I have been reading these forums for a few months now and this weekend I decided to review what I carry in our cars. My wife and I live in the Phoenix metro area, and other than (all too) rare camping trips, we are always in the metro area. I prefer to keep my kits somewhat modular, so I can add groups of things easily. The list below mostly reflects things I have found a need for often enough in the past that I didn't want to not have, plus some things that just make life a bit easier.

I'd appreciate any feedback on changes or additions:

Stored in trunk:
Car Toolkit
* Large & small vise grips
* channel-lock, needle nose, and slip joint pliers
* wire cutters
* utility knife with spare blades
* 16' tape measure
* Screwdriver set (8 total, various sizes)
* 6" nail puller
* Allen Wrench (SAE & Metric)
* Driver bit set with various bits
* socket set (1/4 and 3/8 sae & metric
* Jumper cables
* leather gloves
* 8x8 tarp
* AA LED flashlight
* 16oz claw hammer
* mini hack saw
* funnel

Consumables:
* 2 1/2 gallon water jug
* duct tape
* #8 steel wire
* hose clamps, various sizes
* wire ties
* fix-a-flat
* 50' 550 paracord

Clothing
* Jeans
* tennis shoes
* socks (2pr)
* tshirt (2)
* hooded zip up sweatshirt
* hat

Stored in passenger compartment:
* 3D LEG mag light
* Petzl TIKKINA headlamp
* AA LED mag light
* SOG Pentagon fixed blade knife
* Utility shears (paramedic type)
* Nalgene water bottle
* Hand towel (12x18)
* compass
* matches, lighter, & firestarter
* Fox 40 whistle
* travel sewing kit

* First Aid Kit
**Tweezers
**Assorted band aids
**4x4 gauze pads
**Gauze roll
**Medical tape
**Advil
**Aspirin
**Scalpel blades
**Disinfectant wipes
**Antiseptic cream
**Latex gloves
**Antacid tablets
**Nail clippers & scissors
**Allergy pills

*Personal items
**Toothbrush
**toothpaste
**dental floss
**Sunscreen lotion
**lip balm
**Insect repellent (small vial of REI jungle juice)
**disposable razor
**3 days worth daily prescription meds

In addition, my EDC consists of:
Leatherman Juice multitool
Bandanna
Handkerchief
Photon II LED light
Cell phone
Mini Fox Whistle
2GB USB Jump drive
Pill vial with 1 days worth of meds

I have not yet assembled BOB's for us - that will be happening soon. I will also make additional 'road trip' kits to add to the vehicles when we head out of town. Keep in mind I do live in the Phoenix area, and during the summer, the inside of a closed car can easily reach 140. The water I carry is the 2.5 gallon jug of Arrowhead and I replace it each month.

In case I haven't said it before, Welcome Newguy!

Looks like you have a pretty good spread of stuff. Given the heat in your area, I might get another tarp, you could rig one as a sunshade while using the other on the ground to crawl around under the vehicle, trying to fix whatever is bad.

What are you going to use the scalpel blades for???

Something new that went in my car today- spare set of wipers.

The other pair sorta died when they were needed. So I bought two sets. :P

Welcome Newguy to this place.

Lee

I noticed you listed a complete socket set (both metric and sae!) and even vise grips.
Good man!

But Ironraven points out something I've been thinking about for a while.
What about vehicle specific expendable parts for the vehicle?
I carry a full set of spare bulbs and fuses just for starters. These are items that receive massive markups at convenience stores and few quickie marts have a wide selection of good quality headlight bulbs. Usually that stuff is overpriced junk.

But I also carry an oil filter, drain plug, drain plug gasket, spark plugs, and a fuel filter.
Fortunately my vehicle does not use a serpentine belt but I carry a timing belt, t-belt tensioner bearing and a water pump/alternator belt.
Does this seem excessive?

My thought process is to reduce down time should I be forced to take the car to a mechanic in some locale that may not have quick access to parts like this which can be very vehicle specific. Haven't we all heard tales of someone we know being stuck somewhere, far from home, while the mechanic is "waiting for parts"? Not to mention the parts markup when they know you stuck there and have no choice...
Thoughts?

Thanks for the responses.

OGB - The only thing I have ever used the scalpel blades for was removing deep splinters. A needle would have probably worked as well.

Timo - For most of my driving, I am well within the free service area for my AAA. I spent this afternoon cleaning out my car and refreshing supplies, and noted that I do in fact have a fuse kit (made it up last time I blew a fuse and forgot I had it). Wiper blades are a good idea I hadn't thought of. A Haynes repair manual might not be a bad idea either.

This led me to another important point - it doesn't do much good to carry stuff if you forgot you have it. To remedy prevent stuff like that from happening, I inventoried everything in my car and printed out and laminated lists of the contents of each kit and taped them to the container I keep my stuff in, and made another copy to keep in the glove box.

Since I use Microsoft Outlook to schedule everything else in my life, I added some reoccurring appointments to it to remind me when different things need refreshing.

As to specific vehicle repair kits, I have mixed feelings. While I have decent mechanical aptitude, I have no real experience doing much 'under the hood' work with modern vehicles. Other than basic 'unbolt and replace', I'll leave the repair work to others. I do carry plenty of water and replacement radiator hoses, a tow rope, and sometimes a come-along when I go out of town. Overheating and getting stuck are pretty common problems relatively speaking. I keep our vehicles maintained and do a pretty thorough check before any out of town trips, prevention being the best medicine.

Thanks Lee for your post,,,

I have to make a long road trip in a few days an I hadn't even thought abou checking and inventorying my car kit,,,,,Duh!!!!!

This trip will include my severely handicapped daughter and her 250LBS wheelchair. I hadn't thought of bringing her wheelchair repair kit and that is a MUST!!!!

Thanks again!!

I carry some car-specific parts but prefer to run an aggrressive preventative maintenance program rather than carry parts. Timing belt change done early precludes carrying timing belt (for instance - none of my cars has timing belt).
In some cases, like serpentine belt, I change it early and put the takeoff belt in the car parts storage as the spare.

I change belts, hoses and battery at 4 year interval just to be sure. Those haven't yet failed me except for the OEM battery on a new car failing at 3 years.


How do you keep all your goodies from melting into slag in the Arizona heat???

"...be like OBG carrying spare points
and condensers..."

I stopped doing that when they put a computer on my ride's motor. As for the gap, in a pinch you can probably get away with using ten penneys (a nail of course)...

looks like a good kit to me
the second tarp sounds like a great idea as well as the new wiper blades

Welcome to the forum

Welcome NewGuy...Jump in with both feet and have fun!

May I suggest getting a spare thermostat? I know if one doesn't open you can have some issues. I also know that in hot weather you can run without one. But, I prefer to have the parts in the engine as designed.

I really like the idea of carrying a spare parts, although some experiences lead me to believe that the one you do not have is the one that will be needed. When I was about 5, my family spent some time on the side of the road when a hose blew. the one hose not replaced prior to the 1,400 mile trip, from CT to FL.

However, if you are bringing the parts, don't forget the ancillaries. What good is a new gasket, if you cannot seal the fitting that covers the thermostat. In that vein, some high-temperature silicon might be a good addition to a car kit. Instead of having to carry gaskets, you can use it. Some silicon sealants are good at up to 500 degrees, so it could work for a while and let you limp in, or go further. Something like:
http://3m.hillas.com/pc-15450-2163-3m-08672-ultrapro-high-temp-silicone-gasket-black-3-oz-tube.aspx

+1 on the "Blue RTV", or is it orange? That hi-temp stuff is great.

Do you have safety glasses/goggles?

Good choice. Thermostats fail fairly frequently.

If you have a hose failure that you do a temp repair with duct tape , if you remove the thermostat from the system, the temp won't get high enough to pressurize the system and blow thru the tape.

(Proved that one after a marmot chewed a radiator hose on a friends jeep left at 10,000' until we could get the tools to remove the stuck flat tire.)

Great list LeeG, you have all the basics covered

I drive a quad cab 4 x 4 so I have more space than some, but a few things I have learned the hard way never to be without are:


- tire repair kit/plugs(blew two tires at once a couple of years ago) I only have 1 spare. By using the plugs the tire can be repaired later at a garage. If certain brands of that spray is used apparently the tire cannot be repaired later. ???

-spare lug nuts(they come loose after changing a tire, despite the best efforts in torqueing them without the proper torque wrench it dosent hurt to have a few spares, just in case)

-tow strap
-saw or hatchet(to cut branches for traction when stuck)
-lightweight rain gear
-oil/brake fluid/ power steering fluid etc
-digital camera(you see all the cool s**t when you leave the camera at home, so I bought a cheap one to leave in the truck. I also used it to document an accident for insurance purposes)
-power inverter(very handy little plug in model)
-road flares, 15 min
-pry bar
-100 bucks in cash(for those gas stations in the middle of no where that dont take interact payments)
-sunglasses(usually an EDC item)but I bought a set to leave in the truck after forgeting them in my other shirt too many times. Driving in a rainy day that suddenly turns sunny sucks if you leave them home.

-a weapon(if I need to leave the truck at night on a dark lonely highway and hoof it somewhere then I am taking a friend with me "just in case")



I carry a lot in the truck that most people wouldn't consider simply because I can(I have more space)These are just a few base items I thought I would toss out there, but I also have mostly everything on your list as well. I live in a colder place so my list reflects that fact. Its all a matter of fine tuning it to your particular needs, just like a PSK or BOB.

Duluth trading has a silicon tape that seals with itself, and is much, much better than duct tape for hoses. It seals even when wet, and can easily handle the pressure. Something you might want to look in to.

While this hasn't ever happened to me in 35 years of driving and working on my own cars... I suppose it could. And I carry a spare lugnut just because.

What I HAVE seen that might be of interest is that the little decorative chrome caps on the lug nuts of many vehicles (Jeep Cherokees in my case) come off leaving a different sized nut. Having a deep well socket and breaker bar to handle not only the chrome cap sized lugnut but the steel one underneath could be important. Your standard tire changing wrench won't work on the exposed nut.

A real socket and breaker bar would have saved my friend's ordeal and subsequent chewed hose story since the root cause was that the dealership had overtorqued the lugnuts to the aluminum wheel so hard that his tire changing lug wrench split instead of budging the lugnut.

Along the lugnut line of thought, I have seen many people put aftermarket wheels on their vehicle, but leave the spare a standard wheel. Some of the aftermarket rims used a "special" lugnut that will not tighten on a standard rim, and if they didn't keep the original lugs they were SOL when it came to putting on the spare. So if you get fancy aftermarked rims, be sure to keep a handfull of the factory lugnuts...

I doubt many here would need this advice, but I needed to check on DW. If you have wheel locks make darn sure you know where the key is located. If anyone you know has them, check on them too. DW lost ker key, and it was mssing for some time. We got away with it, until I got the locks off. But it was a potential disaster.

I have never lost one,(although I have heard of it happening) but I do a LOT of 4 x 4 driving. After changing a flat and trying to tighten the nuts up with the wheel wrench in 2 feet of mud and then off-roading some more to get back to the highway on a couple of occassions a couple of the lugs got fairly loose. I had to retighten them. I figure theres no harm in having 2-3 on hand. This hunting season the torque wrench is coming with me because I have a tendancy to try and drive over everything and will most likely need to change a tire or two.

I responded to a similar thread over on EDCForums about a week ago. That thread, and the first bright, warm day in what seems like forever inspired me to turn out the minivan and get some pictures of what's inside.


Here's the jumble in the back, looking as organized as it ever does. It never ceases to amaze me how little space there actually is behind the back bench seat in a Caravan. From left, there's a medium-sized blue duffel, a Black & Decker battery charger/jumpstarter, a pair of small backpacks, a one-gallon gas can, and these are stacked on a surplus wool blanket and a 10x10 tarp. These items are crammed in behind the two rows of bench seats with car seats/boosters for my three kids.


Here's the same view, with a sheet to keep most of the stuff out of sight, and the umbrella stroller (seldom used) on top.


Here, spread out on the wool blanket shown on the bottom right of the first photo, is the big blue bag and its contents. On far right is the tool bag, with assorted tools, a gas siphon, some flares. Moving left are the jumper cables, a folding triangle reflector, a pair of reflective vests, two bags with a roll of squashed toilet paper inside, a pair of Turboflares. Moving left again, a bag of bungees, paracord, and tarp clamps. Several dust masks, and another bag with white cordage, zip ties and iodine. Finally, the small shovel that sits under the back seat (not in the big blue duffel).


The old surplus backpack. 6x8 tarp, Grundig fr200 crank radio (am,fm,shortwave), 32-oz Nalgene with water, bandana and metal cup, 'Warmth Kit': disposable poncho, disposable foil blanket, 2 hand/1 body chemical warmers, 2 heavy duty garbage bags. Cold Steel 4-inch All-Terrain knife, metal knife/fork/spoon, Survival Kit cards, Esbit stove & 9 fuel tabs, hand chainsaw, 2@20-foot hanks of paracord, 1 can beef stew, 2 pouches of tuna, lighters, Boy Scout sparker, Sparklite, small Swiss Army knife.


North Face pack with Purell gel, 6x6 and 6x8 tarps, bungee cords, sausage, trail mix bars, Miso soup mix, firestarters (lighter, Blastmatch, Sparklite, candle, Boy Scout flint), paracord, can of beef stew, three can Ecofuel, and red stuffsack with a Coleman stacking mess kit with pot, skillet, two plates and four mugs.


Odds and ends from around the rest of the minivan. From the glovebox and underseat drawer: gloves, 8 AA and 5 AAA batteries, pair of CR123 batteries, cell phone charger, Nuwai TM-115 3-watt hi-lo, River Rock 2xAAA .5-watt headlamp, lighter, compass, white box of Bandaids. Stowed under seats are: a Costco rainsuit, First Aid kit, 2 hooded space blankets, a large umbrella and a power inverter that plugs into the lighter/power outlet. The inverter help when I want to listen to books on tape - the cassette player in the car stereo doesn't work, so I can plug in an old boombox. Also, I like having it in case I would ever need to use my son's nebulizer while on a road trip (he has allergies).

My inventory isn't complete here - I see that there were a few items in the bags that I didn't have on the older inventory on my Palm Pilot...and the meds in the First Aid kit almost all need replaced - lots of aspirin and stuff like that that expired in 2006 or even 2005.

Nice kit. I can assure you that there's not any more room behind the seat of a Windstar, especially with 5 kids. "Honey, why do we need to carry both a single stroller and double one in the car all the time?"

I recently bought one of these for vacations and camping. It's a low-end model and feels a little flimsy but it seems to be ok for occasional use. Twenty cubic feet in that baby!

For any of you that have a small folding shovel, try it out in the backyard one day, my father keeps one in the farm truck and one day when i had gotten stuck and was trying to dig out the handle broke. luckily there was a tractor on the way to pull me out but that doesn't always happen, the shovel was an old army surplus to boot.

Hey,

My Ford F250 at work needs a special socket to lower the wheel from under the box. I never knew this until I got a flat last summer, I guess it is for security of the spare.

Once in a remote spot I managed to twist the lug-nut head off a 4 position wheel wrench (using a cheater bar on seized lug nuts). Had to call for a tow truck to bring me a socket and long bar.

I now check my lug nuts once in a while to prevent them from seizing.

Mike

I watch the guy at the tire store so he doesn't get too enthusiastic with his air wrench.

Jeff

Good tire shops use an impact wrench, followed by a torque wrench, on lug nuts. Others use an inpact wrench only, and seem to get them too tight. If you go off roading and/or thru water much, I suggest applying some oil to the lugs from time to time. I have bent four way lug wrenches into pretzels trying to remove super tight rusty lug nuts in the past...

I retorque the lugnuts my ownself with a torque wrench after the shop does any work. Just because. (see the words about my friend's marmot chewed hose above)

My Dad and I (100 years doing our own car work between us) use a little dab of anti-seize on the lugnut threads (NOT THE CONE SURFACE) to prevent rust/seizure. While it's not recommended, and my lawyer will deny that it was me that posted this, neither has ever had loosening from this practice.

I rotate mine every 5000-6000 miles so they tend to not have time to get rusty. I jack up the front and put on jack stands then start the iol draining while doing the tire roatation so I combine both maintenance work at one time.
I sat down one day with the manual and printed off some index cards with a maintenance checklist, lug not torque, oil capacity, etc so I can just check off each step so as to not forget or have to look something up.

After I managed to split a regular deep well socket, I switched to carrying an 1/2" drive impact socket & a ~3' breaker bar (cheap import, the quality brands don't come that big).

1" EMT conduit makes a great breaker bar. It fits over the handle of most ratchets and smaller breaker bars.

I'll have to get a length of it. I'm working on reducing tool kit size from full size ext. cab pickup to mid-size car & that's the one item I hadn't found a good option for.

I'm having the opposite experience, Dave. I'm changing primary vehicles from a mini-van to a '91 Civic 4 door. I can't believe how much stuff I kept in that van! The trunk in the civic feels a little bigger than the rear compartment of the van but man, there's a whole lot less interior space to hide stuff!

As always, thanks for excellent food for thought everyone!

I keep a Cold Steel Special Forces shovel in each car...was no match during a blizzard when a plow driver kindly put 3 feet of snow around my car...but it's done well every other time...designed after a Soviet Spetnaz shovel...around $15 these days...check them out!

But this is a good reminder to beat on the gear that you are planning to use to save your skin...all this kit building does no good if your components are going to fail you when you need them most...use and abuse...the stuff that holds up? Make a permanent place in your kit for it!

I'd add some food in the form of granola bars, a spare cell charger, sunglasses, ponchos.

Thanks for the info. This is a great kit!

Spare Thermostat and a Radiator cap might prove handy to go with xtra hoses, belts and coolant.
Consider checking to see if your vehicle has any special needs for fill & venting the cooling system. My pickup does .. but no car I ever had before did ...might be handy to know.
I don't think thermostats fail as often as radiator caps might.
And I've had about every water cooled car have a radiator failure. Most vehicles now have plastic manifolds on their radiators ...the one on my truck leaked before 50K miles. My other failure experiences were with metal radiators and occurred around the 100K miles mark. I'm thinking now maybe some kind of hi temp epoxy repair system might be helpful for just such a failure.
Might want to add a set of Torx bits ... I discovered I needed mine when I changed out my throttle position sensor last week and saw more of those type screws than I'd thought there would be.
All my cars carry a small air compressor and Flat Fix. Some compressors are wimpier than others ...mine cost $50 at Costco and is the strongest I found so far. There are more expensive ones out there .. but $50/car was spendy enough for my wallet.
I love my Cold Steel Shovel ...but a folding one might take up less space and should work adequately enough.
Hadn't thought of adding an oil drain plug and washer ...that could be tough to do without if it got lost.
I don't EDC or stash in my kits any less than a week's worth of personal Meds....and a month is my preferred minimum for my kits.
Love the compartmentalized examples that were posted ....some day my stuff will be that organized too ...

"...I don't think thermostats fail as often as radiator caps might..."

Maybe I just have bad luck, but I have had a jillion thermostats freeze up on me, and never had a radiator cap fail...

Toilet paper.

+1 on the spare fuses, extra tarp/blanket for staying dry/insulating against hot tarmac, the silicon tape from Duluth Trading Co..
I also recommend a tire plug kit, have plugged mine at least a dozen times over the years and never had one fail in plug afterwards. A good air pump that runs off the lighter is a good suggestion too, I tend to perfer this set up over fix-a-flat any day of the week.

-Bill Liptak

Pretty old thread so I'm not sure if its been recommended yet, but I went the other way on the air pump - got a Coleman manual/foot operated air pump for $12 at Fred Meyer, after my fancy schmancy electric air pump that ran off the lighter crapped out mid-way through its first flat reinflation. I decided never to trust to electronics again for something like air in my tires. ymmv - the tire plug kit is a very good idea though, also saved my hide on a forest road last year.

I went thru several of those $30 plug in the cigarette lighter compressors, finally got fed up and bought something similar to this. It can actually put 90 pounds of air into an RV tire...

I read about this just before I went to a trade show. Folks from Rescue Tape were there selling 1"x12' .20 rolls for $20 for 3 rolls. The industrial 2"x36" .30 for $20 as well.

Their website seems to be way overpriced encouraging folks to buy from tradeshows.

Thanks to this forum and it's members again about a handy product I would not have known about.

o their website they are selling 2 rolls for 24 dollars...just FYI

Update: I ended up picking up the 1x12 rolls for $5 each at the tradeshow.