Basic Tools for Fixing Your Own Car

Hey, everyone. Sue here from 1AAuto. And today I want to talk to you about tools, basic tools you'll need to work on your car as a DIYer.

If you're a DIYer and you like to work on your car, let's talk. So here we have a quarter inch set, just a basic set. You can get this pretty inexpensively. And this set starts from four millimeter, goes all the way up to 13 on the shallow. And then it starts at six and ends at 13 on the deep. That's pretty much real basic. It comes with two nice extensions, and plus the swivel, which us pros call these knuckle busters because too hard of an angle, snap, these buddies will all get bloody. So, one time investment. If you can find this style, it can be used with an air gun, comes in different sizes from 1/2 inch, 3/8, even down to 1/4. These are nice because they're a ball socket, so they don't jam up on you. When they're going even by hand, they'll never completely turn to an angle and get locked up.

And follow it up by your 3/8 set, which has deep sockets and shallow, and it comes with two spark plug sockets. These are good because, you know your lawnmower, snowblower, you can use them on some cars. Modern cars, sometimes you need the deep sockets. All depends the year, make, and model. Comes with a nice couple of extensions, ratchet, and once again, your little swivel that you need sometimes when you get to turn a little corner and get in there.

And if we go over to a 1/2 inch set, I'm going to say right off the bat, you could get chrome deep. Do you really want chrome deep? Because you're never going to use them once you get an impact gun. So you can't use chrome with an impact gun because it has a high tendency of shattering. That's why they made the impacts. So air guns, impact sockets only, so why buy two sets? Invest in one set and you can use it both ways.

When it comes to ratchets, it's whatever feels good to you. You can buy inexpensive or very expensive. But remember your one purchase is going to last you and your children or your sisters or brothers a lifetime. So if you buy inexpensive and you don't care, keep replacing it. Works for you, it works for you. If you could go a little higher in price, one time by, probably last you your lifetime plus.

Always, always have a long extension 3/8. I can't emphasize enough. You need you a nice little intermediate shaft, but a long one with a flex head, it's a plus when you're working in just that little angle, man does that help. Same with a 1/2 inch drive. If you can get up a nice set up with a flex, perfect, because you're going to have a breaker bar. Everybody needs a breaker bar, 1/2 inch drive. You can end up putting a little bar on the end if you have a metal fence post, anything, you can put it on the end there and really get some leverage to break things free. So you don't have to go and buy big expensive ratchet heads. Just get a breaker bar. You should be all set.

Some people say you don't need any of these unless you're working on European cars. Well, after 34 years of working on cars, I'm going to tell you, all cars. All cars have Torx bit heads in them. So, it's no longer just a specialty tool. They come in socket styles, so the bit is tapped inside there. That's in there really good. It doesn't come out. And you can put your extension or ratchet on there. Or they come in just the old style just like your Allen heads used to. And these are Torx bits. This set is really nice because it's handy. You can get into little angles, 90 degree turn there. But they also have the hole on them so you can use them for both ways. A lot of body pieces, bolt heads have the tamper resistant head on them. These are called inverted Torx. There's a lot of bolts out there that have inverted external head on them. And these are the sockets of them.

If you have a car and you're just going to work on your car alone, check it out, see if you need Torx. If you do, you can get a nice little small set. If you don't need the inverted, don't spend the money. Another good inexpensive way to have a toolbox with a Torx head in it or Phillips head or flatheads, if you have a little electric gun from your hardware store that you do home repair with, you'd also do interior car work with. Just pick up an inexpensive set like this, comes in a nice case, so you don't have to worry about losing all the pieces. And comes with a little attachment so you could put a 1/4 inch socket on there. It's got your Torx bits, Phillips, flatheads. It's a really nice little case. So that way you don't have to go get the sockets if you don't need them.

Everyone needs a set of wrenches. Metric is more common nowadays than your standard SAE. And as you can tell, these is a regular style wrench with the open-end box in 12 point. This is what a six point looks like. There's all different types. I personally say, if you're going to just have a basic set, always get the 12 point because then you can make more adjustments on the actual head of the bolt or nut.

Then this style is a standard set but it does have a ratchet head on the end. These do come in standard or metric. I just wanted to show you in the standard size. And always start, if you can, seven millimeter, and go at least up to 21. 21 to 24 nowadays is really common in vehicles.

Ear protection, you get options of types. You got the earmuff types that's reusable. And you get the foam ones that are disposable. You can throw them out. Flashlights, really bright ones to ones that just are little small ones you keep in your glove box. Towels and these absorbent pads, in case you do have a leak, you don't want any of those chemicals going into the ground. And two types of masks. You've got a regular just dust mask. And then this is a ventilator. This is if you're spraying paint. You can use this on furniture. You can use it when you're doing your deck. It's really important to keep the chemicals out from your lungs. And then, obviously, safety glasses. That's pretty good. Everybody should have them. And just a pair of rubber gloves.

So here's some other stuff to consider. A screwdriver set might have a little bit extra in it, but you have your basic flathead and Phillips. And there's a couple of Torx and screwdrivers in there, which is nice to have too, other than the socket style. And then we have trim tools that if you're going to do interior work, like a window regulator, take a door panel off. They have them in all different type of styles. And this is actually to take a window crank off. I know you probably don't know what that is, but the old school. Box of typical fuses, the average car will take, so I recommend you check in your manual to see what style fuse your car takes, because there is different styles nowadays. Some people might like a bulb puller, because especially when you're pulling a small bulb like this, you can't get your fingers in there, get your dome light bulb. This can get pretty hot. You use these little rubber coated scissors. Pull that right down, and you can bring that. See, the number is on the metal piece to get the size that you need.

Real basic stuff. You get a little pair of cutters here, basic pliers, locking pliers. I recommend getting the medium size because you don't want them to small, and you really don't want them too big there. And a pair of mid-size adjustable pliers. Pair of long needle-nose pliers. A pair of cutters. And nice adjustable wrench. Once again, these are things that you can have in your toolbox at your house to do basic repairs on your car and also in your house.

So let's say you're going to do a brake job. I just want to show you some of the basic tools that I think that you'd need to do a brake job. They call this tool an impact driver. And this is for the rotors that you find in a lot of passenger cars. And they come with a little mounting bolt that screws into the hub. So they're on there pretty tight. You put this on there, you torque it, and you hit it with a hammer. The spring loaded in here, it turns, and releases it. You can try it with a regular screwdriver and just give it your all. Hopefully you break it free. If you don't, this is something you might need. Sometimes you have some spring loaded, what we call, twist calibers. They don't just push back. They're spring loaded, usually in the rear part of some cars.

So this little doohickey. It's a nice cheap tool. It comes with all the different types of slots for that spring loaded caliber. So you wind it up with your caliper piston, put your 3/8 extension on there with your ratchet, and twist and push in at the same time. And this is going to turn that piston right into the caliper. This is for brake drums. You get your tool for the springs, release adjustment for the brake adjuster.

When I take calipers off, I like to hang them out of the way so you don't do any damage to them. You can use a basic bungee cord, or you can use what we call a caliper hook. Basic brushes. This is good to get rid of any buildup you have, because you want to clean your caliber surface where the pads ride.

Sanding block. This is a carpenter's sanding block. I use this all the time. Now, you want to push back a regular piston in a caliper, this is what I use, welder's pliers. You can adjust them to the size and just squeeze it back slowly. And it pushes that hydraulic piston right back. They have the actual tool for that, and that's what this is. This ratchet pushes that piston right back into the bracket. With the brake pads, you can use it quickly.

Oh, we have our large C clamp. This is another good one. Open it up, make it fit into that caliper. Put this piece inside the piston cup and squeeze it on in. Brake parts cleaner and a silicone paste. What you want to put on any sliding mechanism in a caliper. Here, I have some tools I want to go over with you for deeper into brake jobs. So, if you had to make your own brake line, you got to check with your local state too for regulations. They might be against you even cutting your brake line in making brake lines. There's certain rules. But if you can, here is a brake flare kit. It has basically single flare in it and double flare. It is not for bubble, that's a whole different set. But this is a good beginner kit if you have to make brake lines.

This is a flex hose pinch. So you got some rubber lines, you want brake fluid not to drop all over the ground. Here's the bending tool. It gives you the different sizes of the type of the width of the lines. And you can bend them, make a little 90 degree turn, 40 degree. Here's seal pullers in case you have axle seals you have to pull out. Once you take your brakes off, there's a seal puller. And these are seal installers. Comes all different sizes. You can also use these for bearings so you don't do damage to the bearing. The kit just basically goes on there, has two sides to it, seats for the race. And then flare nut wrenches. These are what you want to use on brake lines because you don't want to round them off. And that's why they have the flare. They call them flare nut wrenches.

I just want to talk about hammers and pry bars and punches. This is what you need for a basic set at your house. You always got to have good mechanic cameras. A claw hammer is good for doing stuff around the house, but you need a dead blow hammer, which is plastic so it doesn't do any damage to anything if you need to take something off. Then you have a nice three pound hammer, nice little small hammer, and then your little brass hammer. This isn't a full blown necessity, but sometimes they come in the kit. If you can have one, it'd be great.

Steel punches, got a little chisel, and then brass punches. You need this. This is really a necessity. If you're doing races on rotors, use steal, you make a line on the side of that rotor, you've done damage, you're done. Brass is the way to go. And then pry bars. A basic set.

We have a single prong test light. Hook this to negative, check for power. You can also reverse it, hook it to the power, and check for grounds. It's real basic. It's a good thing to have at the house. Electrical tape. Crimper tool. This has also, a lot of people don't know what these little slots are, and those are little bolt cutters. They actually have threads in them, so if you have a long bolt, say 60 mil, and you need to make it 20, you screw it in there, snap. Who knew? And then a code reader. Everybody has these nowadays. If you're going to spend over $50 and spend under 100, try to do your research and get the best one you can that does the most for a code reader.

Let's talk oil changes. Catch bucket, funnel. These are just basic stuff you need. Some of the new cars, if you have noticed, the plastic housing, it's not a metal filter. That's what these are for. This is a style that grabs onto that plastic cover, and so you have to reuse it, clean it, and it won't damage it. If you use one of these on those plastic covers, you have a chance of cracking it. So, specialty tools, check your car, see your manual, find out what you need. And the old universal strap wrench, if you have a nice big truck that has a nice diesel engine, there you go right there.

So, last thing I want to talk about is the obvious, a jack and jack stands. Just try to get yourself a good set, something that's sturdy. Your life is in your hands. Don't forget the torque wrench, because if you take your wheels off, you do want to torque them to the manufacturer's spec, because that is for safety for your family, your loved ones, and the people on the road.

Hopefully this video helped you out with some of the tools you might need for doing some basics on your car. Maybe I didn't show you enough of the tools, maybe I showed you too much. And if you need any tools, you can always check out 1AAuto.com

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