Road trip

For adults, road trips are a mix of reminiscent fun and present-day stress. Here at Cheater Wrench, we understand both of those aspects and wanted to help take some stress out of your road trip planning. Below are our recommended must-have tools you should make sure are in the trunk before you set out on your next road adventure.

Tools For Roadside Tire Repair

Before you start packing the family bags into the car, you’ll want to have all the tools you need for an emergency roadside repair. Along with having a spare tire in case a flat tire happens as you travel, you will need:

  • Wheel wedges
  • Jack
  • Reflective triangles
  • Gloves
  • Tire repair kit
  • Lug wrench
  • Flashlight

Also, be sure you are checking your spare tire before every trip. Finding your spare deflated when you’re stuck roadside would be terrible timing.

Other Tools You May Need

It would be great if all you needed to worry about when you traveled was changing your tires roadside. So we have a few more tools you may need with ideas for what they are good for.

  • Crescent wrench – If you’ve ever changed your own battery, you know about the tiny nuts securing most battery connections. Small, frustrating, and almost impossible to pry off without a crescent wrench.
  • Gas can – This one is pretty self-explanatory. We just recommend you buy one around 5 gallons, which will be enough gas to see you out of most problems and not too heavy when full of gas.
  • Screwdrivers – Make sure you have at least one philips and one flat head screwdriver before you start your trip. Not only can they be used to tighten a number of things under the hood of the car (like a fuel pump line) but they are surprisingly handy when fishing things like crayons out which become jammed between seats.
  • Jumper cables – Even if your battery doesn’t give trouble on your trip, you can give someone else a hand if these are in your car. You can never have too much good karma!
  • Tool bag – You don’t want everything rolling around in your trunk, so make sure you’ve got a sturdy tool bag to contain your car kit. With a heavy duty bag, not only will your tools be secure but they are usually thick enough to keep any grease on your tools inside the bag and not on you other belongings.

Once you’ve got these tools and all the necessary snacks, you are ready for whatever you next road trip will throw at you. Happy travels!