Monday, January 30, 2012

Is there a difference? Which is better?

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if there is a difference between Chilton and Haynes repair manuals, and which of the two is better. I bought the Haynes Repair Manual for 1993-2002 Chevrolet Camaro / Pontiac Firebird because it was a couple dollars less. I have been considering picking up the Chilton Book Company Repair Manual: Total Car Care for 1993-1998 Chevrolet / Pontiac Camaro %26amp; Firebird as an extra resource in an attempt to get more information. I guess what I'm asking is if anyone knows if there is any more info in the Chilton that is not in the Haynes. Or if they're pretty much identical, making it a waste of money to also pick up the Chilton.Is there a difference? Which is better?
Personally I think that you are going to find most of what you'll likely need, info-wise, in the Haynes manual. For the most part the Chilton is redundant. If you were going to get another manual I'd get the actual Chevy manual specific to your vehicle...I'm sure a dealer has or could get one, but if you do a search on eBay, etc. you might find one at a reasonable price. There are also specialty shops that sell model-specific repair manuals. Hope this info helped.
I would have said Haynes is better, but now I've seen some Chiltons manuals that are exact duplicates of the Haynes ones. I think one of the companies bought the other one out.



If you want to get the most information possible, get the factory service manual. It's what the dealership mechanics use to fix cars. They are far more detailed than any of the aftermarket manuals. I've found there is no substitute for one. You can buy them here:



http://www.helminc.com/Is there a difference? Which is better?
throw both of them away and invest in the factory manual. i have found numerous errors in both of those manuals
the Chiltons goes slightly into more detail on complex systems of vehicle but the ultimate source of info is GM service manual for that car or alldata on the computerIs there a difference? Which is better?
there about the same but sometimes haynes has different info the chilton but they both r good some times chilton shows u more in certin areas of the repair then haynes
Haynes is a lot better.They have actual photos of the work on the car at times and are researched from an actual model of the mentioned car being taken apart.Chilton's is known for being generic. Their favorite phrase is"removal is reverse of installation" or/and "installation is the reverse is removal" The only thing they forgot to mention is the half dozen parts that need to come off before I even get to the part I need to replace!!!Chilton's is a waste of time unless you ran out of toilet paper.I agree with the person above me that the only other quaility manual would be the factory manual that you can get would be from a chevy dealer or maybe on ebay
I've used both, and frankly, I prefer Haynes. Just stick with that one.

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