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so my sons a first year student on a car mechanic course ....

W

wwlshpope

Newbie
anyone here who is a mechanic or has done a mechanics course I college , my son is in his 1 year of a city and guilds mechanic course ..... I no they supply him with any materials or equipment needed but I thought it'd be helpful to have some tool kit for hi. at home so he can get extra experience outside of college when his uncle (who is a mechanic but isn't willing to give me any advice coz he's a git) comes to visit and saud he'd take him over to his mates garage and get his mate to give him a Weekend job ,so any advice on a decent starter mechanics tool kit that doesn't cost me over 100quid coz Ieveryone I've looked at so dar has been over 200quid ,and especially ially now I can't afford 200 quid to buy him tools
 
I would have to imagine that the other replies that you will get will be the same as mine.... Don't buy cheap tools, you will end up buying tools many times. it is much better to look at this opportunity that your son is being given as an investment on his future. investing the right amount on a set of tools will repay itself many times over.

If you chose to lend him 200 pounds and he gets a part time job, he could repay you at £20 per week by February, that way
A. he will have good tools
B. he will be more likely to look after them properly.
 
if I had 200 quid for a tool kit I'd give him the money ,I'd never loan my kids money,if they need it and I got it it's theirs with no expectation of paying it back ,but I simply dont have that kind of cash to my name and the only people in the family with that sort of money is his father who wudnt help just out of spite and his parents and yeah theyre just as spiteful so I've got to try and get what I can from tmy birthday and christmas money I've been given for a few years and tbats only about £150
 
Not to be derogatory, but set expectations a little lower, instead of buying the whole kit at once, tools can be bought piecemeal, ie. the basics are a socket set, a set of spanners, a set of screwdrivers, buy one at a time, and buy the best you can. then as time goes by, he/you can add to it(particularly as he will have a part time job)

@cactikid is a mechanic, he might give different advice, lets see what he has to say.
 
wwlshpope said:
if I had 200 quid for a tool kit I'd give him the money ,I'd never loan my kids money,if they need it and I got it it's theirs with no expectation of paying it back ,but I simply dont have that kind of cash to my name and the only people in the family with that sort of money is his father who wudnt help just out of spite and his parents and yeah theyre just as spiteful so I've got to try and get what I can from tmy birthday and christmas money I've been given for a few years and tbats only about £150
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Snap on and Blue point look like the tools of choice,I think they have a lifetime warranty also,With what i have seen a mechanic can end up spending thousands on a collection of tools.
 
Get to know the names of good tools ,Teng Tools ,Britool ,Kamasa, Draper ,King Tony , Heyco , Snap On buy when rich.
Spanners combo metric i assume and 8 -24 as doubt you will be doing vintage cars needing imperial sizes.
Good screwdriver set as philips screws come in many sizes and shapes and more newer are torx
vice grips and adjustabe spanners.
light and heavy hammers.
Toolbox for storage and movement around.
Gloves for hands and coverage on head + steel toed boots and warm socks.
Trousers workwear i have used Snickers or Mascot with knee pads as early days we were kneeling on concrete and have fecked up knees.

I started to answer this post 3 hrs ago and got pulled off. If you were in ireland it might have been handier as selling loads of gear on the usual platforms.
EBAY , Donedeal , Adverts , Gumtree etc also might have tools up no longer needed.

This was an early year of the tooll box i bought known as the Taco box.
 
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wheelo said:
Not to be derogatory, but set expectations a little lower, instead of buying the whole kit at once, tools can be bought piecemeal, ie. the basics are a socket set, a set of spanners, a set of screwdrivers, buy one at a time, and buy the best you can. then as time goes by, he/you can add to it(particularly as he will have a part time job)

@cactikid is a mechanic, he might give different advice, lets see what he has to say.
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that's the point of me asking about what tools I'd need to make him a starter tool kit coz I know I can't afford it all In one go ,but given that I don't drive and studied hairdressing at his age i no sod all about mechanics tools except that when my brother had to start building his tool kit the prices caused outbursts of "colourful language " but as I'd already left home I cant say I paid attention to the stuff he got
 
wwlshpope said:
that's the point of me asking about what tools I'd need to make him a starter tool kit coz I know I can't afford it all In one go ,but given that I don't drive and studied hairdressing at his age i no sod all about mechanics tools except that when my brother had to start building his tool kit the prices caused outbursts of "colourful language " but as I'd already left home I cant say I paid attention to the stuff he got
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Let him start the job without tools, he'll be being shown the ropes to start with and helping out a mechanic who has all the tools, then probably moving onto doing things like oil changes, service stuff etc. If he makes a good impression then the people he works with will give him all the help and advice he needs - they all started out like he did with a single tool to their name.

It's lovely and thoughtful of you to try to help him get setup though, but if he's a good lad he'll be alright, it's a good trade that he's going into.
 
I agree with the above, they're not going to ask him to change a gearbox on his first day, he'll be taking wheels off using the pneumatic gear they have installed and making cups of tea
 
pabloescaban said:
I agree with the above, they're not going to ask him to change a gearbox on his first day, he'll be taking wheels off using the pneumatic gear they have installed and making cups of tea
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I hope not his tea making skills are so bad that I went without tea for 3 weeks last year when I was bed ridden,as bad as covid was his tea shud be considered inhumane punishment and a crime against humanity,given it'll be my brother and his mate letting him come and learn on the job I dare say his first day hell be sent to every shop looking for sky :grin:
 
Willo3092 said:
.... not forgetting the box of spark plug gaps! ......... I started out my career as an apprentice auto-electrician. Happy days but no money in it back then :cry:
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No money in being an apprentice anything, even now, but I'll bet you made a decent living doing whatever you ended up doing.
The kid will have a foundation of mechanical knowledge and even if he ends up changing tyres for a living it's still better than flipping burgers or stacking shelves, not that there's anything wrong with either of those jobs but there's a better chance of starting your own business if you have something to offer individuals
 
Halfords do decent socket sets at a sensible price, when they are on offer.
I can only repeat what's already been said, buy cheap buy twice.
I'm not a "real" mechanic, and one of my socket sets was over £500 :dizzy:
I don't really rate Snap-on for the price tbh, I'd say Teng are just as good, and Beta are better,

A bit above your budget, but something to consider as a starting point.

Halfords Advanced 150 Pc Socket & Spanner Set | Halfords UK
 
As pupuqiop says, you don't need a full set of tools on day 1. Just build them up as he goes along. I used to scrounge the old tools whenever someone bought something new.
Back in 76 we had to have 2 of everything too! Most British cars used imperial and all the foreign ones were metric.
 
Buy the branded tools that he will use the most such as drills and socket wrenches, everything else just buy the basic and can be upgraded later. Get him into an apprenticeship, some places will even give their apprentices tools as a "loan" until they get their own and he will figure out what brands he likes the best and what he truly needs
 
Forgot to mention the way of the older mechanic is gone where they fixed things that got broken and the new tech guy will diagnose issue and it needs a new part.

If they are into electrical cars a different toolkit is used.
 
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