Auto Body Restoration Tools

When you begin talking about auto body restoration tools you have hit a “deep well” subject. There are many, many tools used in auto body restoring. Here we will cover some of the hand tools most commonly used in this process. There are many more than we will cover but this is a start.

• Unless you are working in a body repair shop you will never use some of the tools that you will need to get that type of work completed. However, even just banging around the garage you will use many of these tools and you can keep them in a normal sized toolbox in the garage.


• To begin with you will need a nice set of pliers. If you can find a “set” of any of these tools mentioned here and they are of good quality, buy them. Normally a “set” will come with what we are talking about here in most cases. To start off you will need a pair of channel lock pliers. Get both small and large needle nose pliers. Won’t hurt to have a pair of diagonal pliers used for cutting all kinds of things.


• Get a set of wrenches, both metric and standard. Autos have both sizes on most of them and you never know what you will need so get them both. Get some wrench racks and keep them in their places so you can find them easily.


• Another type of wrench you will need is a crescent wrench. Every toolbox needs one of these and you most likely should get a small one for tight places and a really big one for hard jobs.


• Have a nice set of screwdrivers and some scrapers. Get screwdrivers that were made for heavy-duty work. Same with the scrapers. You will need both Phillips and flat-head. It wouldn’t hurt to have a four in one screwdriver as well. They really come in handy.


• You will also need ratchet and socket sets. Get some different types of ratchets. Get a swivel ratchet, one with a curved handle and of course a “breaker” ratchet that is fixed for those “hard to break” nuts. You should also have a large selection of “deep well” sockets.


• Last but not least make certain you have some good quality Allen wrenches. These are indispensable in many different situations.