Cool Tools: 8 Great Car Tools You May Not Have Even Known Existed!

Any self-respecting gearhead worth the grease on his hands owns a torque wrench…or a timing light…or a good set of sockets. That’s been the case since your grandfather  was wrenching on the family car or truck.

But the tools in this post aren’t your grandfather’s tools.

These are eight game-changing tools that can change the way you work on your vehicle. They’re time-saving, mess-preventing, budget-stretching tools your grandfather couldn’t have imagined owning. In fact, there’s a good chance you didn’t even know about some of them.

Some are simple.

Some are more complex.

All can help change the way you work on your car.*

Check ’em out:

*The perfect qualification for a great holiday gift–we’re just sayin,’

Motive Products Power Bleeder Kit

What’s the worst part of bleeding your brakes? The job itself? Or having to recruit someone to help you?

Motive Products Power Bleeder Kit makes the process an easy, one-man job—no assistance required. There are other kits out there, but this is easily one of the most effective versions we’ve seen. You simply pour up to two quarts of clean brake fluid into the reservoir and attach the Power Bleeder cap. Then you pressurize the system using the built-in hand pump, and when you open each bleeder, your system is purged and filled with fresh fluid. A one-person job? More beer for you.

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Motive Products Power Fill Pro Fluid Transfer Pump

The makers of the Power Bleeder above have taken the hassle and mess out of changing transmission and differential fluid. There’s no more syringes or fumbling around with plastic bottles, because this kit makes clean fluid transfers as easy as 1-2-3: Pour new fluid into the tank, insert the hook spout, and pump the tank. It’s mess-free! Plus, it comes with a USA-made valve to control the flow and a Schrader valve if you want to pressurize it with shop air.

It just may be the secret to a clean, stain-free garage floor.

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Radiator Combs

Fins on your radiator seen better days?

Bring it back to spec with a radiator fin comb. They’ll straighten and repair damaged fins on most aluminum radiators, helping you to restore your radiator’s airflow and cooling ability.

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S&G Tool Aid Door Aligner Tool

Aligning a door used to be an exercise in frustration.

This S&G Tool Aid aligner takes what used to be a two- or three-person job and makes it a more manageable task that can be done in seconds. Here’s how it works: Attach one end of the tool to the striker and the other to the latch and then raise or lower to adjust the door. It works on car and truck doors with bolted or welded hinges.

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WheelFit Ultimate 4568 Kit

Thinking about an oversized wheel and tire combo?

This kit will determine whether the wheels and tires will fit your vehicle—before you actually shell out the cash for them. It clamps on to the tire assembly and allows you to check for clearance issues. The kit works with 4-, 5-, 6-, and 8-lug wheels.

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Summit Racing AN/NPT Plumbing Gauge

This crazy-looking little tool provides a fast, accurate way to determine the correct sizes of male AN fittings, AN wrenches, and the outside diameter of stainless steel braided hoses. It has a measurement range of -4 to -16 AN and also measures NPT plug and fitting diameters from 1/8- and 3/4-inch and determines the outside diameter of brake, fuel, and transmission lines from 3/16- to 3/8-inch diameter.

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ICEngineworks Header Modeling Kits

These kits take the guesswork out of building custom headers.

Instead of using the costly cut and try method, the kits make it possible to mock up, revise, correct, and rearrange your header design without using wasting actual exhaust tubing. The secret is in the straight and curved modeling blocks, which snap together and allow you to create the perfect design for your application.

Once you’ve figured out your optimal header design, the kit has everything you need to duplicate your design with actual tubing with your own welder and cutting tool.

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Warn Drill Winch

Need a little extra pulling or lifting power for your shop or trailer?

You can turn your drill into a pulling tool by attaching it to the Warn Drill Winch. Compatible with 1/2- and 3/8-inch chucks, it provides up to 500 pounds of pulling and lifting power for added muscle. It has a free-spooling clutch, 30 feet of wire rope, and ringing hooks at either end.