Gloves

[mjb]

When I went to change my gear oil, I got some latex gloves to avoid contact with the foul smelling carcinogenic stuff and since then I've been doing everything wearing the things. It's great - no more getting muck all over the house, no more hours scrubbing oil off my hands under the tap and the skin's starting to grow back on my fingers and thumbs! No more fingernails shrinking by 2mm each time I go near the car!

I wish I'd discovered the wonders of latex gloves before, they rule. Only trouble I've found with them is you can't spin a wheel brace when wearing them, but that's a small price to pay

[bigdaves406]

do your misses like u wearing them in bed too

[highlander]

I wear latex gloves when using alloy wheel cleaning solutions, and so should everyone.

The solutions are nasty to your skin; they are abbrasive and will give you nasty chemical burns.

Brake dust is nasty to your skin, and sticks in the grooves and folds in your skin, and under your fingernails. Brake dust also contains asbestos, which is carcinogenic. Nasty, nasty stuff.

For other car-related things, I am rather simple, and like to use something called a "Trained professional mechanic" when working on the car. The most I'll do is pump up the tyres, top up the wiper fluid reservoir, and check the oil level, so no - no gloves for any of those other activities.

I voted "Sometimes"

[Welly]

I have used the latex ones but find my hands sweat

Lately (not that I do anything to cars) I have a few pairs of these thin site gloves that you have to wear on construction sites now - they're rubbery on the palms but meshy on the backs (saves on loads of cuts if you have puffy office hands like mine)

[Captain Jack]

Sometimes. I had these cool ( ) garden gloves which were brilliant as they didn't let anything near my skin. Unfortunately, I "forgot" that they were not water/liquid proof, so I ruined them when changing the oil last time on the Honda. Gotta get some new ones though.

[jasper5]

I always wear latex gloves, have done for many years.

Most mechanics do.

[steve_earwig]

None of them do here, I keep remarking how their wives probably don't appreciate oily hands but they're not having any of it, saying they can't do anything with them on.

I never used to wear gloves, after a few days old oil is impossible to get off and your hands look awful. As has already been pointed out it's not healthy either, the guy I used to do all the car stuff with has bad dermatitus from it. Nowdays I use latex gloves, I can't find anything too sturdy here but they do the job. It helps to tip a little talcome powder in them and change them a few times if it's a long job. I also use washing-up gloves, I get Kleber ones (I remember when they used to make duff tyres) which are really tough for anything nasty. I have a pair in the car if I need to change a tyre.

If you don't use gloves you should, it may feel a bit weird at first but you soon get used to it. Your other half might have a few less headaches too...

[mjb]

It helps to tip a little talcome powder in them and change them a few times if it's a long job.

The ones I've got (box of 100 about £3 from eurocarparts, but it also applied to Halfords and Tescos offerings) come with powder in them. I've tried some without powder and it really does become obvious how much your hands are sweating and how uncomfortable it is...

I just change mine when I tear a hole in them, so every half hour or so it's surprising how many times you can catch/scratch/cut/tear them without it piercing your skin. If you consider without the gloves you'd probably end up bleeding a lot that's GOT to be a good thing! In fact wearing them has dropped my bloodshed rate quite significantly

[swiss]

At sea I'm up to my tits in oil, grease, gunk and bilge water most of the time. So mucky hands annoy the wife but not me

[DaiRees]

I generally don't bother but I do try to remember to use the latex ones when I'm changing oil (particularly transmission oil) or handling greasy parts. I also have some gloves I got from an autojumble with are basically made of a coarse cloth but the palm and fingers are coated with rubber so they're very grippy. They're very good.

Has anyone else heared the theory that mechanics suffer a higher rate of tisicular cancer than blokes from other professions, this has been attributed to scratching your bollocks through the pocket of your overalls while your hands are covered in old, burned oil.

[Doggy]

I've tried, but can't really get on with them. After 35 years or more of getting covered in it, gloves just don't seem right & I keep forgetting to use them. I do try to keep all the tools etc as clean as possible while I'm working though.

[mjb]

I do try to keep all the tools etc as clean as possible while I'm working though.

My tools are filthy, especially the screwdrivers a.k.a. chisels, levers, crowbars, punches, wedges, etc Occasionally I use then to undo screws too

[jasper5]

I generally don't bother but I do try to remember to use the latex ones when I'm changing oil (particularly transmission oil) or handling greasy parts. I also have some gloves I got from an autojumble with are basically made of a coarse cloth but the palm and fingers are coated with rubber so they're very grippy. They're very good.

Has anyone else heared the theory that mechanics suffer a higher rate of tisicular cancer than blokes from other professions, this has been attributed to scratching your bollocks through the pocket of your overalls while your hands are covered in old, burned oil.

The theory also relates to having oily rags in your pockets, as well as carrying tools in your pockets covered in oil.

[teamster1975]

I don't bother, unless I've got to make a repair to the bike before going to a customers!

[swiss]

Has anyone else heared the theory that mechanics suffer a higher rate of tisicular cancer than blokes from other professions, this has been attributed to scratching your bollocks through the pocket of your overalls while your hands are covered in old, burned oil.

We're told to wash our boiler suits everyday and keep oily rags in the knee pockets, not the hips.

Sure enough, my last ship had a large sign up in the shop about cancer of the nads