Damn Cheap Tools

meanredspider

Why did I get talked into buying cheap, nasty discount German supermarket tools???!!!

I know cheap tools are ALWAYS a mistake but the constant Drip-Drip of Aldi this and Lidl that on BR and I succumbed. But, as ever, Buy Cheap - Buy Twice comes and slaps me on the back of the head again as the chain tool supplied in the kit failed mid-job and I spent longer trying to fix the tool than the job would have taken me with a decent tool.

So I'm vowing never ever to buy a cheap tool again.

SimonAH

+lots, never a good idea.

Tools and shoes, buy the best you can afford.

davis

I remember reading something in a car maintenance/audio/something book once: "buy the best tools that you can't quite afford". It's always stayed with me.

rolf_f

I bought a Lifu £45 bike tool kit from Woodrups (looks much the same as the Aldi ones). It's been brilliant. I've used it to maintain my bikes over 20000 miles and completely renovated two old bikes with it. The only failure has been the Shimano cassette tool but that may have been down to me over-tightening the cassette in the first place.

Maybe you were unlucky but these days you can't tell whether things are good just on price. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend that kit.

meanredspider

Rolf F wrote:

Maybe you were unlucky but these days you can't tell whether things are good just on price. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend that kit.

That's correct though I almost never found cheap tools to be of good quality and some expensive tools to be of poor quality (and, as my main hobby for many years has been restoring and now racing old cars, I have quite a lot of tools) which is why I'm so cross with myself for thinking this Aldi shiite should be any different.

rolf_f

Might be helpful if one of the magazines did a review of the various different 'toolkits in a silver case' - they all look much of a muchness but maybe they are different.

meanredspider

Rolf F wrote:

Might be helpful if one of the magazines did a review of the various different 'toolkits in a silver case' - they all look much of a muchness but maybe they are different.

Yup. I can pretty much judge a tool when I have it in my hand (ooer missus)

*edit* to say that sounds a bit arrogant but you can tell quite a lot by looking at and holding tools - the fit and finish is much better on the good quality stuff. Obviously it doesn't tell you if it's made of cheese but in my experience manufacturers don't spend ages getting a good finish on cheese.

rolf_f

meanredspider wrote:

*edit* to say that sounds a bit arrogant but you can tell quite a lot by looking at and holding tools - the fit and finish is much better on the good quality stuff. Obviously it doesn't tell you if it's made of cheese but in my experience manufacturers don't spend ages getting a good finish on cheese.

Makes sense - the tools in my kit are neither works of art or cheap tat. Just workaday tools for the amateur. Park Tools are as much overkill for the home repairer as Snapon tools are for the home car mechanic. Buy them if you want but only the professionals actually need them.

The great thing about the cheap kits is that they are so cheap you are bound to get decent value out of it and if a tool does fail, you can always upgrade at that time. Meanwhile, you still have a reasonably comprehensive set of the tools that you might not otherwise have bought in the first place but do come in useful at times.

meanredspider

I still have some of the tools my grandfather used 60 years ago. I think the top-quality stuff is worth it for those tools you use over and over - 13mm spanner for instance for Italian cars. The problem with cheap tools is when they ruin the thing you are working on - round off that nut or damage that screw head - or break in the middle of the job.

I don't have any Snap-On but I do have Facom and Beta. Halfords Professional is ok if you buy it during their seemingly endless discounted periods and probably fulfils the balance of cost and quality. Draper, Silverline etc are poor quality these days - Draper, in particular, have lost their way in my lifetime. I think that, for the bike-specific tools (chain tools, BB spanners etc) it's worth paying the difference for the better stuff.

green thing

Most used - Facom, MAC and Britool (as well as some older stuff). Most of my bike-specific tools are Park or Shimano, car.motorbike it depends what fits best and feels good. Cheap is often ok for 17/19mm spanners and so on, but when you get to precise stuff it's usually keech.

What kind of racing car?

meanredspider

green thing wrote:

What kind of racing car?

A 1969 Alfa Giulia GT

nicklouse

meanredspider wrote:

*edit* to say that sounds a bit arrogant but you can tell quite a lot by looking at and holding tools - the fit and finish is much better on the good quality stuff. Obviously it doesn't tell you if it's made of cheese but in my experience manufacturers don't spend ages getting a good finish on cheese.

very true.

but then again you do get some really good finish on some cheeses.

green thing

A bit faster than mine then - the one that's pushing.... (aww, I miss Knockhill....)...

walkingbootweather

You are of course quite right about cheap tools and I confess to owning a set of the finest Lidl tools myself. In the beginning I didn't know which tools I should buy and couldn't justify spending £100+ for a good quality set. The Lidl ones have done me a turn and helped me to maintain the family stable of 8 bikes over the past few years. Sure a couple of tools have failed, but if I am using them I'm happy to replace with something of a better quality. Some of the tools in the set I've only used once or twice; not sure I can justify buying professional quality tools to use once a year if cheaper ones are 'good enough'.

navt

meanredspider wrote:

A 1969 Alfa Giulia GT

Corr, Beauty!

veronese68

I agree about cheap tools. However I too bought a cheap set from Lidl. The logic being it will only have limited use and anything that is used regularly can be replaced with better quality.
With hindsight I should have just bought better.
Many of my car tools are good quality and are a joy to use. Snap On are very good, as are Britool. But I love my King Dick,

meanredspider

Veronese68 wrote:

.
Many of my car tools are good quality and are a joy to use. Snap On are very good, as are Britool. But I love my King Dick,

Unfortunately King Dick aren't what they used to be. Many of the tools I inherited from my grandfather are King Dick and are lovely quality - my grandkids will still have them - but the modern stuff seemingly has gone way of Draper and is made in the Far East (according to a colleague who used to work for them) and is poor quality now (unless you know better)

veronese68

meanredspider wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

.
Many of my car tools are good quality and are a joy to use. Snap On are very good, as are Britool. But I love my King Dick,

Unfortunately King Dick aren't what they used to be. Many of the tools I inherited from my grandfather are King Dick and are lovely quality - my grandkids will still have them - but the modern stuff seemingly has gone way of Draper and is made in the Far East (according to a colleague who used to work for them) and is poor quality now (unless you know better)

You're not completely wrong. I've got some old stuff which is very good. Also some new stuff, we stock it at work. It's not bad, but it's not quite premium.
It's better than Draper that we also carry. King Dick also do Whitworth which I need for my motorbike.

deptfordmarmoset

The only tool from my LiDL-or-was-it-ALDI kit that died at a bad moment was the chain tool. Wandered off to buy a replacement from LBS and ended up with a tool that works perfectly well but also cost more than half the toolkit and it's too heavy to cart around whenever I'm ahrtanabahrt.

(I think the chain tool's death was a diversion confabulated by the screwdrivers so they could escape undetected.)

supersonic

I have one of these cheap generic kits, and have had it for years. I have used about every brand imaginable as I have worked as head mechanic at a few shops, and the cheap ones are generally fine and last a long time. Can't see where the money is in much of Park stuff.

meanredspider

supersonic wrote:

I have one of these cheap generic kits, and have had it for years. I have used about every brand imaginable as I have worked as head mechanic at a few shops, and the cheap ones are generally fine and last a long time. Can't see where the money is in much of Park stuff.

Bike stuff tends to be a little less critical because the forces involved are generally relatively low (especially on carbon) - pedal spanners and chain splitters will be a couple of areas that re more critical. The high quality tools though will alo leave little evidence of their use - if the flats of a spanner fit very closely to the flats of a nut, there will be no "witness marks". Cheaper tools, with poorer tolerances and finishes and maybe more flex will show signs of their use. I don't know Park Tools that well. I'm guessing they trade on being the premium brand and charge accordingly. Whether they are fair value at that price, I don't know. It's the "cheap and nasty" end of the market I hate.

roger_merriman

Has to be said the cheap chain splitter from the bike shop has been doing it's job perfectly, over the last few years.

SimonAH

roger merriman wrote:

Has to be said the cheap chain splitter from the bike shop has been doing it's job perfectly, over the last few years.

You can be lucky, it's really about insurance though. It's the shear bloody hassle when a tool fails at a critical point in a job on a bank holiday afternoon and you can't finish the job that you need for getting to work in the morning.

walkingbootweather

SimonAH wrote:

It's the shear bloody hassle when a tool fails at a critical point in a job on a bank holiday afternoon and you can't finish the job that you need for getting to work in the morning.

You sir have just made the case for n+1.

Fortunately I also have cycling friends and neighbours so could probably borrow a tool if something failed. In practice on the two times that the cheap Lidl toolkit has let me down my kool tool (do they even still make them?) came to the rescue.

[Edit] Sorry got my quotes a bit muddled. Didn't mean to put words in Roger's mouth. now corrected.

SimonAH

walkingbootweather wrote:

SimonAH wrote:

roger merriman wrote:

It's the shear bloody hassle when a tool fails at a critical point in a job on a bank holiday afternoon and you can't finish the job that you need for getting to work in the morning.

You sir have just made the case for n+1.

Fortunately I also have cycling friends and neighbours so could probably borrow a tool if something failed. In practice on the two times that the cheap Lidl toolkit has let me down my kool tool (do they even still make them?) came to the rescue.

Well of course, that's why my current house has a tiny garden and a workshop that has the same footprint as the house :-D

veronese68

Well of course, that's why my current house has a tiny garden and a workshop that has the same footprint as the house :-D

My cousin used to have a 1 bed flat with an 8 car garage.

supersonic

roger merriman wrote:

Has to be said the cheap chain splitter from the bike shop has been doing it's job perfectly, over the last few years.

Same here, had it 10 years! And broke many 'branded' ones when working. Best chain tool I have ever used.

nicklouse

supersonic wrote:

roger merriman wrote:

Has to be said the cheap chain splitter from the bike shop has been doing it's job perfectly, over the last few years.

Same here, had it 10 years! And broke many 'branded' ones when working. Best chain tool I have ever used.

Ah but cheap stuff 10 years ago wa made to last.

supersonic

It's the same kit as sold in Halfords ;-)