KentF
New Reader
7/7/17 10:01 p.m.
Last year for Christmas my son gave me a little tool for removing radiator/heater hose clamps. I was skeptical at first. But after using this thing I am wondering where it has been all my life. Holy Crap is it useful! If you have one of these no need to read on. If you don’t and if you work on cars – You want one. 100% better than pliers.
It is a ratcheting cable clamp that opens/closes the spring clamps on hoses. Works great. $50 at NAPA.
Hose Clamp Tool
We have one of those at the shop. If you work on the Mazdaspeed Miata, it's a life-changer.
I bought a set when I replaced the radiator on my daughter's Hyundai Santa Fe. I'll never be without them again!!
Required tool for an MR2 as well!!
Ian F
MegaDork
3/6/18 7:11 a.m.
I bought the full set of hose clamp pliers over a decade ago to work on my VW TDI - it makes removing the intercooler hose clamp on the turbo a breeze compared to trying to fiddle with pliers. It includes this tool plus a half-dozen others. I've used every one of them for some task or another. The 3rd from the left in the pic below is perfect for reconnecting strange stainless steel band clamps often used on modern European cars. Once you have this tool, those clamps are so much faster and better than worm-drive clamps.
Mine is similar, but I paid over 2x as much for it and it was still worth every penny.