Whether it’s for a holiday or birthday, this Tools Under 30 Dollars Gift Guide Series shows you important, yet somewhat uncommon, tools that any gearhead would want.
Today, let’s talk about Gentle Pry Tools.
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The plastic you’ll commonly find in vehicle interiors can become hard and brittle with age, which means you’ve got to treat these interior parts with the same care as you would, say, a Fabergé egg.
What’s worse, plastic door panels, surrounds, trim, and dash inserts often feature tiny retaining tabs that have a knack for breaking when too much force is used. That’s why Gentle Pry Tools can be really, really handy if you work in and around vehicle interiors.
Soft yet rigid, the tools are made from a nylon material that won’t mar or nick the surface you’re working on. And they come in an assortment of blades, picks, and hooks so you can tackle a range of different jobs–which is good, because these tools aren’t just handy for interiors.
You can use them to remove vehicle emblems and molding, pry away electrical box covers, and get weatherstripping off without damaging the vehicle’s finish (or glass).
And they’re useful around the house too, for repairing appliances, disassembling vinyl windows, cleaning the crevices in furniture…basically anywhere you need some prying capability, but a traditional metal pry bar would be way, way overkill.
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A lot of gearheads aren’t even aware these tools exist and have improvised with things like bent credit cards and putty knives—often with disastrous results. That makes these Gentle Pry Tools a great gift to give and receive. Better yet, at the time of this feature, even the Deluxe Set is under 30 bucks.
[…] If you’re dealing with super delicate surfaces, another solution is to use a plastic scraper. A good example of a plastic scraper set is this one from OEM Tools. There are four different tools in the set, with different widths and profiles. These are one-piece tools with formed plastic handles. They’re not for robust jobs—leave that for the heavy duty scrapers. Instead, consider them for detail work on easily damaged surfaces. […]