6 Underrated DIY Tools

There’s grease on your elbow. It stands as proof you’re literally elbow deep in your project car, and it’s at this point that you realize all your favorite tools are still in the toolbox. Instead, the floor and fender wells hold a wide variety of the tools you actually use, not just the ones you enjoy using.

It’s these tools that get the job done. They may not be flashy, pricey, or have a good story, but these are the chunks of steel and plastic that make our lives easier. They’re the unsung heroes of the toolbox, or at least some of the under-appreciated mainstays.

Ratcheting wrenches

The open end wrench is an indispensable staple of working with most types of threaded fasteners. Sockets and ratchets make the work easier, but the slim profile and extremely durable nature make wrenches critical for some tasks. Wrenches are a necessity, but ask anyone that has been forced to spend 20 minutes removing a three-inch bolt an 1/8th of a turn at a time and it’s easy to see why ratcheting wrenches can be unsung heroes of both disassembly and assembly. Switchable ratcheting wrenches make life even easier and prevent that situation where you use a ratchet to back off a bolt only to pinch the wrench against another part and be left with an even more frustrating situation.

Center punch

Need to drill a hole? You’d likely reach for your drill and bits, but those with experience know to grab a center punch as well. A small dent in the center of your planned hole will help keep a drill bit from wandering off course. Upgrade to an automatic center punch and you’ll likely never look back, but even years after doing so myself, I still have multiple “regular” center punches that get frequent use.

Small pry bar

Need help aligning bolt holes or popping two corroded pieces apart? You don’t need tons of persuasion, but just a bit more than can be imparted with bare hands. That’s the time a small pry bar comes out. My personal favorite has this spud end that can be used to aid in alignment and easy holding of parts during assembly. Everyone benefits from a little extra leverage, and despite their lack of size, these little bars provide just that.

Little hammers

The big hammer gets all the love from just about anyone who has been forced to deal with the corrosion and otherwise stuck hardware and parts that come pre-installed on every project car. Big hammers impart big forces though, and while a skilled DIY’er knows how to swing a large hammer softly, there is a time and place for the little hammers too.

Big hammers sometimes just don’t fit the work area or put a little too much smack on relatively delicate parts. A “big” hit with a small hammer can put just enough shock into part to break things loose while also being perfectly sized to cut gaskets. Little hammers hide in most toolboxes.

Wire wheels

When talking about projects, what most gloss over is the amount of time spent with the project apart, cleaning and dressing each individual piece so that when everything goes back together it will fit correctly. Just a small amount of rust or corrosion can bind threads or prevent good fit of mated parts. A wire wheel makes quick work of removing surface scale and junk. While a bench grinder with a nice 8″ wire wheel is great, even simple cordless drill wire wheels can be enough to solve a lot of problems.

Picks

For how big our cars, trucks, and other project vehicles are, there are a shocking number of tiny parts. Little o-rings or orifices that even dainty digits can’t investigate or grasp are easily handled by a pick. While tempting to ask your dental hygienist to slip you some spares, ones from your favorite tool company are likely a better choice—the ones designed for dental work tend to be more fragile. Maybe I need that cleaning though…

Regardless, even a humble tool chest is filled with literally hundreds of tools, and some get all the praise while others sit patiently waiting to be the star of the day before disappearing into storage once again. Have a favorite underrated tool? Tell us about it in the comments below.