Every product is carefully selected by our editors. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission.
The Best Gifts for At-Home Mechanics
Anything that makes life and work easier in the garage is a surefire holiday-gift win.
By
Bryan Campbell
At-home mechanics are essentially hyper-focused DIYers, so anything that makes garage life and work easier is a surefire holiday-gift win. A brand-new full socket set to replace and supplement their existing collection? You bet. A light bar with lumens that give sun a run for its money? Definitely. A magnetic telescoping pick up tool to get in the most unreachable places? You better believe it. These are just some of the best gifts for the at-home mechanic — you can’t go wrong with anything below.
Haynes Manual
Factory repair manuals can get pretty pricey and most likely have more information then you’ll ever need, which is why Haynes Manuals are a staple in any at-home mechanic’s garage. There’s still plenty of information to help you repair your car, but it comes at a veery reasonable $30.
The bane of all mechanics’ existence is dropping a socket, bolt or washer into the dark abyss of a full oil pan or down a narrow chasm in the engine bay. A telescoping magnet is incredibly simple but wildly helpful.
There are very few times in at-home mechanic’s career where the sound of a metal-on-metal impact is welcomed. When the job does call for a hammer, a little more finesse is usually required. A rubber mallet not only takes the sting out of the energy traveling through the handle, but it also is kinder on metal and painted surfaces.
Six leveles of brightness, a 5,000 lumen output and a chemical resistant body pretty much ensures the Big Ass Light Bar will replace any flashlight you currently have – and will be the last one you ever need.
When all the conventional methods of loosening a seized nut fail but defeat is not an option, a nut splitter will finish the job. Using a point splitter and focus pressure, the nut splitter does exactly what its name entails and cracks the nut of the bolt, allowing for easy removal.
If you look into the garage of any professional mechanic shop you’ll see fender covers up and down the maintenance bays. It’s important to protect the fenders from accidental scratches caused by tools and clothing while leaning and working under the hood.
When a job requires two-hands (spoiler: most of them do) and you need a light source a headlamp is the way to go. This one from Streamlight gives you bright LED light exactly where you need it.
Most batteries live in tight quarters, which means getting a grip on them when they need replacing isn’t so easy. A car battery carrier makes life less difficult and lets you get into tighter spaces on the sides of the battery. It also is a great way to handle older or damaged batteries without directly touching them.
Red shop towels are fairly iconic – every home mechanic knows they’re a must in every garage. They’re not tough on hands or skin but do an amazing job of scrubbing greasy surfaces and cleaning any spills. They’re also machine-washable, and so a pack of 100 Utopia Shop Towels can go a long way.
As much as the home mechanic likes to work under the hood of their car, it’s not the most friendly place for bare hands. Hard, sharp surfaces and edges are everywhere, and if you’ve ever slipped a wrench in a tight space in an engine bay, you’ll appreciate the protection of high abrasion gloves. Made with extra grip on the fingers and abrasion-resistant material, they’re an essential defensive weapon in an at-home mechanic’s arsenal.
Unless you’re one of the fortunate ones and have a full car lift in your garage, jack stands are a must. Each Pro-Lift Double Pin Jack Stand can hold up to six tons, so having one at each corner of the average car, truck or SUV is more than enough support.
Getting into tight spaces to clean and polish a surface or cut a bolt or shear an edge is a regular activity in thee garage. The Black+Decker Rotary Tool’s slim body and 27-piece set turns laborous, time consuming chores into simple, stress-free tasks.
For the longest time, the creeper wasn’t much more than a plank of wood with a few wheels bolted on the bottom. The Pro-Lift Foldable Mechanic’s Creeper not only has six three-inch polyurethane, oil resistant, full-bearing casters for a smooth ride across the shop floor, it also folds up and becomes a stool, eliminating crouching and hunching for jobs like tire changes.
A torque wrench is an essential tool for any mechanic looking even to do simple maintenance. When using a conventional torque wrench, you’re essentially eye-balling it – converting foot-pounds to inch pounds or Nm on the fly. The Craftsman Digital Torque Wrench takes the guesswork out of the equation by doing all the conversions at the touch of a button and displaying the exact force you need on an LED backlit screen.
There’s nothing worse than setting out to do a job only to find you don’t have the sockets you need. With a Dewalt 168-Piece Mechanics Tool Set, there’s a good chance you’ll have every size socket to take your entire car apart and put it back together.
Again, unless you’re one of the fortunate souls to have a full lift or drive over bay, you’re going to need a floor jack. The Arcan Aluminum Floor Jack has a three-ton capacity and is relatively light at 65 pounds, so it’s not a complete workout moving it across the garage floor.
The V10 used to be Dyson's top-tier stick vacuum, but it was eventually replaced by the slightly more powerful (and much more expensive) V11. This makes the V10 a great value, as it's usually $150 less than the V11. Thanks to this sale, it's even a better value than the V11 right now.
If you are working out a lot, you're going to need more than one mask. Under Armour has created one of the best sports-specific masks and right now if you buy two you get a great deal.
Is anything left to be said about the Eames chair? This is one of the most iconic pieces of furniture to come out of the 20th century and is a must-have for any furniture aficionados (if you can afford it).
Hydro Flask really needs no introduction at this point, so when you can get a 32-ounce wide mouth with its Temp-Shield insulation at 25 percent off, you do it.
When you're not using it, it functions just like any other mirror in your house. When you turn it on, Mirror reveals an LCD panel with stereo speakers and access to hundreds of workout classes.
If you're a student, there's never been a better time to get a Hulu subscription. The discount also doesn't expire — it lasts as long as you're enrolled as a student.
Yeti mugs are some of our favorites and any time one goes on sale, we jump on it because they usually end up selling out fast. This mug might be perfect.
The Killshot OG SP offers all the low-key design appeal of its better-known counterpart, with some serious throwback flair added in for good measure. And right now, it's under 50 bucks.
Todd Snyder's collaborations with Timex always hit. Paired with a vintage military-inspired band, this bullseye design is straight from the Timex archives.
These cotton percale sheets boast a 270 thread count and always stay cool — perfect for hot sleepers. Brooklinen is one of our go-to's for linens, especially at 15 percent off.
Gore-Tex uppers and Primaloft insulation combined with the classic Bean Boot silhouette make this a no brainer for deep winter, whether you're digging out the driveway or stomping around in puddles.
Sonos’s entry-level soundbar that doubles as a smart speaker and normally costs $399 is now sold refurbished for a big price drop, taking the sting out of the original price.
Adidas used sustainable Parley Primeblue material to make its Primeknit upper even better, then combined it with Boost midsoles to make the ultimate earth-conscious workout shoe.
The Jabra Elite Active 65t are sports-focused headphones (IP56) with better great sound quality for listening to music and taking calls. Also compatible with Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant, this is one of our top picks for sports-focused earbuds.
This humble watch cap from Todd Snyder is made and designed in Japan using traditional and modern manufacturing techniques, guaranteeing you get the quality you expect.
If you want to stay cozy but are tired of sweatpants, flannel-lined pants are the move. The warmth of flannel and the style of a chino combine like marshmallows and hot chocolate.
Keep an eye on your home from anywhere with these surveillance cameras from Google Nest. 24/7 motion and sound alerts are pushed to the free Nest app, giving you the ease of mind you expect from a security system.
An elegant addition to your office, lounge, or bedroom, this watch winder keeps your automatic watches powered with up to 1,200 turns per day and three different rotational directions.
This humidifier brings a cool mist to whichever room you need it and can diffuse essential oils if you want to add a scent. It comes with a remote, 12-hour timer, and clean tank technology to prevent the build-up of mold and mildew.
Chaco bolstered its original Z sandal with a pillow-top footbed and dubbed the new version the Z/Cloud. Everything you want from Chaco — a sturdy and simple sandal — with next-level comfort.
Whether you want to move some of your most frequently used herbs indoors or don't have space outside for a garden, the AeroGarden Harvest is a perfect solution, with clearance for up to a foot of growth and room for 6 plants that grow five times faster than soil.
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io
