Modding your own car is about more than just saving money. There’s a huge sense of achievement in improving the performance of your own vehicle with your own hands. It’s not always easy, but that’s all part of the fun. In addition to the parts, you’ll also need a good set of tools to be able to get the work done. It really does make things much, much easier if you’ve got exactly what you need, so we’re going to go through the main ones here.

Jack & stands – If you’re going to be modding the car, you’re going to need to jack it up at some point. Never rely on the one in your wheel well – that’s just for emergency wheel changes. You need a properly rated jack, and stands to go with it, along with wheel chocks if you’re going to do things safely.

Hammer – Sometimes it takes some good old fashioned violence to get things done. Whether you need to loosen a seized bolt or tight calliper, you’ll eventually need the services of a good hammer.

Clamp–Clamps are very useful for holding things in place, but also squeezing things together. If you’re uprating your pads or whole brakes, then you’ll need a clamp to push back the brake piston.

Basic tool set – You might be surprised at just how useful a set of everyday tools such as screwdrivers and pliers will be. There are actually very few specialist tools that a car requires, even when doing something major like fitting a non- standard turbo.

Socket & wrench set – The vast majority of jobs will require the removal of bolts, and they’ll come in a number of different sizes, so having a set is essential. You’ll also want to make sure that you’ve got a variety of different bars and fitments, because it can be difficult getting leverage when you’re working down in the engine bay or even behind something simple like the brake discs. Using air powered wrenches may be necessary on certain seized bolts. This is probably the most important set of tools; you won’t often come across a job without them. Be aware that you may also need hex or torx heads to go with the set.

Of course, this list can never be completely exhaustive, as there are often some little things that you’ll need for individual jobs, but the above will get you most of the way when uprating brakes, changing a turbo, fitting an induction kit.