If you friends need some tools let them pay you to use your discount too.I love snap on and craftsman but if money isn't a problem I'll go snap on first.Every now and then you will get in a spot you have to cut a wrench down or make a tool work the cheapos harbor freight and most auto part stores sell are great for that.

 

I have a mix, but some things I bought Snap On and I have not regretted it. My 1/2" impact was bought off the truck in 1993 and it still rips axle nuts off front wheel drive cars. I have some flank drive metric wrenches and I can use them on flare fittings, they dont slip. Those things will rip the metal off the nut before they slip. Every Craftsman line wrench I have ever used rounded the flare fittings off. every dang one of them and the guarantee isnt for not slipping, it is for breaking. I have broke very few wrenches, but lots of sockets. I have a mix of sockets, and ratchets, NAPA tools are decent, so are the ones at CarQuest. Blackhawk tools are like BluePoint and they will work good for years. I have a floor jack I bought in 93, its a Lincoln jack, but its painted red and has a Snap On tag on it. That thing has been through hell in the last 17 years.

Buy what you can afford, and what you cant find anywhere else. Dont get into debt to them, they are like crack dealers. Only buy what you can pay cash for right then. Trust me on that.

 

Thanks Thumpin. Last night my wife and I drilled out the lock on a craftsman rolling tool chest (bottom half) that I had gotten from a mechanic 22 years ago (could not find the key not even sure if I ever got it.) Found a Snap on socket (just 1) a matco box wrench (again just one) and a blackhawk air ratchet and impact wrench. There were several other very old tools but all in all going to put a new lock on the older tool box so I can take it to the school shop.

Also ordering a bunch of tools I need (mostly specialty tools for brakes and such) and looking at ordering a snap-on torque wrench and maybe one of their 3/8" comfort grip socket drives.

Eventually I'd like to get one of their cordless impact wrenches since I do not have a compressor large enough to run the air tools...yet.

 

As long as we are talking high end tools, I have always dug Mac combo wrenches, I used to have one, just one, I found it, but it disapeared...

Might have to buy a set just because, (tequila, it helps me into a tool buying mood), hello eBay... ☻

 

Just take is slow, I've been "collecting" tools for 30 years and just got my first 2 stage compressor this week. Torque wrench is a great idea and with Snap-on its going to be accurate. Now you need to buy 3 since you're going to want to do in/lbs too.

 

Agree with what everybody else has said. Snap on are great tools and I have thousands invested but they are overpriced. I guess when you are starting out as a mechanic being a young kid you look up to the older guys and try to copy them. Plus that revolving credit helps when your young and have no credit. That white truck shows up snappy guy shows you the latest and greatest deal of the week and hello impulse buy. But it has been years since I have bought snap on. Unless it is a specialty tool I now buy craftsman. Craftsman in my opinion have come a long way in their tool quality. I also have seen some of the same tools I have bought from snap on (blue point) for sale at sears. Minus the bluepoint logo of course. Which sucks when there 1/2 the price. I also find it easier when I break something craftsman to go to sears and get it replaced right away then having to wait until the snap on guy comes and hope he has a replacement on his truck. I have waited for weeks to get a tool replaced. And when it comes to screwdrivers do not beat the sh** out of the handles because if you break a snap on screwdriver they only replace the shaft not the handle.