Snap Installation Pliers

They were needed and arrived on time.

I used these to install the snaps on the rear hatch screen. It made the project much easier and faster.

In my opinion, I cannot recommend the ‘recommended’ snap and plier kit. The pliers are almost useless. However, I did use some of the snaps from this kit. I found the snap elements are made of lighter aluminum. When using the snap pliers to create the curtain’s snap buttons, I destroyed a dozen snaps trying to find the magic. There is no fast way of doing the installation. The pliers' video makes it look eazy-peazy. This wasn’t the case. Trying to create a button snap in the curtain with the pliers while installing was almost impossible. Trying to align the button snap parts and creating a plier-created-snap-button in mid-air only led to destroyed buttons. And

*A note about the screws. The extra kit did not include screws. One now has to source a wood/ metal screw from a hardware store that would have the screw head fit into the snap base. I tried attaching one with a screw head that seemed to fit. Unfortunately, the screw head expanded the snap base imperceptibly—and the snap base would now not accept the curtain’s new button snap. The snap base was now junk.

I would rather have gone to a hardware, tarp & rigging store, or a sewing store to get a number of snaps to work with. In my opinion, the best curtain snap assembly option would be to use another kit that is supplied with a male punch post and female receiving die to precisely align everything correctly. Align the button snap assembly at the precise curtain location—the button head, the curtain, and the female button snap part on the reverse side of the curtain. Once everything is precisely aligned, one then taps the post vertically down with a hammer. This almost always worked very well. And check to see if the snap kit has screws. You have to find the right screws that fit perfectly. the screw head has to fit inside the button base. The screws have to be compatible with both wood and sheet metal. And possible some longer screws as well.

Pliers broke (metal tore) after about 15 or so uses. I've been using the hammer set since which works great. The metal seems a bit thin and "cheap".

This is a nice addition to any of the screen and bug guard kits GoWesty sells. I used on my 99 Eurovan to install the rear hatch screen and worked as advertised. Good to have on hand for any repairs as well.