Mechanics across the country recognize the name, but maybe those of us living in the same town as the tool manufacturer are less familiar with it.
It began in 1977, the same year Elvis Presley died and Apple Computers was incorporated by Steve Jobs. The first Star Wars film was released and Sunex Tools was forming in Travelers Rest, South Carolina.
The company started small, family owned and run, and by the next decade (those big-haired and neon-wearing 80s) Sunex Tools (although still family owned and operated) was already a trusted name with automotive professionals.
We always knew TR would have an impact on the world, but maybe we didn’t know that impact would come through tools.
The unassuming buildings where the magic happens seems to fit perfectly with the image and the work ethic of Sunex Tools.
“It’s never been about the pretty picture,” Lucinda Rinzel, Marketing Manager, says. “It’s always been about the product. And about the loyalty of our customers.”
She’s right – although there’s a right pretty product that Sunex is producing too – when it’s fresh and shiny before its found its life work under hoods and beside motors and in greasy tight spots.
Take a look at their new pin up series for their tool boxes. These storage units are down right lovely, even if no mechanic would choose that word to describe them.
One of the core traits of Sunex is their testing procedures. Their field testing for their products is extensive and they genuinely seek out feedback from their customers and clients.
Locally, the mechanics over at TR Auto Repair know first hand how this breaks down in the actual garage.
Jonathan Stringer, the owner of TR Auto Repair, has been using Sunex tools for ten years.
“The quality is excellent and the customer relations are amazing,” Stringer says. “They listen to our input and they really put the time into developing tools that mechanics want and need.”
And that is the actual voice of experience. Stringer says he is still using the same air ratchet that he purchased from Sunex a decade ago.
Not only is Sunex one of the best, according to Stringer, but his loyalty also comes from the personal care the company offers his repair shop. “They are the only tool makers that comes to our shop in person to get our input on the tools they are making.”
During their forty years of business they have also branched out into the international market, spreading their mechanical wings right across the world.
Their goal is tools that perform, whether you are using their tool in your garage or the tool is operating a multi million dollar industry.
Despite what changes lie ahead and which new Star Wars film is released or what hairstyles come and go, the future for Sunex is a lot like the past for Sunex – a passion to build tools with a guarantee to perform regardless of whose hands hold them.
It’s both their heritage and their promise – and it’s their future too.
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