Have noticed recently trying to buy tools and material in N.Ireland is getting harder. Trying to get a few items for the brakes on the 940, paint and so on, could not get paint or a break bar for sensible money. Either £20 per item on postage or won't even ship to NI.

Mail order has been my saviour for many years due to lack to competitive suppliers. I remember in the 80s my local shops could not get shocks in for the price I could get them mail order. Local distributors apparently sticking the arm in and stupid shop owners not shopping around.

Anyway some respite today after trying to source a 24" breaker bar and caliper paint, was going to Halfrauds but tried a local professional supplier Fyfes, which were open on Saturday unexpectedly;

Halfrauds
Paint: Halford brand £7.50 (500C)
Breaker bar: Halfords brand £29

Euro Car parts:
Paint: £8.50 400C
Breaker bar: £28 Sealey AK730

Fyfes:
Paint: £7.50 800C
Breaker Bar: £11.50 Sealey Ak730

Well done fyfes! lets try and keep them in business. There seems to be less and less suppliers around.

I was going to say the first two were pricey for the breaker bar.

Even in the Rip-off Republic, the Sealey breaker bar was on promo at 17 yoyos at one of my local factors.

At least for some stuff you can make use of the Royal Fail. Try getting stuff send South is a right old carry on and bloody expensive to boot.*

*Although having said that the UK is quite expensive for Satellite gear, I get it miles cheaper from Germany.

Its hard to get the factors as they only trade business hours, and tried Browns brothers on Boucher Road apparently closed. Probably a result of everyone MEWing their houses and buying newer cars for the last 20 years, fewer people going the DIY route.

Euro Car Parts is round the back of there? Do they sometimes have tools on offer?

The Halfords Professional range (ignore everything else they sell) is far better quality than Sealey tools. I buy most of my tools from Halfords and if I break them or decide they're not good enough (which to be fair is pretty rare) I buy Snap On second hand. Mac and other premium not quite Snap On brands offer little quality over Halfords whilst costing only a little less than Snap On.

£29 seems a reasonable price for a quality breaker bar to me, it's something there's no point compromising on as you will break a cheap one.

Halfords trade cards are pretty easy to get your hands on and give a significant saving on some bits from Halfords.

Alex Laidlaw wrote:The Halfords Professional range...and if I break them...I buy Snap On second hand.

If I break a Halfords Professional range, I go back for a replacement. Lifetime guarantee and all that.

My torque wrench is a calibrated/certified Britool one. I have a fair mix of old tools here: Elora, King Dick, Britool, Facom, Beta, V.L. Churchill, Teng, "Powerfix" (Aldi) and Norauto. Nothing wrong with the Sealey breaker bar. (I'll comment on tools individually rather than tar a whole brand) If it breaks it's likely that I have put a scaffold bar over the end of it and have been abusing it.

I do draw the line at Rolson though!

Laser - what a waste of space though!