I agree. When we owned our body shop, I bought all Snap-on. It was great. If it broke, you got a new one. Over time the service went down hill. I think the quality went down hill also.
I agree. When we owned our body shop, I bought all Snap-on. It was great. If it broke, you got a new one. Over time the service went down hill. I think the quality went down hill also.
When I was in a shop, I had Craftsman tools. The cost difference was impossible to beat, $20 for a set of Craftsman wrenches, or $350 for shiny Snapon wrenches(for the record, I've used both and they work exactly the same)? And our SnapOn guy was an A-hole. Any specialty tools that I needed I bought from Matco or Mac.
We had our body shop in western Oklahoma. Snap-on kinda cornered the market out there. It made it hard to use anything else. Being in the OKC area, I will never buy Snap-on again.
Been using the same Snap-on tools since 85 and they are used about everyday of the week,havent bought any new ones in years.So many different tool companys these days and alot more to pick from.Craftsman was good in the day but their quality has fallen off like the rest of everything we buy...
I agree. As long as it fits your hand good and has a grip you can work with all day. People use to tell me that a wrench was a wrench. Nothing could be farther from the truth. When you use them all day, its not hard to tell a bad one from a good one.
Redmax, I'm with you man....I've got a couple sets of Craftsman wrenches as well as some metric sockets, and I've never had an issue with them. Now I will admit again, I love Snap-On's ratcheting screwdrivers and their ratchets....hard to beat. We've got a pretty good Matco dealer and he works with us, so I have no problem throwing a lil cash his way when I absolutely need something.
Snap On has a couple of lower priced brands like Bluepoint that can be foreign made. Craftsman is good, but you couldn't get things like spline wrenches from them until recently. Their selection is improving. The school sets often have lower priced tools in them so they can increase the selection for the fixed price.
I have used tools from all the manufacturers mentioned above and most are good. I buy Craftsman hand tools for our flyaway/shop kits due to cost, reliability, and ease of replacement. Snap On's primary problem is their Reps. We have a Rep here that parks his truck on the field, but won't exchange tools unless he sold them. None of our guys buy from him because he is a tool. No pun intended.
I have used tools from all the manufacturers mentioned above and most are good. I buy Craftsman hand tools for our flyaway/shop kits due to cost, reliability, and ease of replacement. Snap On's primary problem is their Reps. We have a Rep here that parks his truck on the field, but won't exchange tools unless he sold them. None of our guys buy from him because he is a tool. No pun intended.
I recently had a run-in with the matco guy in Stillwater. I have spent $1,000s with him in the past, but I now work from my home shop. He doesn't come around there. I went to my buddies shop the other, waiting around specifically because the matco guy was coming. When he got there, he had some sale fliers in his hand. He was trying to hand one to my friend who shook his heads that he didn't want to see it. I said "I'll take a look" and he pushed passed me said "I brought this for him" and shoved the flier in mu friends hand. I said "well, i gues the $200 in my wallet is going to stay there" and walked off. I was so damn pissed. Not sure if that guy could have been more rude.
That's how I bought most of my tools also. I Graduated A&P school in 91.
I will say that there are many instances where a wrench or a socketis not just a wrench or a socket.
When you have tight spots that bulky wrenches or sockets(Craftsman)won't fit in, most likely Snap-On, MAC or Matco tools will be thinner and still be strong enough not to break or split.
I would suggest if it is a high use, smaller tool, to buy Snap-On or the like. With The bigger sockets and wrenches I would suggest Craftsman just because they are cheaper(cost).
