I wear nitrile gloves when I remember to. I am almost out of the box of the cheap medium duty gloves from harbor freight. I'm going to get a box of the black heavy duty gloves next. Its a pain having to constantly clean my hands when I work on my car. I will take them off every now and then when the gloves are more of an annoyance than help.

it really helps in keeping you in good health and also saves a lot of time, I use the blue skin tight gloves sometimes but most of the times I have a set of plastic dipped gloves, after cleaning up 15 year old black grease and gunk from the timing case of my diesel engine while replacing the tensioner arm, my hands were neat and tidy after the job. No scratches either.

Your hands are the most expensive tools in your tool collection.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

That's what my dentist neighbor says all the time, he even has an insuance policy on his hands.

I will admit, that if I am at home, and need to change an air filter I probably won't break out the gloves.

People just don't understand the dangerous chemicals used in auto repair, if they read the msds data, they would think twice about been exposed to that crap. Instead, the shadetree know it all types insinuate that it's not manly to wear gloves.

Tell you guys the truth, change a few diesel fuel filters without gloves and then do a few diesel oil changes to boot. Tell me if your old lady is going to want to be around you with that look and smell.

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"I was a dirty bird, Carol's not grungey - she's *****in" John Milner....American Graffiti

I used to think I was alone in this.If I remember correctly I started wearing some kind of hand protection way back around the late 70's ( liquid glove or something) when I really got into bending wrenches. Then when I went to school to get my FAA A&P license ( A & P ) I went to the rubber gloves while working on turbines etc. I never stopped even working at home on my own stuff.
You run for the phone and realize your hands are covered in grease and you know the little woman will ring your neck if you make a mess sooooo.
That said I agree that our knowledge of the various chemicals we are exposed to have probably gotten more people into it. It also does not hurt that almost all of the programs on TV aimed at us knuckle busters have their hosts wearing gloves ( savvy marketing)

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92 500E Silver 66k
82 Porsche 911SC 84K
68 Cadillac ( Gone Now )
03 Suburban Z71 200K
85 300SD 217k From Original Owner ( Dad )

Even if that little woman is 14 inches shorter than you. She will kill you for greasing up the phone, kitchen, door handle, camera etc.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

The Nitrile exam gloves from Costco are pretty good.

The first time I decided to wear gloves is when I pulled the gooey intake manifold off of a mid-80s small block Camaro. I initially just bought some vinyl gloves at Home Depot and just the oils on the engine had them disintegrating before my eyes.

Nowadays I keep a pair of the so-called 'mechanic's gloves' in the trunk for bigger stuff, even like changing a tire, or for some under-the-hood work when the engine is still warm. Otherwise the Nitrile ones go on for most things, though for an air filter I go bareback.

If only I had used gloves from the start my future as a hand model would have never ended.

"Ended"?

I wear gloves because my mother tells me to, and after reading Diesel911's post, I don't mind it.

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

I don't know how y'all wear gloves. My hands get pretty irritated working with ATF, so I wear the glue/black gloves for that, but aside from that I can't stand gloves. I hate changing gloves every 5 minuets. Its not like I'm a doctor working with with soft squishy things. Cars are made of metal, and its been my experience that I cut the glove after about 5 minuets of real work. Its more aggravation then its worth. I pressure wash my car before getting in there, and wash my hands often. washing my hands every hour or so is less aggravating then burning through boxes of gloves.

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When ypu work on cars every day, you just don't want fuel. oil. coolant. and the various chemicals used in brake kleen et al on your skin. It is bad enough having to breath that stuff, but you sure don't want long term exposure to your bloodstream.

Not to mention, having dirty fingernails is not a turn on for the wives and girlfriends of mechanics.

Gloves are cheap, and they also save time, because one can remove them and move the customers car without spending 5 minutes washing your hands in order to not get the costomers interior dirty.

Being clean isn't about "feminisation", it's about being healthy and showing pride in your job. Of course, there are still lots of people who define the term "grease monkey", good for them it's a free country.

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"I was a dirty bird, Carol's not grungey - she's *****in" John Milner....American Graffiti

I eat candy bars with a knife and fork. I wear nitrile gloves when I work on the car too - mostly so I don't have that chemical stink. I also use them when I field dress deer. Deer blood makes my hands itch like crazy.

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2009 E320 Bluetec 117,000
1995 E300D 306,000 Sold
1996 Ford Taurus LX 130,000 Sold
1985 300TD Still 225,000 Sold
2016 Ford Fusion 24,900

I also dress and carve meat (goat, cow, deer) from time to time and I dont like to spend the next 3 hours trying to remove lodged blood etc from the sides of my finger nails - It also starts to itch.. People call me mad butcher at that time.

btw when working on cars the gloves i use come in a NAPA box, I got a dozen pairs at work. and if they get dirty, I toss them in a bucket with water+simple green. They come out clean.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

I've been using latex gloves since 92 or so ( I owned / ran a auto repair shop from 88 to 97 )

If someone is tearing gloves every 5 min either they have cheap gloves or are not careful while working. In fact, I usually reuse latex gloves if I have them on for less than a few hours. Fuel / solvents will cause latex to bloom and tear, nitrile last longer.

Yes, sometimes after extended use the gloves will start to tear, but at that point your hands still stay cleaner much longer. I challange athe non glove people to work glove free while changing a drive axle boot that uses moly grease.

If I've got em I'll use em.

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Jim

I am 47 now and I no longer reach into a drain pan of oil, elbow deep. to retrieve a drain plug like I did in my youth. I avoid all sorts of things now and wear a dustmask and faceshield all the time.

I wear the blue nitrile gloves for everything. I lotion my hands several times a day and when I leave work for the day, there is no trace I ever worked on a car.

The lady at the bank asked if I worked in the office when she saw my hands...

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Did you just pass my 740 at 200 kmh in a 300SD?????

1978 300SD 'Phil' - 1,315,853 Miles And Counting - 1, 317,885 as of 12/27/2012 - 1,333,000 as of 05/10/2013, 1,337,850 as of July 15, 2013, 1,339,000 as of August 13, 2013



100,000 miles since June 2005 Overhaul - Sold January 25th, 2014 After 1,344,246 Miles & 20 Years of Ownership