New napa tool line

Fedwrench · Jul 3, 2012

In the 4th quarter real deals flyer, page 2 (found at napaonline.com), NAPA is introducing a new tool line called Carlyle tools (www.carlyletools.com).
They appear to be imported because they mention chrome vanadium steel in the ad but, who knows yet. The ad in real deals shows they have modified open end combination wrenches ala flank drive plus, ratchets with screw held gear cover plates, and sockets with off corner engagement. The tools don't appear to be gearwrench clones though. The ad's new buzz words are Quality, Heritage, NAPA. Anyway the website isn't active yet. Time wil tell.

http://realdeals.napaecatalog.com/WebProject.asp?CodeId=7.5.5.7

4x4gearhead · Jul 3, 2012

From what Ive seen of the tools that my rep brought around yesterday, they are all made in taiwan. He had a screwdriver and wrench set, both taiwan. All I see are different grips and a little different look, but the stuff all looked and felt pretty cheap.

concealer404 · Jul 3, 2012

The majority of it is Taiwan, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

From what i'm told by "an insider," the stuff is being made at the same factories as Matco, Mac, and SnapOn, and they've spent a LOT of time skirting patents and such. Their idea on how to break into the market is Truck quality @ Craftsman prices. They've developed these tools, almost none of it is rebranded.

And they're banking on it. "An insider" tells me that they've ordered over $10 million of product just for the first wave.

I have a catalog here, and made an order this morning. I will report my findings. "An insider" tells me that he's incredibly impressed with the tools, and he does have a lot of SnapOn and Mac Tools from his days as a tech at a dealership.

I have on the way:

3/8" cushion grip long handle 100 tooth roto ratchet
3/8" cushion grip long handle 90 tooth flex head teardrop ratchet
5 piece Metric full polish flare nut wrenches
19 piece full polish metric combo wrenches (6mm-24mm)
8 piece 1/2" drive 6pt metric deep sockets (25mm-32mm)

softailgarage · Jul 3, 2012

what ***** is according to my napa rep, these are replacing the tools made by proto. Had I known Napa's tools were made by Proto, I would have bought some.

concealer404 · Jul 3, 2012

softailgarage said:
what ***** is according to my napa rep, these are replacing the tools made by proto. Had I known Napa's tools were made by Proto, I would have bought some.

I wasn't aware of any Napa-by-Proto tools. Most of it was rebadged Gearwrench/KD stuff. I actually have a large order of that stuff on the way as well. I'll be able to do some direct comparisons next week after i order a bunch of Carlyle pliers.

jeffmoss26 · Jul 3, 2012

http://www.napaecatalog.com/WebProject.asp?CodeId=7.5.5.21&Archival=1&BookCode=car12flx#

otis66 · Jul 3, 2012

The USA NAPA tools were made by Danaher/Apex. NAPA used to have a Pro line of tools (USA made) and a cheaper (Taiwan) line of tools. The USA tools looked like MATCO/Craftsman Pro tools. Napa also had satin finished USA tools that were like Craftsman RP wrenches.

plinker · Jul 3, 2012

Far as I know, just about all of Napa's tools in recent history have been Danaher sourced and are clone's of Allen, K-D & most recently Gearwrench . They can also order Armstrong apparently from what's been said.

I wonder what they are doing with Evercraft? Seem's odd to have three seperate tool line's.

4x4gearhead · Jul 3, 2012

Hmm so Danaher is still in on it, I was told they were "done with them" didnt look closely enough at the boxes yesterday.

concealer404 · Jul 3, 2012

4x4gearhead said:
Hmm so Danaher is still in on it, I was told they were "done with them" didnt look closely enough at the boxes yesterday.

No... Danaher is not still around with them. At least not with the Carlyle brand.

sselander · Jul 3, 2012

I found a Youtube video for Carlyle hand tools :

tidbit:
Interesting use of the name Carlyle.
Carlyle Fraser was one of the brothers who founded Genuine Parts Company in 1928. Malcolm Fraser was the other brother.

Genuine Parts Company is the parent company of NAPA.

littletoes · Jul 3, 2012

Nope.....I learned my lesson on ti-wan tools back in the '80's, and won't visit that again, and won't support them with my hard-earned money. Maybe in about 30 years some of you guys will figure it out too.

concealer404 · Jul 3, 2012

littletoes said:
Nope.....I learned my lesson on ti-wan tools back in the '80's, and won't visit that again, and won't support them with my hard-earned money. Maybe in about 30 years some of you guys will figure it out too.

Go troll a Craftsman thread or something. And better stop buying SnapOn and Matco.

otis66 · Jul 3, 2012

If I'm going to buy Taiwan/China it will be GearWrench. GearWrench makes some nice tools. I got a bunch of NAPA USA tools that are now made over seas. I have no intrest in buying any tools from NAPA.

otis66 · Jul 3, 2012

littletoes said:
Nope.....I learned my lesson on ti-wan tools back in the '80's, and won't visit that again, and won't support them with my hard-earned money. Maybe in about 30 years some of you guys will figure it out too.

I hope it does not take this long.

concealer404 · Jul 3, 2012

otis66 said:
If I'm going to buy Tiawan/China it will be GearWrench. GearWrench makes some nice tools. I got a bunch of NAPA USA tools that are now made over seas. I have no intrest in buying any tools from NAPA.

I'll be comparing it to Gearwrench.

I'd also bet any amount of money it's better than Gearwrench. Gearwrench wasn't the target. The truck brands were.

otis66 · Jul 3, 2012

concealer404 said:
I'll be comparing it to Gearwrench.

I'd also bet any amount of money it's better than Gearwrench. Gearwrench wasn't the target. The truck brands were.

I'm going to check them out. If the price is right I'll buy some wrenches. I don't like the screwdrivers at all.

concealer404 · Jul 3, 2012

otis66 said:
I'm going to check them out. If the price is right I'll buy some wrenches. I don't like the screwdrivers at all.

To be honest, the screwdrivers are the one thing in the catalog that make me go "ehhhhh....."

I'll try them, but i'll probably keep buying German in that category.

otis66 · Jul 3, 2012

Just came from my local NAPA dealer. No Carlyle tools yet. Nothing but Evercraft on the tool board. No GearWrench either.

otis66 · Jul 3, 2012

concealer404 said:
I'll be comparing it to Gearwrench.

I'd also bet any amount of money it's better than Gearwrench. Gearwrench wasn't the target. The truck brands were.

My Snap On dealer can get any GrearWrench tool made. Also any tool NAPA has on sell (Monthly flyer), my Snap On dealer can get for me...ie SK, IR, GearWrench ETC.. And I can put it on my account.

concealer404 · Jul 3, 2012

otis66 said:
My Snap On dealer can get any GrearWrench tool made. Also any tool NAPA has on sell (Monthly flyer), my Snap On dealer can get for me...ie SK, IR, GearWrench ETC.. And I can put it on my account.

Right.... but not the point. :lol_hitti

Gearwrench is not a "truck brand."

If you like Gearwrench, that's awesome. I do, too. This should be better for similar prices.

cascivic · Jul 3, 2012

just perused the whole catalog... looks pretty impressive as long as its priced right id be all over it

otis66 · Jul 3, 2012

The price is too high for Taiwan/China tools. I'd get SK.

cascivic · Jul 3, 2012

concealer404 said:
The majority of it is Taiwan, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

From what i'm told by "an insider," the stuff is being made at the same factories as Matco, Mac, and SnapOn, and they've spent a LOT of time skirting patents and such. Their idea on how to break into the market is Truck quality @ Craftsman prices. They've developed these tools, almost none of it is rebranded.

I wish it was but damn its high for what it is. i guess if you can have it delivered to your shop you work in its convenient and probably around 40% to 50% off the truck brands...but its still really high for a home mechanic diy type with no hope of any residual value down the road.

otis66 · Jul 3, 2012

If the new Carlyle tools are made in USA I'll buy. If not I'll pass. If they were going to be made in the USA it would have been the first thing you saw on the web site.

4x4gearhead · Jul 3, 2012

Those sockets and ratchet look like kd/gw to me. They look just like the GW rebadges.

concealer404 · Jul 3, 2012

Where did you guys even see prices? It's not on the site, and it's not in the catalog.

4x4gearhead said:
Those sockets and ratchet look like kd/gw to me. They look just like the GW rebadges.

I wasn't aware GW was making 90 and 100 tooth ratchets....

Anyways... i'll compare them side by side with my Gearwrench and old Napa-branded Gearwrench and everyone can pick apart the differences and similarities to their heart's content.

concealer404 · Jul 3, 2012

otis66 said:
If the new Carlyle tools are made in USA I'll buy. If not I'll pass. If they were going to be made in the USA it would have been the first thing you saw on the web site.

They're not. That was established on the first page.

thejudges69 · Jul 3, 2012

Taiwan/ China tools are different, chinese quality is bad quality, Taiwan tools are much better quality.

This has been proven in a lot of different products. The Taiwan culture is much more rounded and produces a better product out the door where the chinese culture is just cheap labor basically slave labor and just push out the quantity.

Hell anymore all the good stuff is made in Taiwan.

NC-Fordguy · Jul 3, 2012

Looked through the catalog a little bit. I'm liking what I see

Is there a price list somewhere?

purplezr2 · Jul 3, 2012

Anyone notice the socket rails look just like matco in the flyer, I would guess the tools are made by Dahnar(sp)

franzdom · Jul 3, 2012

thejudges69 said:
Taiwan/ China tools are different, chinese quality is bad quality, Taiwan tools are much better quality.

This has been proven in a lot of different products. The Taiwan culture is much more rounded and produces a better product out the door where the chinese culture is just cheap labor basically slave labor and just push out the quantity.

Hell anymore all the good stuff is made in Taiwan.

This seems true with tools and perhaps bicycles and some other products but I don't see it across things that have PC boards, iPad etc, computer routers, video cards, etc. I don't think it's labor's fault, it is what the market asks for. China is quite capable of making decent quality goods. I am not a fan politically however.

concealer404 · Jul 3, 2012

purplezr2 said:
Anyone notice the socket rails look just like matco in the flyer, I would guess the tools are made by Dahnar(sp)

"An insider" tells me nothing at all is Danaher. I will try to get more info.

otis66 · Jul 3, 2012

concealer404 said:
Where did you guys even see prices? It's not on the site, and it's not in the catalog.

I wasn't aware GW was making 90 and 100 tooth ratchets....

Anyways... i'll compare them side by side with my Gearwrench and old Napa-branded Gearwrench and everyone can pick apart the differences and similarities to their heart's content.

GearWrench does have a new 84 tooth ratchet.

cascivic · Jul 3, 2012

NC-Fordguy said:
Looked through the catalog a little bit. I'm liking what I see

Is there a price list somewhere?

im just going off the site.
3/8 90 tooth $66 bucks

3/8 80 tooth $98

3/8 matco 88 tooth $102

3/8 gearwrench (will be 84 teeth soon if not already) $46

otis66 · Jul 3, 2012

concealer404 said:
They're not. That was established on the first page.

Thanks for the info. I'll pass on these "New" NAPA tools. I always buy USA when I can. SK can fill that need. When I have to I'll buy GearWrench.

otis66 · Jul 3, 2012

cascivic said:
im just going off the site.
3/8 100 tooth $66 bucks

3/8 80 tooth $98

3/8 matco 88 tooth $102

3/8 gearwrench (will be 84 teeth soon if not already) $46

I cannot find the web site for Carlyle Professional tools. How about a link.

concealer404 · Jul 3, 2012

otis66 said:
GearWrench does have a new 84 tooth ratchet.

And Carlyle doesn't so... that would mean that Carlyle is probably not copying/rebadging Gearwrench.

cascivic · Jul 3, 2012

On my phone now but I just went on napa's site and broke it down thru the menus. It already has its own section under hand tools for Carlyle brand

concealer404 · Jul 3, 2012

otis66 said:
Thanks for the info. I'll pass on these "New" NAPA tools. I always buy USA when I can. SK can fill that need. When I have to I'll buy GearWrench.

Strange use of quotes... mind explaining what you meant there?

New napa tool line

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