Becoming a mechanic

If you are going to use them everyday,  snap-on is the one.  cornwell makes some good stuff too, but the ratchets and sockets and wrenches cant be beat from snap on.  15 yrs of working in a shop tought me that.   craftsman is ok for home use, and thats about it. some people has told me that some of the older craftman stuff is decent, but then I have a 60 yr old snap on ratchet that I used for 5 yrs everyday, and it has held up better than some of my craftsman ratchets.  if I sound like I hate craftsman,  I do.  I dont know much about Mac, I have a few of them, and Matco I dont really know about either.   and yeah craftsman brags about that warranty, but when Im using a tool, it infuriates me to no end when it breaks, and I dont have the time or patience to argue with sears when I need a new tool.  they would argue with me and I have no patience for that.

Edited by purple72Gremlin - Aug/25/2010 at 11:07pm

purple72gremlin hit the nail on the head. plain and simple your going into a professional field. you need professional equipment. with the amount a decent mechanic can make today, they should be able to pay the 20 or 50 dollars a week. times are changing. at our shop we charge a basic 1hr diagnostic fee whether it takes 5 min or 2 hours. say you get a car in with check engine light in and stalling. its a ford and you plug it up. its a lean code. its safe to say you can open the hood and find a vaccum hose sucked open. there you have 10 min into it and your getting payed for an hour. when it comes to electrical/diagnostics a good quote to remeber is "the customer isnt always paying you for what you did, they are paying you for what you know" same goes for tool guys. their not idiots working behind a desk they KNOW their tools and how to use them

Ok, Well i got aquote from snap-on for 1800.00 including a box and all the tools listed other than the specialty tools that need to be purchased through the Automaker.  Not as bad as i thought, yet still a nice chunk of change.  

My question now is, what brand of pro-grade tools to go with?

There are the obvious,

Snap-On

Matco

Mac

What else?  Any real life experiences???

My long term goal is to own a full service dealership.  People will always need a mode of transportation, no matter the economic state.  Ive heard a lot about warranty issues with snap-on, and that scares me.  People either love snap on or they don't.  Its just a huge investment and i want to do it right.  On top of the tools, there is also the laptop for diagnostic, dyno, and other programs that I will need which is another big cost.  Yes I will have graduation presents (hopefully) but I just want to make sure my investment pays off.

All I can say is $1800 may sound like a huge chunk of change, but I spent $2500 on Craftsman tools in 1985 dollars to move from a crappy little dealerships grease rack to flat rate tech at a GM/Jeep/AMC/Renault/Mitsu dealer 20 miles away.

  I won't compare Craftsman tools of then to now, they look about the same. Will say most of the snap on stuff, even mac and cornwall seem to fit my hands better. However not wanting to hand the MAC and Snap On guys money every week motivated me to be very, specific in what I NEEDED compared to what I WANTED.  Beware the truck, it can be your friend, it can also dig a hole and toss you in it! Been there, seen that, avoided that!

  I worked with my Craftsman tools for 6 years and had little issues. I never once had another line mechanic look down on me for it. If they did they certainly kept their mouths shut and that would be unusual for most of those guys.

  Last, Stay the F away from anything short of Ballbearing cabinets if you wander in Sears. their new lower priced chest and rollaways are total junk. PERIOD!  I'd go buy ballbearing chests at Harborfright first!

   oh, yeah, I did not see deep well sockets on the list....