PSA: Learn to fix things BEFORE they break.

[shortylickens]

Learn how to remove your battery before it dies.
Make sure you got all the sockets and shit you need to do the job. My neighbors Explorer has a mix of metric and imperial nuts & bolts. He didnt know that. He didnt have the right sizes of either to even get started on his engine.

Get the things you need. You may even have to put together a special repair kit just for the car. Find a box or sturdy bag and buy everything you need, keep it in the trunk.

http://www.amazon.com/Rothco-G-I-Bra.../dp/B000BFJE8S

http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-97-126.../dp/B000NIKA4U
(assuming you know your car is only metric)

Get a decent light too, preferably with a magnetic base.
And some Polish nose pickers.

Pliers, large and small.
Adjustable wrench, large and small.
Driver set, with an extension or two.
Zip ties, fuses, gloves, yeah, I dont think most people have what they really need.

Also you can get really small jump starters nowadays. I just got one for my mom. Even with everything packed in the box its still tiny.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D42AFS8/

 

[Zenmervolt]

Learn how to remove your battery before it dies.
Make sure you got all the sockets and shit you need to do the job. My neighbors Explorer has a mix of metric and imperial nuts & bolts. He didnt know that. He didnt have the right sizes of either to even get started on his engine.

Get the things you need. You may even have to put together a special repair kit just for the car. Find a box or sturdy bag and buy everything you need, keep it in the trunk.

http://www.amazon.com/Rothco-G-I-Bra.../dp/B000BFJE8S

http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-97-126.../dp/B000NIKA4U
(assuming you know your car is only metric)

Get a decent light too, preferably with a magnetic base.
And some Polish nose pickers.

Pliers, large and small.
Adjustable wrench, large and small.
Driver set, with an extension or two.
Zip ties, fuses, gloves, yeah, I dont think most people have what they really need.

Also you can get really small jump starters nowadays. I just got one for my mom. Even with everything packed in the box its still tiny.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D42AFS8/

Not sure I'd go to the extra expense of buying impact sockets unless I was using air tools (at which point I'd be someone who already had a good amount of tools).

And adjustable wrenches are the devil. They're only good for working on bolts that don't need to be torqued down at all (or for bolts that you want to round off). I've also found vice-grips far more useful than pliers (though a good pair of needle-nose are handy for grabbing things through smaller openings).

As for the jump starter, I just carry a good set of 4-gauge jumper cables. They're cheaper than a jump box and last forever.

ZV

 

[shortylickens]

You need adjustable wrenches in addition to proper wrenches. You'll always find something weird inside the car you cant quite fit with sized wrenches.

And jumper cables are only good if you have a 2nd vehicle. I would not rely solely on them.

 

[BUTCH1]

Not sure I'd go to the extra expense of buying impact sockets unless I was using air tools (at which point I'd be someone who already had a good amount of tools).

And adjustable wrenches are the devil. They're only good for working on bolts that don't need to be torqued down at all (or for bolts that you want to round off). I've also found vice-grips far more useful than pliers (though a good pair of needle-nose are handy for grabbing things through smaller openings).

As for the jump starter, I just carry a good set of 4-gauge jumper cables. They're cheaper than a jump box and last forever.

ZV

Adjustable wrenches are great for working on your home's plumbing, a car? not so much, it's really only gripping 2 sides of a bolt and if your going to do your own automotive work, get a set of box wrenches and a socket set for starters, they don't have to be the really expensive variety to do belt changes, alternator swaps, ect. If you plan on more advanced work (as in removing a head) then a better quality set will be needed, ask me how I know..

 

[Zenmervolt]

You need adjustable wrenches in addition to proper wrenches. You'll always find something weird inside the car you cant quite fit with sized wrenches.

In nearly 20 years, that has yet to happen to me. Not once.

And jumper cables are only good if you have a 2nd vehicle. I would not rely solely on them.

If you're at home, you have access to a bench charger with a boost function. If you're away and in a parking lot, there will be enough people and other cars around to find someone willing to give you a jump. Given that most people can't even be bothered to keep their normal tires properly inflated (let alone the spare) it seems more likely to me that by the time a situation comes up where they would need the jumper pack, the pack will also be dead because they didn't keep it charged.

I don't mean to say that I think jumper packs are bad, they're quite nice. But when a set of 6-gauge cables is $70 cheaper and I've had to jump-start my cars away from home exactly zero times in my life, the extra expense of the jumper pack just doesn't make sense to me. Especially since the battery inside the jumper pack will only be good for 3-5 years before needing to be replaced. For jump-starting in my own garage or driveway, I have a bench charger that'll handle it.

For my own car, I keep one of these in it, along with jumper cables and an emergency air compressor. The tools are crap, but they cover enough to hit anything that could reasonably be fixed on a roadside repair. Basically I didn't want to risk keeping my good tools in the car so I grabbed a cheap set that covered both SAE and Metric in the most common sizes. It's overkill for something to keep in the car but woefully inadequate as shop tools.

ZV

 

[Wingznut]

Not sure I'd go to the extra expense of buying impact sockets unless I was using air tools (at which point I'd be someone who already had a good amount of tools).

Plus, their added bulk makes them less "nimble" to use than regular sockets.

And adjustable wrenches are the devil. They're only good for working on bolts that don't need to be torqued down at all (or for bolts that you want to round off).

All true... But for a small tool kit for the car, they would be a welcome addition.

As for the jump starter, I just carry a good set of 4-gauge jumper cables. They're cheaper than a jump box and last forever.

And that's the problem with a jump box... If you don't use it for quite a while (which most people wouldn't), then it's going to die. I would recommend a AAA membership, or call a tow company for a jump, over a jump box. Unless you are prone to needing service multiple times a year.

That tool kit you linked (plus cables and an air compressor) is pretty much a perfect recommendation for a car, ZV. :thumbsup:

 

[TridenT]

In nearly 20 years, that has yet to happen to me. Not once.

Yeah, I'm going to agree. I never use an adjustable wrench now. I don't actually know when I would use one anymore. I used to use one as a kid because I was lazy and thought that was just the way you had to do things. (We might have not had many wrenches back then...)

I don't think I've touched an adjustable wrench in over five years...

 

[RLGL]

The only place I use an adjustable wrench is to remove drain plugs from boat hulls.