Snap-On vans

In all the many years I've been playing with cars, I really can't remember ever breaking a socket or spanner. Studs yes, threads stripped and nuts rounded off, but the tools survive. If Snap On stuff is being replaced at this rate, it's either crap or the people using it are.

In message , Dave Plowman writes

Don't forget they are used by professionals and used intensively. They are guaranteed for life but that doesn't mean they won't break.

Snap On are quite good really because more often than not they will replace a tool which has broken through misuse or has worn out. The warranty is supposed to cover defects or breakage's, not wear.

I've only had a couple of tools replaced but I've had some ratchet tools refurbished with service kits.

I used to use my spark plug socket on my old Vauxhall's seat belt bolts. I wonder if I ever bothered buying a 21mm for my piecemeal socket set? Looks like a waste if I did!

Dave Plowman mumbled:

I broke a ratchet the other day...and got a little heavy handed with a wheelbrace...

though to be fair it wasn't the highest quality. The wheelbrace was just trying to undo a tight wheelnut. Eventually gave up and got a deep offset ring spanner on it and slipped a length of pipe over the other end.

Personally, I find Britool to be better than Snap On too.

Snap On tools are very expensive and often no better than cheaper tools that come with similar life time guarantees e.g. Sealey etc. They aren't somehow magically better because they cost more, they just cost more. When a Snap On tool costs 10 times more than the equivalent professional grade tool from another manufacturer you have to question why. Once you above a certain price threshold you aren't paying for for better quality tools any more, you're paying mark up.

There are some tools where Snap On doesn't even come close to the best. I wouldn't buy an adjustable spanner that wasn't made by Bahco, or a set of side cutters that weren't Knipex, and Sandvik were the best brand for hacksaws for years...

-- James

In message , Guy King writes

Thug!

;)

Paul Giverin mumbled:

Curses...found out!

Well, I know it didn't, but if it broke while you were doing this then I'd say fair enough. I'm sure we all do this at some time, but if you load a hand tool up to several times the torque even the strongest hand can do...

Dave Plowman mumbled:

Nah, I broke the ratchet with native unamplified muscle[1]! And bent the wheelbrace. The ring spanner survived being tubed without aparent damage.

I learnt fairly early on never to use a ratchet as a hammer cos they explode. I did reassemble it but it was never quite the same.

-- Malc

It's my war wound. I got it in Nam.

Cheltenham

cheaper tools that

I don't think you even have to buy tools made by well known manufacturers to get good quality. The basic effective quality of say a spanner, is in the spec of the material it's made from, and the accuracy of it's sizing. Finish, in that respect, is relatively unimportant. It might make them nice to look at, but it doesn't serve any useful purpose. I have many tools, baught cheaply with no name or brand image. Probably made in China, or some other eastern country, that are equally as good as others I have by well known makers. Maybe they haven't got a lifetime guarantee, but at the price they are, many sets could be baught for the cost of just one set at Snap-On prices. I refuse to buy expensive tools. My experiences are the same as Dave Plowman's I too can't recall breaking any of my decent cheap sockets or spanners, and it's not because they haven't had plenty of use. Some are over 30 years old. I'm an engineer by trade, and many have been abused with levers and tubes over the years, but are still going strong.

the best.

As I said in an earlier thread. Snap-On hexagon keys are crap, and their phillips screwdrivers are not much better. Mike.

Hello, I will never forget the advert I saw on one of those vans in chester. It had the wording, "I bet you wish you had a rigid tool". I nearly crashed laughing. Watch there is no one ready to take you up on your offer!

i doubt very much that wasa snap -on van

it would be someone selling RIDGID brand tools

Such as a Snap On van.

Northants one does.

Check out

Hope your company isn't as slow as your reply to this post.

They certainly know how to charge, too.