Buy this, Not that!

[NoQuarter]

Post things you like and things you have tried and don't recommend!

We need some rules!

Do Not:

• Do not discuss BMW vendor products. No turbos, no inlets, no outlets, PCVs, valve covers, intakes... you get the idea
• Vendors do not post anything about their products or business
• Do not post your experiences or recommendations with Vendors good or bad

Do:

• Post anything you have purchased, used, and want to recommend and why
• Post anything you have purchased that you recommend against
• Tag the product with some helpful name so we can find it

Suggested Items to discuss:

• Tools
• Garage accessories
• Organization/Storage
• Lighting
• Car Care

 

[NoQuarter]

These LED bulbs are great. I have them in my garage and my storage shed. My buddy bought them for his dimly lit building and they made a huge difference.

I picked this style over others due to the design of the bulb. This bulb has light output to the side and some to the top which make a big difference in lighting up the ceiling and, in my case, my garage has a little 8' nook off to the side and this bulb sends light right into instead of straight down to the floor.

Buy it at ROCKLER

 

[fmorelli]

I don't even know where to start on this thread ... cripes. I guess I'll start at the tool box. I had a bunch of Stahlwille euro style boxes (narrow) and decided it was time to go American style. I grew up working in shops with the usual massive Snap-On and Matco boxes, but dropping ten large was not in my plans. So after a crap ton of reading and reviews, I came to the conclusion that US General Pro from Harbor Freight was the right choice. It took an extra long while as HF is generally suspect. I bought last fall. The reviews were right, these are great boxes.

I snagged the 72" bottom box, 56" top box, and a 16" side box. I added a magnetic paper towel holder, and a magnetic glove holder. With sale stuff I think I spent about $1,600 total, and the HF guys forklifted the pallets in the bed of the powerstroke. Unloading was a bit of fun.

Finish quality is good, fit, and finish. The roller bearing drawers are great. The drawer label system has end caps which pop out in the version I have, but the new ones in the store have an updated design. The drawers are all positive latch, which is a hidden. I highly recommend taking the time to buy tool control items so the drawers are organized - helps move quickly, and know when stuff is missing.

If you go look at HF toolboxes, make sure you look at US General Pro - they are the only ones of this quality. They also have a tool cart which is well priced, and a few smaller configuration boxes if you are not looking to go super sized.

Filippo

 

[N54gasm]

Ive had that setup for about 8 years now, it is indeed a great tool box. Drawers still open/close smoothly, and holds up great.

 

[Torgus]

What animal do you feed in your garage?

 

[fmorelli]

What animal do you feed in your garage?

Cat. I live out in the country. Outdoor cat is necessary to keep the mice at bay.

Filippo

 

[fmorelli]

Gloves are another one of those garage things. I use them both in the garage and the guitar shop. But it turns out I need different characteristics in the two. Subsequently I've tried a lot of different gloves. For the garage, hands down the best gloves I've found are KBS Coatings Orange Lightning Nitrile Gloves. These things really hang in the garage, and yet have plenty of feel; you won't take them off to handle delicate situations. I rarely have them tear, unless there is a puncture that will likely also go through my skin. They last so long that I often leave a used set by the box. While not cheap, their longevity makes them cost effective.

Filippo

 

[Torgus]

Gloves are another one of those garage things. I use them both in the garage and the guitar shop. But it turns out I need different characteristics in the two. Subsequently I've tried a lot of different gloves. For the garage, hands down the best gloves I've found are KBS Coatings Orange Lightning Nitrile Gloves. These things really hang in the garage, and yet have plenty of feel; you won't take them off to handle delicate situations. I rarely have them tear, unless there is a puncture that will likely also go through my skin. They last so long that I often leave a used set by the box. While not cheap, their longevity makes them cost effective.

Filippo

View attachment 14637

I am always down to try a new type. What size do you use? Any recommendations? I'm 6'1 200 with decent sized hands, I worry the XL might be too large.

 

[NoQuarter]

I am always down to try a new type. What size do you use? Any recommendations? I'm 6'1 200 with decent sized hands, I worry the XL might be too large.

I have no idea about those, but I am pretty small and I go for the large in just about every nitrile type glove. I also like the fabric type gloves that have nitrile on the palm side (also large)

 

[fmorelli]

I am always down to try a new type. What size do you use? Any recommendations? I'm 6'1 200 with decent sized hands, I worry the XL might be too large.

Go for the XL, I use them, not too big.

Filippo

 

[langsbr]

Gloves are another one of those garage things. I use them both in the garage and the guitar shop. But it turns out I need different characteristics in the two. Subsequently I've tried a lot of different gloves. For the garage, hands down the best gloves I've found are KBS Coatings Orange Lightning Nitrile Gloves. These things really hang in the garage, and yet have plenty of feel; you won't take them off to handle delicate situations. I rarely have them tear, unless there is a puncture that will likely also go through my skin. They last so long that I often leave a used set by the box. While not cheap, their longevity makes them cost effective.

Filippo

View attachment 14637

I'll give these a try. I usually get the Grease Monkey nitrile gloves from Home Depot. They work well enough, but do tear sometimes. If I know I'll be doing something that would likely tear them, I opt for the Hardy 9mil ones that Harbor Freight carries. They are twice as expensive, but I've never had them tear. They have a long sleeve too.

 

[LessIsMore]

Just bought these 48" shop lights for the garage. Light weight, LED, tough ( I accidentally dropped one of them off a ladder 3 times and it still works), really bright, and can have up to 3 in parallel.



https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06VVL8DSS?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

 

[langsbr]

While it's not a tool box per se, hands down my favorite purchase has been my garage cabinets. They are NewAge Bold series. I think they are 16 gauge steel, and the Pro line is 14 gauge. I always thought metal garage cabinets were overrated or overpriced, but Overstock had a deal on these last year so I jumped on them. I LOVE them. Everything is organized and in it's place, I have a good work surface when I need it.

I have all of them except the middle lower cabinets mounted to the wall. This picture was when I just installed them, but I have locking casters on the middle cabinet which has all my tools. I can unlock it and roll the tool cabinet where ever I need it. When done, it slides in out of the way and looks like it's mounted. Having them mounted to the wall makes sweeping under them super easy as well. I have enough room on the end to slide my Harbor freight floor jack into the corner and out of the way too!

A few days after I installed these I happened by Costco and they were closing out a set that was smaller, but DIRT cheap. I was disappointed because it was the bamboo work surface instead of the stainless, but I figured for the price, I couldn't pass them up.

When they arrived, one of the base cabinets and upper cabinets were damaged.

Not terribly, but still not 100%. I called NewAge,and they said they could ship me a new set, or refund 50%. I'll suffer with the dents! I used a 2x4 and rubber mallet and it's not noticeable once installed!

Low and behold, when I opened the work surface, it ended up being stainless steel! It matched perfectly. This became the wife's (mine still really) station and storage for all the car cleaning supplies. She likes to detail, I like to correct paint.

Ignore all the different colored trim. We were still trying to determine which color we wanted to use. The color we put on turned out too green rather than gray.

 

[Torgus]

Go for the XL, I use them, not too big.

Filippo

Ordered.

I'll give these a try. I usually get the Grease Monkey nitrile gloves from Home Depot. They work well enough, but do tear sometimes. If I know I'll be doing something that would likely tear them, I opt for the Hardy 9mil ones that Harbor Freight carries. They are twice as expensive, but I've never had them tear. They have a long sleeve too.

Same. They don't fail enough for me to complain but always interested in trying new ones.

Ignore all the different colored trim. We were still trying to determine which color we wanted to use. The color we put on turned out too green rather than gray.

I vote light grey and a sealed garage floor. Make it all classy.

 

[langsbr]

I vote light grey and a sealed garage floor. Make it all classy.

We went with the darker color that's longest strip on the door frame in the picture. It looks pretty good with the light gray walls. The floor has the gray epoxy with paint chips in it, but you can see some of the hot tire pickup. I'll have to get a diamabrush to pull it all up before I do it again. I really want to do a metallic epoxy but they seem to scratch pretty bad.

 

[fmorelli]

Don't worry. When I'm done posting all the stuff I have to post on this thread, you all will be collectively broke.

Filippo

 

[Torgus]

Don't worry. When I'm done posting all the stuff I have to post on this thread, you all will be collectively broke.

Filippo

Don't tease me. I'm already jelly.

 

[fmorelli]

When they arrived, one of the base cabinets and upper cabinets were damaged.

When I was doing the tool biz ... cabinets were a shipping nightmare. Good luck getting them shipped without damage. It was a nightmare, especially since I was looking at selling complete setups (German cabinet and tools). I would have done the same as you - take the money and run. So long as the cabinets do what you need them to do ...

Filippo

 

[langsbr]

When I was doing the tool biz ... cabinets were a shipping nightmare. Good luck getting them shipped without damage. It was a nightmare, especially since I was looking at selling complete setups (German cabinet and tools). I would have done the same as you - take the money and run. So long as the cabinets do what you need them to do ...

Filippo

What's funny - the big set of cabinets arrived in perfect shape. Not a scratch or dent at all. It was the small set that was messed up. Not a bad set of cabinets for 175 bucks!

 

[fmorelli]

I have a bunch of plastic panel tools. You know the stuff one uses to pull off door panels and such. Well one of the things I like about working with other people is seeing how they do what they do. Well @barry@3DM has this Snap-On trim pad tool that he kept handing me when I had to pull various things apart. Damn him. Once I got to using it I told him, cripes this is really useful. He said it is one of his most used tools.

Sonufabi... so now I get hooked using this thing. So I bought a Taiwanese set of 5 made by Neiko. They have been great, sold in tool control, and store nicely in one's tool box. Handles are rubber-covered for good grip. Nothing cheap about these. They are great for prying the variety of plastic crap that holds BMW's together these days, without screwing stuff up. Before I'd use the plastic tools, which some times work well and other times flex too much. A second option is using a flat-blade screwdriver, which is great until the screwdriver head slides off the plastic post and mars something close by.

Filippo