The Art of Garage Maintenance: A Guide to Essential Tools and Gadgets

As any car enthusiast knows, having the right tools and gadgets can make all the difference when it comes to maintaining and repairing their vehicle. In this article, we'll take a closer look at some of the most essential items that every garage should have, from impact wrenches and torque sticks to electric air compressors and formal driving shoes.

One of the most indispensable tools in any garage is an impact wrench. This powerful tool can quickly loosen even the toughest bolts and nuts, making it a must-have for anyone who spends time working on their car. I personally use the DeWalt 20V Max Cordless Impact Driver, which has proven to be incredibly versatile and reliable. While it may not be as heavy-duty as some of the more expensive options on the market, its compact size and cordless design make it perfect for smaller projects.

Another essential item that can often go underutilized is a torque stick. These clever devices can provide extra grip and leverage when trying to loosen stubborn bolts or nuts, making them an absolute must-have for any serious DIY enthusiast. I use my DeWalt 20V Max Cordless Impact Driver in conjunction with these sticks to make quick work of even the toughest jobs.

But what about those who prefer not to get their hands dirty? Formal driving shoes can be a thoughtful and practical gift for anyone who spends time behind the wheel. These stylish shoes provide excellent arch support and stability, making them perfect for long road trips or daily commutes. And while they may seem like an unconventional tool, formal driving shoes can actually make all the difference when it comes to reducing fatigue and discomfort.

Of course, no garage is complete without a good jack. This essential tool allows you to lift your car off the ground, providing clearance and accessibility for repairs and maintenance. I used to rely on OTC low-profile aluminum race jacks, which were reliable but often overpriced. But once I discovered Ben Pack's quick jacks, I knew I had found a game-changer. These portable and versatile tools can be set up in minutes, providing excellent clearance and support for even the most complex repairs.

For those who enjoy working on their cars regularly, the next step up from a basic jack is a more advanced lifting solution. Ben Pack's Grand Prix lifts are designed specifically for residential garages with limited ceiling height, providing ample clearance and support for even the most substantial vehicles. These lifts are affordable enough to fit into most budgets but still offer impressive performance and reliability.

Finally, no garage is complete without an appreciation for driving in style. For those who enjoy taking their cars out on the road, a gift certificate to a reputable racing school like Bondurant or Skip Barber can be a thrilling experience. These expert instructors will teach you everything from advanced driving techniques to high-performance handling and braking. And while these courses can be pricey, they offer an unparalleled opportunity to learn new skills and push your car (and yourself) to the limit.

Indoor go-karting tracks or outdoor racing experiences can also provide a unique and exhilarating way to spend time with friends and fellow car enthusiasts. Gift certificates to reputable tracks like Atlanta's Porsche Driving Experience can be purchased for those who appreciate the thrill of driving at high speeds. And as an added bonus, these experiences often come with valuable lessons and insights on how to improve your driving skills.

In conclusion, having the right tools and gadgets in the garage is essential for any serious car enthusiast. From impact wrenches and torque sticks to electric air compressors and formal driving shoes, there's something on this list that's sure to suit every need and budget. Whether you're a seasoned mechanic or just starting out, these items are guaranteed to make your life easier and more enjoyable behind the wheel.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome to a video that is a guy designed to help you buy gifts for those people around you that are into working on their own cars or trucks and probably not for somebody that does this as a career job but a hobbyist or enthusiast and if you're also one of those buyers that asks all the time well what do you want what do you like what do you want and you get no answer from them this might kickstart your process the one thing I'm gonna promise you here is none of the items in this video are sponsored I'm not shilling anything for anybody and there's no coupon codes any of that crap this is just to help and take this information do what you want what they buy it from wherever you want but hopefully it helps let's get started the first thing I can recommend being in most enthusiast garages is torque wrenches and typically you want to a half inch drive which is this big boy right here this is what you would use for torquing lug nuts or bigger jobs and then you have a 3/8 inch drive which you would use for under the hood or smaller suspension bolts but the big thing with these is if you're not using it all the time I like these click type torque wrenches and I use one buy CDI which is available on Amazon and it's a Division a snap-on but it's way less expensive but I've had this for five years that's super reliable it's still calibrates the only thing you have to do when you're done is screw it back down to zero put it in the case and it should last forever I've gone away from using digital torque wrenches in just an enthusiast setting where I don't use it all the time because I've had some where I go in the toolbox and the battery's dead and you know I haven't used it in two years and now I can't use it at all until I find a new battery or the circuit boards gone bad this is just kind of tried and true so that's why I recommend it the next thing I recommend is a tire pressure gauge and I know a lot of new cars have tire pressure monitoring but sometimes it's just nice to have one in the car and if you're an enthusiast you know somebody that is more into doing car stuff I like something like this from Long Acre racing and you can get pretty much any type but the ones that come with a case are really nice because you're not gonna drop it you know like this one has a huge face on it so like if you're older you can read this without your glasses there's no you know digital stuff here again where you need batteries you have to worry about if it's gonna work you just put it back in the case as long as you take care of it it's it's gonna last and you can get something like this I got on like Amazon for 30 to 50 bucks basically anything under 20 bucks is gonna be cheap and if you're just looking for something generic to keep in your car all the time while you can just get a cheap one too now the next item might be a little weird if you wrap this up and give it to somebody as a solo gift they might assume you're trying to get them to do a colonoscopy on you but know when you're working on cars you want to have hand protection at least a little bit and latex or nitrile gloves really help now turbo ski who works on cars all day has switched to Kirkland brand and this is from Costco of all places and he says he's been through all these expensive gloves and these tend to work the best and they're more affordable they stretch really well they are exposed to a ton of chemicals he said he can last these last better than most of the gloves that are designed for working on cars so think about that now this next recommendation also comes from Scott when you're working on cars all day in a dark area you want to be able to see and if you can't you get pissed off quick so a clamp light or a magnetic light that is rechargeable which you can just stick it somewhere turn it on and look at that instant gratification and the big thing is make sure it's rechargeable obviously because you're gonna be using it a lot and that way you can put it in a stand or whatever and it's ready to go now the next two items I've used more than pretty much anything I bought and that is electric impact guns which looks like this it kind of looks like a drill but this is designed for kind of heavy duty work around the shop and you combine this with a set of sockets for like wheel lugs and torque sticks and I use this so often to take wheels and tires off it makes small work of it and I use the DeWalt one because it's really small form-factor it doesn't make a ton of power but that's what you get something like this Milwaukee m18 fuel which is really heavy but it'll it'll bust anything loose it's as close to an air air gun as you can get but this is a really good idea again half-inch impact electric impact and there's a ton of them out there but I like to Walt in Milwaukee the next one might seem strange but it is been one of the most handy tools I've had and this is an electric or a plug-in air compressor and what is that well you get these little air hoses and you can fill up your little blow-up dolls your lawn ornaments you can fill up your bike tires your regular tires and this means you don't have to go to a gas station most of us don't have a big-ass air compressor in the garage and this is just poured and portable enough to put in the cabinet or a shelf when you're done with it and then just take it out when you need it now here's an interesting one if you know somebody that doesn't like to turn wrenches or get their hands dirty what about formal wear and I'm talking about driving shoes that's right people actually buy these and it's a nice addition if you know somebody who's a bro that likes to drive around in flip-flops and their Jeep or in their Ferrari consider this it turns your regular driving into something a little bit more exotic and truthfully there's some benefits of this if you're on a road trip there's huge heel support so you're you know not getting a sore heel and some other things about this if you know somebody that likes to drive but again another idea now the next one can be cheap or expensive depending on how you look at it or your budget if somebody you know works in a garage one of the most important things to have is a really good jack and before I had my own lift from Ben Pack I used these OTC low-profile aluminum race jacks and typically they're called low-profile aluminum race jacks and you can get this pretty much under any car and I did almost all my work off of two of these now the thing is you're better Jack's like this are gonna be over $150 typically like this OTC was well over 200 now you can get cheaper ones aluminum ones from like Harbor Freight you just need to know you know you probably don't want to use those for critical work if you're doing a lot of stuff but if somebody's just in the garage once in a while going cheaper might be better but just know you kind of get what you pay for the next step up from there is Ben pack which you know the manufacturer of this lift makes something called a quick jack and they're pretty portable you kind of lay them out set them up and you can put on both sides of the car and it raises it up about this much which gives you a lot more clearance than like a typical floor jack and this is for something that somebody's doing a lot more work on their car and then you can put it away when you're done and then Ben pack just made something recently called the Grand Prix lifts and these are designed for like a regular residential garage so if you have a residential garage that you don't have tall ceilings and you can't fit this monstrosity in there it will go up like five feet and still get your car up in the air enough where you can work on it and they're affordable enough where you could potentially you know still get it in somebody's garage but we're talking about thousands of dollars at that point again once you start getting outside of this so you know something to think about if you have a bigger budget last but not least give the gift of driving and even if somebody you know thinks they're great driver chances are they'll learn something from one of these the Bondurant racing school Skip Barber or the Porsche driving experience in Atlanta now of course these are more expensive and somebody would have to travel so you can also look for local indoor go karting tracks or outdoor get a gift card from one of these and there's so much somebody can can learn from go karting and then of course that can be fun too if you're going with other people so hopefully these items help if you have any ideas of your own post them below and we'll see in the next video this is Savage geese I hate them I see them I'm gonna show you how to get back at him on Yelp and all that other stuff oh yeah yeah yeah yeah right chair yeah yeah yeah look at all the motors Onderon racing Skip Barber or the Porsche driving experience in Atlanta now annoyingwelcome to a video that is a guy designed to help you buy gifts for those people around you that are into working on their own cars or trucks and probably not for somebody that does this as a career job but a hobbyist or enthusiast and if you're also one of those buyers that asks all the time well what do you want what do you like what do you want and you get no answer from them this might kickstart your process the one thing I'm gonna promise you here is none of the items in this video are sponsored I'm not shilling anything for anybody and there's no coupon codes any of that crap this is just to help and take this information do what you want what they buy it from wherever you want but hopefully it helps let's get started the first thing I can recommend being in most enthusiast garages is torque wrenches and typically you want to a half inch drive which is this big boy right here this is what you would use for torquing lug nuts or bigger jobs and then you have a 3/8 inch drive which you would use for under the hood or smaller suspension bolts but the big thing with these is if you're not using it all the time I like these click type torque wrenches and I use one buy CDI which is available on Amazon and it's a Division a snap-on but it's way less expensive but I've had this for five years that's super reliable it's still calibrates the only thing you have to do when you're done is screw it back down to zero put it in the case and it should last forever I've gone away from using digital torque wrenches in just an enthusiast setting where I don't use it all the time because I've had some where I go in the toolbox and the battery's dead and you know I haven't used it in two years and now I can't use it at all until I find a new battery or the circuit boards gone bad this is just kind of tried and true so that's why I recommend it the next thing I recommend is a tire pressure gauge and I know a lot of new cars have tire pressure monitoring but sometimes it's just nice to have one in the car and if you're an enthusiast you know somebody that is more into doing car stuff I like something like this from Long Acre racing and you can get pretty much any type but the ones that come with a case are really nice because you're not gonna drop it you know like this one has a huge face on it so like if you're older you can read this without your glasses there's no you know digital stuff here again where you need batteries you have to worry about if it's gonna work you just put it back in the case as long as you take care of it it's it's gonna last and you can get something like this I got on like Amazon for 30 to 50 bucks basically anything under 20 bucks is gonna be cheap and if you're just looking for something generic to keep in your car all the time while you can just get a cheap one too now the next item might be a little weird if you wrap this up and give it to somebody as a solo gift they might assume you're trying to get them to do a colonoscopy on you but know when you're working on cars you want to have hand protection at least a little bit and latex or nitrile gloves really help now turbo ski who works on cars all day has switched to Kirkland brand and this is from Costco of all places and he says he's been through all these expensive gloves and these tend to work the best and they're more affordable they stretch really well they are exposed to a ton of chemicals he said he can last these last better than most of the gloves that are designed for working on cars so think about that now this next recommendation also comes from Scott when you're working on cars all day in a dark area you want to be able to see and if you can't you get pissed off quick so a clamp light or a magnetic light that is rechargeable which you can just stick it somewhere turn it on and look at that instant gratification and the big thing is make sure it's rechargeable obviously because you're gonna be using it a lot and that way you can put it in a stand or whatever and it's ready to go now the next two items I've used more than pretty much anything I bought and that is electric impact guns which looks like this it kind of looks like a drill but this is designed for kind of heavy duty work around the shop and you combine this with a set of sockets for like wheel lugs and torque sticks and I use this so often to take wheels and tires off it makes small work of it and I use the DeWalt one because it's really small form-factor it doesn't make a ton of power but that's what you get something like this Milwaukee m18 fuel which is really heavy but it'll it'll bust anything loose it's as close to an air air gun as you can get but this is a really good idea again half-inch impact electric impact and there's a ton of them out there but I like to Walt in Milwaukee the next one might seem strange but it is been one of the most handy tools I've had and this is an electric or a plug-in air compressor and what is that well you get these little air hoses and you can fill up your little blow-up dolls your lawn ornaments you can fill up your bike tires your regular tires and this means you don't have to go to a gas station most of us don't have a big-ass air compressor in the garage and this is just poured and portable enough to put in the cabinet or a shelf when you're done with it and then just take it out when you need it now here's an interesting one if you know somebody that doesn't like to turn wrenches or get their hands dirty what about formal wear and I'm talking about driving shoes that's right people actually buy these and it's a nice addition if you know somebody who's a bro that likes to drive around in flip-flops and their Jeep or in their Ferrari consider this it turns your regular driving into something a little bit more exotic and truthfully there's some benefits of this if you're on a road trip there's huge heel support so you're you know not getting a sore heel and some other things about this if you know somebody that likes to drive but again another idea now the next one can be cheap or expensive depending on how you look at it or your budget if somebody you know works in a garage one of the most important things to have is a really good jack and before I had my own lift from Ben Pack I used these OTC low-profile aluminum race jacks and typically they're called low-profile aluminum race jacks and you can get this pretty much under any car and I did almost all my work off of two of these now the thing is you're better Jack's like this are gonna be over $150 typically like this OTC was well over 200 now you can get cheaper ones aluminum ones from like Harbor Freight you just need to know you know you probably don't want to use those for critical work if you're doing a lot of stuff but if somebody's just in the garage once in a while going cheaper might be better but just know you kind of get what you pay for the next step up from there is Ben pack which you know the manufacturer of this lift makes something called a quick jack and they're pretty portable you kind of lay them out set them up and you can put on both sides of the car and it raises it up about this much which gives you a lot more clearance than like a typical floor jack and this is for something that somebody's doing a lot more work on their car and then you can put it away when you're done and then Ben pack just made something recently called the Grand Prix lifts and these are designed for like a regular residential garage so if you have a residential garage that you don't have tall ceilings and you can't fit this monstrosity in there it will go up like five feet and still get your car up in the air enough where you can work on it and they're affordable enough where you could potentially you know still get it in somebody's garage but we're talking about thousands of dollars at that point again once you start getting outside of this so you know something to think about if you have a bigger budget last but not least give the gift of driving and even if somebody you know thinks they're great driver chances are they'll learn something from one of these the Bondurant racing school Skip Barber or the Porsche driving experience in Atlanta now of course these are more expensive and somebody would have to travel so you can also look for local indoor go karting tracks or outdoor get a gift card from one of these and there's so much somebody can can learn from go karting and then of course that can be fun too if you're going with other people so hopefully these items help if you have any ideas of your own post them below and we'll see in the next video this is Savage geese I hate them I see them I'm gonna show you how to get back at him on Yelp and all that other stuff oh yeah yeah yeah yeah right chair yeah yeah yeah look at all the motors Onderon racing Skip Barber or the Porsche driving experience in Atlanta now annoying\n"