Q. When I was young and worked on my cars and motorcycles my tools would come from the local Sears store. I actually still have some of those tools and use them routinely. My son is starting to like working on bikes, scooters and someday cars. What are your thoughts on Harbor Freight tools?

A. Harbor Freight has various levels of hand tools, Pittsburgh, Quinn and Icon. They all come with a lifetime warranty against defects. Some people call their tools, single use, others say they work until they don’t. I have a Pittsburgh ¼ inch drive socket set I needed to buy in an emergency, and it works perfectly. I also needed a triple square driver to work on my wife’s VW. I stopped into a Snap-On truck and a small set was $230, at Harbor Freight the set was $40. The $40 set did the job. Bottom line is Harbor Freight hand tools are a good value for the price, especially for building a basic toolset. The premium Harbor Freight Icon line in some cases matches and outperforms the major brands.

Q. Here is an interesting set of circumstances with which we are dealing. My wife has a 2019 Honda HRV with about 17,000 miles and I have a 2020 Cadillac CT5 with about 18,000 miles. Both cars are due for state inspections. My wife’s car went in first at the local Honda dealer. She specified an oil and filter change as well. Not long after we dropped off her car – we chose not to wait – she received a text from the service advisor stating that her brake fluid was “dirty: and should be changed. She/we responded that we would pass.  We picked up the car a little........

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