Four ringed exhaust, criminal bad taste or way cool man?

[quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk (Phil Payne)]

In message <199708061100.MAA00410@mailserver.nhm.ac.uk> gnt@nhm.ac.uk (Graham Thackrah) writes:

> Also (if anyone is not seeing red after that last comment!), having just
> asked Mr. Haseltine the same thing, I will need to start buying my own set
> of tools soon, as the virtually fully equipped garage facilities I enjoy at
> the moment will disappear in September. I was wondering if anyone can
> recommend a reasonably priced socket set / spanner set available in the UK?

I've spent a fortune on tools over the years, and probably carry a more
complete set than any other driver I know.  Snap-On are neither the
best (I have a Snap-On socket that won't go onto one of my Snap-On
extensions) nor the most expensive.  I recently paid GBP34 for a single
Stahlwille flare nut socket.  (That's $58 for ONE SOCKET!)

I'm not sure that a "set", as put together by a retailer, is
necessarily a good idea.  Some sockets/spanners will never be used
because there just aren't any nuts that size on any Audis.  I've toyed
with the idea of putting a web page together and asking all those list
members who wrench regularly to submit tools as used, so that we can
put together a comprehensive list of what really _is_ needed to deal
with one of these beasts.

It also depends on what sort of work you plan to undertake yourself.
You won't need a Hazet 2655-2, for instance, unless you start
resetting metering head plungers.  But you'll certainly need feeler
gauges for plug gapping - and you won't get those in a socket set.

There are some good posts in the archives on the subject - we
discussed it earlier this year.

--
 Phil Payne
 Committee Member, UK Audi [ur-]quattro Owners Club