My experience is their stuff is junk. Once a guy I worked with was telling how great they are because how cheaply priced tools are. He was using a small mallet he just bought there to work a dent out of something. About the 3rd or 4th time he hit the metal, the top of the malletwent flying across the shop

 

hey i had a drill bit BEND. they should snap, not bend LOL. i also had a tap/die set and the die was screwed up after putting threads on one thing, and the tap i tried to use twisted.

some things just arent worth buying there, but other things are a great deal. you can get like 6 rolls of electrical tape for like .99 on sale

 

Things that are going to take a beating and are hard to screw up are ok to buy there (like c-clamps) But anything that your safety will depend on, I'd pass. That being said, I have quite a few things I've picked up there, but it's hard to be dissappointed when you expect it to break.

 

actually i was using a cheap c clamp on some u-joints and had one crack in half (thanks harbor freight)

 

You have to watch what you buy from them but for the average hobbiest there stuff is just fine. I have to vouch for their Pittsburgh 1/2" torque wrench...$9.99 and is plenty good for lug nuts and suspension parts...I would not want to use their torque wrenches to put an engine together but I have seen it done.

 

Three words... "Made In China" ...

 

My father-in-law handed me a Harbor Freight catalog a few years back and asked me what I thought about their products. I just handed the catalog back to him and said,. "No thank you." It's all junk made in China. Cheap crap.........

 

Nearly all of the new parts that we put on our Mustangs are made in China.

Sure, the power tools aren't Makita, Dewalt, Milwaukee, etc., but they are inexpensive. My $20 grinder, $30 sawzall, $100 press, numerous screwdrivers, etc. have all done the job admirably. The low cost has allowed me to set up my garage pretty nicely that I wouldn't be able to do if I were buying top buck, professional grade tools across the line. The one thing I have splurged on are the cordless tools because that is where the HF struggles IMO.

Anyway, to each their own. To a professional mechanic, anything short of Snap-On, Mac or Matco just won't do. The quality and cost has to be somewhat in line with your needs and budget, correct?

FWIW, more and more of the "name brand" tools are coming out of China now as well.

 

Look around China makes almost everything now (if not China then Taiwan, or some other foreign country).
If I had to guess as to why that was I would have to say its because us Americans wont do a job like that for the price they want to pay, so they send it over to China where they have their children do all the work for almost no pay...

So, in order to fix this problem we should just go over there and teach the kids how to do a better job. (sry that was kinda mean)

Either way I agree with the majority here.... You get what you pay for..... at the same time, its kinda hard to screw up making a wrench or any other solid piece of metal....

 

"If you plan on using it once then buy it from HF"...thats what they have tool rental stores for. Harbor Freight has nothing but "Made in a Hurry chinese crap". I cringe when I see guys laying under cars that are on jack stands bought at Harbor Freight.
Heres my story. I bought a pressurized sand blasting tank from Harbor Freight. I put it together, filled it with media and started to blast. The shut off valve failed to shut off on the first attempt. By the time I was finished for the day, the tripod leg that was welded to the vessel broke off. The valve never worked, and the nozzles kept failing. It was a tremendous waste of money and time. I later thought about how crappy the vessel itself must have been, and here I was filling it with compressed air. Does the word "shrapnel" come to mind? Again, if you only need it once then go rent it. If you are paying for it, buy quality. I've learned in my nearly 50 years that for the most part theres a reasonthings cost more. Go with American metal integrity. Hell the Chinese don't even test their metal. Just look at the junk.

HarboeFreight is good for bungy cords and tarps. After that forget it.