How to Glove Up Properly for Every Job in the Garage
For decades, I freely plunged my unsheathed skin into just about anything. The resulting grease under my fingernails was a badge of honor. At some point, though, I had a change of heart. There wasn’t a single event—it’s not like my hand slipped and skittered off into the greasy, angular automotive unknown and emerged gushing blood, at least not recently. My recalibration occurred during the resurrection of my Lotus Europa Twin Cam Special, when I committed to doing one thing every night (even just removing one nut and a bolt). On a vintage car, particularly a British one, it’s amazing how greasy your hands can get touching just two fasteners. Having to wash for longer than I had wrenched bugged me. Regular interactions with various automotive chemicals also made me more conscious of their dangers. Few of them will cause immediate horrific consequences, but there’s only so much gasoline and brake cleaner you want seeping through your pores into your bloodstream.
So let’s talk about preserving your automotive hands.
Regard your hands like infantry about to go behind enemy lines. Evaluate what hazards they face before plunging them toward that barely visible hose or bolt. Check whether there are sharp edges that can cut or scrape or ends of cables that can puncture. If you have to work around a running engine, be extremely careful of spinning components that can snag or slice. Even momentarily touching a finger against a belt or pulley can pull a ligament (ask me how I know). If you’re removing a component whose weight is non-trivial, know that gravity is going to do its thing and pull it straight down when the final fastener is withdrawn, so make sure your hands aren’t under it. And if you’re lifting an engine with a hoist, be aware that it is likely to suddenly swing to one side once it’s free; you don’t want your hand in the wrong place when that happens.
Last but not least, try to dial back the “You little so-and-so, you’re coming off now” when straining against a stuck fastener. Hand injuries commonly occur when the wrench slips or the bolt breaks. Avoid smacking the back of your hand against a sharp edge, as the tendons there are shallow and damage is likely to be more serious than a mere stitch-and-discharge ER visit—more like surgery and months of physical therapy. Likewise, it’s pretty easy to break a finger if your hand is curled around a wrench when it lets go. For these reasons, it’s generally better to push a ratchet or wrench with a fleshy, open palm.
But gloves, yes, absolutely. These days, I’m addicted to them. I divide them into four categories: disposable gloves, padded work gloves, thinly coated work gloves, and submersible gloves. Depending on how much you wrench, you may need all four. I do.
Disposable Gloves
Forget latex. They tear if you look at them wrong and melt quickly if gasoline hits them. Single-use blue 3-millimeter-thick nitrile gloves, ubiquitous in the health and food service industries, are tougher and more gasoline-resistant. They’re available just about anywhere—hardware and auto parts stores, CVS—and are dirt cheap if you buy in bulk. Slip them on, and greasy hands be gone. No more 10 minutes of washing for five minutes of hands-on work. I use them for one-time-use tasks like spreading Permatex Aviation Form-a-Gasket.
For bigger jobs, I step up to 6-millimeter nitrile gloves, readily available on Amazon. Some have a textured grip. I happened into these rip-resistant industrial gloves and instantly liked them. They have two layers, which does make them more expensive, but they’re robust enough to survive multiple wrenching sessions.
Work Gloves
So-called work gloves overlap with “mechanic’s gloves” and gardening gloves. They’re typically thicker than disposable gloves and sometimes have padding to protect against sharp objects. Of course, there are trade-offs. You’ll be hard-pressed to spin small nuts onto fine threads without removing padded work gloves, and unless they’re thin and have an oil-resistant nitrile or polyurethane coating on the palms and fingers, they’ll rapidly absorb grease and other fluids.
My preference is thus to buy inexpensive packs of work gloves that I can replace frequently rather than splurge on a single $30 pair of “mechanic’s gloves.” There are plenty of fine choices here. I like these ultra-thin polyurethane-coated gloves with a nylon/polyester shell from Liberty Glove & Safety. They’re rugged enough to use for general mechanical work yet thin enough that they only affect dexterity when I’m doing the finest of tasks. They offer a decent measure of hand protection. They don’t rip as easily as nitrile (though my guitarist’s thumbnail does eventually wear out the top of the thumb from the inside). Unlike nitrile, they’re breathable, so your hands don’t marinate in their own sweat.
Of course, that last pro becomes a con when dealing with gas, brake cleaner, and other solvents, which immediately bleed through the non-coated areas and onto your skin. And if you get the non-coated portion of the gloves wet with some non-evaporating fluid like oil, antifreeze, or brake fluid, the moisture wicks up the weave and gets inside the palm and fingers. The gloves always feel slimy inside after that. But at a dollar a pair, I’m not hesitant to throw them out.
Submersible Gloves
If you’re changing an in-tank fuel pump or cleaning parts under a stream of solvent, you need chemical-resistant gloves that come up over your wrists and can be fully submerged. There are dozens of choices, most for under $15 a pair. Avoid household Playtex gloves, as they’re not specifically rated for gas or brake cleaner.
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The main takeaway here is that you don’t need a pair of gloves—you need many pairs of multiple varieties. Select a type based on the specific job you’re doing. Having said that, occasionally, the best gloves are still none at all. I sometimes like feeling the steel of the ratchet handle in my hand. But having a barrier between my aging hands and jagged, greasy nastiness is a good thing.
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Rob’s latest book, The Best Of The Hack Mechanic™: 35 years of hacks, kluges, and assorted automotive mayhem, is available on Amazon here. His other seven books are available here on Amazon, or you can order personally inscribed copies from Rob’s website, www.robsiegel.com.
Experience is a hell of a way to learn but often the best thing. Injuries make smarter fast or leave you with less digits.
Yet things will still happen and you will still bleed.
I never used gloves much outside Por !5 or other hard to remove items. Often I need the feel and dexterity of my hands.
I have had things cut right through gloves too.
My hands are callused to the point cuts and burns are rare.
I do rely on quality hand cleaners that I use often.
I’m not going to say not to use gloves but I just don’t like them. Just do what is right for you.
I agree. Gloves are great for the majority of tasks. But at some point you do need the tactile sensation/
I started my career as a welder/iron worker. As you slice and burn your hands on hot metal, I learned to wear leather gloves all the time as I watch my “tough” co-workers go to the hospital for 2nd degree burns. I wear gloves all the time now for any work I do and my hands are in better shape than my wife’s hands.
Rob good advice about the hands working around moving parts. One day I was wrenching with dad on one of the F600 dump trucks and he had me in the cab hitting the start button off and on as he would yell hit it. But as we were going about this I thought he yelled hit it but he had not and he had his hand in one of the belts and when I hit the starter button the belt took part of one of his fingers off below the middle joint. He was upset but I found the rest of his finger under the truck and we got in his F100 pickup and went to Doc Davis’s office to get him to see it back on. Unfortunately he could not sew it back on so dad ended up only having three and a half fingers on one hand. So good advice to be careful around belts and pullers.
Back when I was starting as a professional wrench the owner was old school and he regularly washed his hands in the solvent tank. Of course we didn’t have gloves for our solvent tank so I was guilty of holding the parts I was cleaning in my bare hands.
Later when I was doing mobile auto repair I initially did the Go-Jo and paper towels to get my hands sort of clean when on the road. However the winter cold was brutal. After going to the dentist one day I realized latex gloves would give the needed dexterity and keep my hands clean and protect them from the weather. So I picked up a pair of boxes at Costco.
It wasn’t too much longer until the use of disposable gloves became common and nitrile gloves started to proliferate.
I keep at least a few in every car and boxes in a couple of them. The trucks typically have 3-5 different pairs for different purposes in them. So yeah I’m a firm believer in gloves and picking the best pair for the job at hand.
Rob there’s no way you have 6 millimetre thick nitrile gloves, let alone 3 millimetres. Think about that for a second.
I think you meant 6 mils, as in 6 thousandths of an inch.
Catch-of-the-Day! 👍
My only issue is the sweaty hands when I use the nitrile gloves. They do work well though.
‘Sponsored by the glove industry’.
Having worked in the machining industry for 50 years, wearing gloves is a good way to lose fingers and hands in moving parts. Having worked on cars for 50 years, I seldom wear gloves and I’m still alive. And yeah, been out in the sun without sunscreen too.
YMMV. I’m not sure how you’re gonna lose fingers wearing a 3mil nitrile glove, but I’d be impressed to see it happen.
The repeated absorption is what kills you decades later. When you’re ready to retire, you realise you’ve got a tremor didn’t used to have (most commonly Parkinson’s) or you’re coughing a lot, and the doc orders an x-ray only to find your lungs light up like a christmas tree. Now your “golden” years are just tarnished costume jewelry.
Myself? 18 years of wrenching, the first 10 of those with the “I’m tougher than that” attitude. Regularly cleaning my hands and arms with brake clean type of stupid. I saw the light at the halfway point, but at 34 I got cancer. I’d been bitten, all because I didn’t want to wear the damn PPE.
I can tell you from experience, if I’d been given the choice when I was 16 to be sliced open like a deer (with the massive scars to prove it) or to put on some gloves, I’d have chosen the gloves.
What about gloves for carburetor cleaner, paint stripper, or methyl ethyl terrible? I have yet to find any that will hold up to that. Gasoline, brake cleaner, acetone are no problem
Flocked nitrile gloves help with the sweat problem. They have a fuzzy lining that absorbs sweat and keeps them dry inside (at least for a while). Also helps them slide on/off more easily. Of course they’re pricier than regular nitrile gloves, but worth it in my view when it’s hot in the garage.
Solvents, grease and many other substances are quickly absorbed into the skin–and, thus, into the circulatory system. I began using long-sleeved rubber gloves early in my contracting career–to protect against some of the solvents I was using. At home, in my garage, I began buying “rubber” gloves–which proved to be a frustrating effort. Then, I learned about “nitrile”. HA! Then, I learned to buy the best and the thickest possible. These, I found, will last for several iterations–reuses.
All of this said–do NOT use rubber/nitrile gloves when using a wire wheel. The wires will quickly “grab” the glove material and the next thing you know–your hand is jerked into the spinning wheel! Not a happy experience!
As skin absorbs solvents–so the lungs absorb volatiles from those same solvents. Use volatiles in the open air (outdoors or in a well-ventilated area–exhaust fan, etc.). These volatiles will “pop” brain cells and damage the liver, etc. I know, I know–we tell ourselves that we’ll be exposed only for a few minutes. Don’t be fooled. Allow the desire to live a long life over-come such silly thoughts of–“just a little won’t hurt me!”.
I use nitril gloves on everything when working w/ my hands, especially on cars. Is not good for your hands / body & organs, if working w/ solvents / sprays / dirty oil. chemicals get trap into your body fat & long-term effects can be lethal depending on if you smoke / drinks / diet habits. can turn into cancer. even if you don’t do any of, I just mention. prevention health like prevention maintenance of car.
Yes on nitrile gloves! One tip – always buy at least one size bigger than you think you are. As you get older, pulling on gloves that are too tight and must be stretched to go on becomes very painful, especially as arthritis starts to degrade the finger joints. So XXL may seem loose, but they protect just as well and are so much easier to get on.
But you forgot perhaps the most important type: the so-called anti-vibration, anti-abrasion gloves. (i.e. “Vgo High Dexterity Heavy Duty Mechanic Glove,Anti-Vibration,Anti-Abrasion,Touchscreen,Rigger Glove(SL8849)” like the ones I buy).
These things have hard plastic ridges on the back of the hands and fingers, and since I started using them they have saved me from some pretty brutal bashing injuries as that wrench finally comes free and smacks your knuckles (or back of the hand) into that hard surface just behind. These are truly hand savers of the most excellent kind. I would say “never use a wrench in an automotive space without putting these on”.
I should finally mention “no cut” gloves. These gloves can protect against direct knife blade action and are most useful when you are cutting something “tough” with say a box cutter or other razor knife. Just a slip and you have a nasty injury – but these gloves will protect. I buy these “NoCry Cut Resistant Gloves – Ambidextrous, Food Grade, High Performance Level 5 Protection”. Hint: they are also awesome in the kitchen for say slicing a bagel!
Be aware of methylene chloride, as found in some paint strippers and gasket removers. It’s Kryptonite for nitrile gloves, and the PVA glooves that resist it are water soluble.
I do have a pair of Kevlar cut resistant gloves, but only use them around sheet metal. I also have some Ansell gloves that are basically nitrile dishwashing gloves that are great for oil changes and parts cleaning.
A screed on wearing gloves? What next; safety socks? You ought to check you topics for usefullness when scratching around for another article subject, really! This is, or should be, a no-brainer. Gees!
If Haggerty needs more articles, let them contact me; I have been writing automotive stuff since the mid-seventies, and have new material to share. Ole’ Wick
Your comment is not humble
I am not able to wear work gloves during the summer my hands sweat so much droplets of perspiration drop onto my work area. I can only use them during real messy, oily or greasy jobs and only for 10 minutes or less, in the cooler months there’s no problem. I
can wear all the time when I’m working on my car or bikes.
cotton parade gloves under nitrile fixes this issue. I recommend giving it a go!
I’ve usually worn heavy leather/canvas yardwork gloves whenever I have to use cutting tools, such as box cutters/razor blades for rubber/reinforced rubber hose, snips for sheet metal, electric drill, and so forth. One slip and all is not lost.
Just recently started with nitrile gloves for the same reason Rob mentioned. Got tired of 15 minutes of scrubbing and washing after 15 minutes of work. Yeah, the sweat is a little weird, but you get used to it.
Our local Pick-n-Pull recently started selling ziploc bags of nitrile gloves at $1 for two pairs of gloves – not a bad deal. A great idea for customers, and a small profit center. And helpful as the soap and water dispenser at the yard has no firm bristle scrub brush for nails and cuticles. I buy a bag whenever I’m there.
Thank you for the article.