5 Lowe's Tools No DIY Mechanic Should Be Without
Considering Lowe's Home Improvement has over 1,700 locations in the United States, there's a good chance you live relatively close to one of its retail stores. Even if you don't, Lowe's has a vast online catalog of tools and other gear you can order and have shipped directly to your home. This is great news if you're looking to add to your tool collection or even replace it entirely. Lowe's offers a wide range of products that can be used both by professionals and casual DIY enthusiasts. There are must-have Lowe's tools for your garage, where you can keep them ready for emergency repair jobs or personal projects (whether it's building a bird feeder or completely remodeling your kitchen).
A garage is also, naturally, a great place to keep automotive tools. Doing your tune-ups and repairs on your vehicle — or those of your close friends and loved ones — can be a lot more affordable than going to a professional body shop. Plus, if you enjoy the work, it can be fulfilling to get your hands dirty and fix your car yourself. Here are five Lowe's tools that no DIY mechanic should be without, based on strong customer ratings and expert reviews from reputable publications. More information on how these products were selected can be found at the end of this list.
Kobalt 64-piece Mechanic's Tool Set
Kobalt is a brand of mid-to-high-range hand and power tools that are made both by Great Neck and Chevron, which also manufactures Skil power tools. You can find many Kobalt products at Lowe's Home Improvement, including its 64-piece Mechanic's Tool Set of sockets, which is one of the best Kobalt mechanic's tool sets you can buy at Lowe's. Based on over 300 customer ratings and a user score of 4.6 out of five.
Within its included protective hard case, you're getting one ratchet that can do the job of three since it's compatible with three different sizes: 1/4-inch, 3/8-inch, and 1/2-inch. You're also getting a few dozen socket sizes in both metric and SAE standards, which will fit the vast majority of components in whatever vehicle you're working on. The ratchet and sockets are built of chrome vanadium steel and are heat-treated, so you can expect them to be strong, durable, and long-lasting. Plus, they've got a professional grade, high-polish finish that both looks nice and makes the tools easy to clean.
Also included with the set are 22 hex bits, a ¼-inch spinner, an adapter, and three very useful extensions — one for each ratchet size. If you're a DIY mechanic who wants to do literally everything yourself, you may want to opt for an even more comprehensive toolset, such as Kobalt's 100-piece anniversary set. Options such as these have even more sizes, minimizing the chance you don't have the right socket for the job. But, with dozens of pieces, the Kobalt 64-piece Mechanic's Tool Set is still a smart buy that you'll get plenty of use out of, and it can be purchased from Lowe's for $64.98.
Thinkcar Thinkscan Plus S6 OBD2 Scanner
If you're avoiding the body shop and fixing your vehicle yourself, you're first going to need to diagnose the problem. An OBD2 scanner makes that a lot easier, giving you the same valuable information that the once-expensive computers used by professional mechanics do. One solid scanner available from Lowe's is the Thinkcar Thinkscan Plus S6 OBD2 Scanner, which services ABS, SRS, ECM, and TCM systems, among others.
The professional-grade diagnostic scanner is lightweight and doesn't take up much space, sporting a 5-inch screen. It runs on Android and includes both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, sending data straight from your car to your phone. In addition to reading and clearing codes and determining issues that need to be fixed, it can also show you possible causes and generate printable health reports. The device can also conveniently reset auxiliary and maintenance systems and turn off malfunction indicator lights once you've been made aware of them.
An automotive expert who tested the Thinkscan Plus S6 for MakeUseOf found plenty of features to praise in their review, calling it "cleverly designed" and "easy to use." However, a few drawbacks were also cited in the review, including a short cable and the fact that a paid annual subscription is necessary to unlock the device's full array of features. If you're willing to pay for the extra benefits or can live without them, you can find the Thinkcar Thinkscan Plus S6 OBD2 Scanner for $249.98 from Lowe's.
Craftsman 2 Pound Magnetic Pickup Tool
Even professional mechanics drop things from time to time, so don't beat yourself up if you're often letting a loose nut or screw fall into the dark depths of your engine. With a magnetic pickup tool, you can quickly retrieve metal pieces when this happens, saving you minutes (if not longer) of frustration and keeping your workflow smooth and stress-free as you toil under your hood.
Craftsman's 2 pound Magnetic Pickup Tool is a solid choice for such a device that you can find at Lowe's. While it may be arguable if the quality of current Craftsman tools is comparable to past tools made by the brand, a simple magnetic tool only needs to get a few things right in order to be useful. Weighing just 0.2 pounds, it's got a durable build with full polish chrome, as well as a comfortable grip. It's nearly 10 inches long but has a telescoping feature that allows it to extend up to 2 feet, giving you even more accessibility in larger engine blocks. It can attract and hold metal objects weighing up to 2 pounds.
The product has a user score of 4.4 out of five on Lowe's website, though it's based on less than 100 customer reviews. Ideally, a trustworthy customer rating would be averaged from a larger base of customers, but since it's such a simple hand tool, it's not surprising that many owners aren't taking the time to rate it online. For what it's worth, the same exact product also has a good score on Amazon, as well as Craftsman's own website, showing that customers are consistently satisfied with the tool. The Craftsman 2 pound Magnetic Pickup Tool — which has product code CMMT14114 — is available from Lowe's for $7.98.
DeWalt 20V MAX XR Cordless Ratchet Wrench
DeWalt, which has been making tools for over 100 years, is currently owned by Stanley Black & Decker, which has been steadily innovating the battery technology of its cordless tools. So, if you're looking to beef up your collection of mechanic tools with some power tools, you can be relatively confident that DeWalt is a good brand to go with. The DeWalt 20V MAX XR Cordless Ratchet Wrench can not only save you time and manual labor by quickly ratcheting for you, but it could be an essential tool when it comes to loosening rusted lug nuts or ones that have been screwed on too tightly to remove by hand.
With a 20-volt battery, the tool can generate up to 75 ft-lbs of torque and a no-load speed of 0-300 rpm, strong enough for very stubborn bolts. It can turn clockwise or counterclockwise with no swing arc and includes both ⅜- and ½-inch square drive anvils for added versatility. The ratchet wrench is also designed with a sealed head and glass-filled nylon tool housing to resist damage from the types of automotive oils and solvents you may be using in the garage.
Pro Tool Reviews thoroughly tested the device and was left with an overall favorable impression, though the publication did note that the tool's drive head — which is 1.5 inches wide and 1.75 inches deep — is slightly bigger than most manual ratchet heads. This means you could feasibly have a tougher time using it in the tighter spaces of your engine, though since you don't need to manually swing a motorized ratchet, you also require less room to work with. Lowe's sells the DeWalt 20V MAX XR Cordless Ratchet Wrench for $249.
Craftsman 2000-Lumen LED Plug-in Portable Work Light
The Craftsman 2000-Lumen LED Plug-in Portable Work Light is a great tool to have on hand so that you can better see what you're doing — whether you're working in a dimly lit garage or need to illuminate the deepest crevices of your engine block. One of its biggest advantages is its versatility — it's slim and folds flat for easier storage and portability, and it can be hung from your hood by its handle or attached to a compatible Craftsman tripod to illuminate your entire garage. If the light were cordless, it would be even more versatile, but it's limited by its 5 foot cable, so you may want to keep an extension cord on hand, depending on the layout of your garage (or if you like to work in your driveway). However, its corded design also means you can use it continuously without having to recharge it, and its integrated LED will never need to be replaced.
It has a no-fuss push-button control, and its lamp head can rotate 360 degrees for omnidirectional beam angles. The work light is also rated IP65, so you don't have to worry about getting it wet, while its heavy-duty, die-cast aluminum body gives it the rugged protection needed for a busy garage. You can purchase the Craftsman 2000-Lumen LED Plug-in Portable Work Light for $39.48 from Lowe's, where it has a 4.7 out of five score based on over 450 customer reviews.
How these Lowe's mechanic's tools were selected for this list
Lowe's is one of the biggest home improvement retailers in the world and has a solid reputation for selling quality products purchased by millions of customers each week. However, even with its enduring positive reputation, it's still a good idea to double-check and make sure the tools you're spending your hard-earned money on are worth the investment. If you can't test them yourself, the next best thing is to go by the experience of those who have.
Most of the items on this list of Lowe's tools for DIY mechanics have strong customer scores on Lowe's online store — at least 4.4 out of five or higher. (The Thinkcar Thinkscan Plus S6 OBD2 Scanner doesn't have any reviews on Lowe's site to go by.) In some cases, these same tools also have strong user ratings on other retail websites, including Amazon and Home Depot, as well as the official websites maintained by their manufacturers. Additionally, some of the tools on this list also have positive reviews from hardware experts who have used and tested the products. These experts published their results and reviews for popular and reputable publications, including Pro Tool Reviews and MakeUseOf.