the jack is kept - and the tiny set fits nicely in the Winterkit Michellin sent me when I bought my winter tyres.

The big set I'll keep in the garage are currently on the living room floor - Baby D and Jnr D like looking at them!! Only used the screwdriver with one bit so far though - the kit was slightly over-specced for the job of removing the screw-on battery cover on a computer game!!

>> Doesn't state this is covered by the lifetime guarantee explicitly (note Professional and not Advanced Professional), however the official answer in the Customer Q&A states non-moving parts are covered. I'll ask in store.

The small £15 set does actually have the same unlimited warranty. Says so on the box.

 

[Dieselman]

the kit was slightly over-specced for the job of removing the screw-on battery cover on a computer game!!

Techno-Dad wins again...