Best disposable workshop gloves 2026
Protecting your hands as you work is vital. We put seven gloves to the test
The most important and versatile tool you can use when fixing or cleaning your car isn’t a spanner or sponge; it’s your hands. Yet we take them for granted and fail to protect them from harmful chemicals and sharp edges.
Every professional mechanic and car valeter knows that disposable gloves will keep their hands safe and will make cleaning up at the end of the job much faster. But you need to balance the fit and feel with protection and grip. Thinner materials will allow you to keep a better hold on small components, but won’t be able to survive being scraped against a screw head.
For working on a car, you will also want a material that can cope with being doused in solvents and petrol-based products, which will rule out most latex products of the type used by medical professionals.
For this test we put seven disposable gloves through our regime. Which will we keep on hand when working on our car?
How we tested
All the gloves were ordered in a large size and assessed for fit, comfort and sensitivity. We then checked if it was still possible to use a touchscreen while wearing them.
To test the resistance to common automotive chemicals we exposed them to petrol, WD-40, acetone-based carburettor cleaner spray, engine oil and wheel cleaner. They were then inflated to see if the material had been weakened.
Used - available now
2023 Audi
e-tron Sportback
34,389 milesAutomaticElectric
Cash £23,176
2023 Hyundai
Tucson
23,745 milesManualPetrol1.6L
Cash £16,976
2020 Fiat
500
25,391 milesManualPetrol1.2L
Cash £8,649
2024 Vauxhall
Mokka
17,177 milesAutomaticPetrol1.2L
Cash £15,499For the protection trial, we filled the gloves with water to simulate a hand and dropped them from a height of 30cm onto a blunt nail to see if they split. We also judged the value for money, based on cost per glove.
Toolstation Disposable Blue Gloves
- Price: around £13.28/100
- Price per glove: 13p
- Rating: 5.0 stars
- Contact: toolstation.com
Toolstation’S own-brand gloves don’t look as interesting as some of their brightly coloured and textured rivals, but they shone brightly in all our tests and have a competitive price, too.
They are thick enough to provide impressive protection against nicks and tears, but still have good sensitivity and touchscreen compatibility. They shrugged off all the chemicals as well, only becoming weakened by the carburettor cleaner after several minutes. The grip in wet conditions is less than the textured competitors, but the difference is marginal.
Mercator ideall Grip Green
- Price: around £7.32/50
- Price per glove: 14p
- Rating: 4.5 stars
- Contact: justgloves.co.uk
Other than the colour, the Mercators look and feel almost identical to the Gator Gripz, which seem to be the favoured glove in most professional workshops.
They weigh the same, at 8g per glove, both use a textured finish for grip and are thicker than most of the rivals here. The cuff is longer than average, so it shields more of your wrist and will cover a watch. But the ideall Grips feel slightly more flexible and are half the price of their rival.
Site SDG210 Nitrile Disposable Gloves
- Price: around £6.64/50
- Price per glove: 13p
- Rating: 4.0 stars
- Contact: screwfix.com
These are the only gloves here that claim to be biodegradable, which makes you feel less guilty about using them once before putting them in the bin.
The gloves resisted all the chemicals except the carb cleaner – but even then they put up a good fight. They’re also touchscreen compatible on the thumb, index and middle fingers. The stretchy material means they are comfortable to wear, but they popped on our nail test.
Ansell TouchNTuff
- Price: around £24.99/100
- Price per glove: 25p
- Rating: 4.0 stars
- Contact: amazon.co.uk
The Ansells have previously won this disposable glove test, but the asking price has inexplicably risen by a tenner in the past two years, making them the second most expensive product here and pushing them down the chart on value alone.
But the increase in price hasn’t hurt the Ansell’s performance. Despite the gloves feeling thinner than their tough-skinned competitors in this test, the TouchNTuffs survived the nail-drop task and only gave up in the face of the carburettor cleaner. Their thinness makes these gloves comfortable to wear, too.
Quinton Hazell Black Nitrile Disposable Gloves
- Price: around £5.49/100
- Price per glove: 5.5p
- Rating: 3.5 stars
- Contact: mymotorworld.com
If you need gloves which will give basic protection against mild chemicals, then these are great value, at less than 5.5p each – the cheapest here. They resisted petrol, WD-40 and wheel cleaner and are comfortable, with good touchscreen sensitivity. They passed the blunt nail drop test, but didn’t like the carb cleaner and popped as soon as it was sprayed.
Tough Glove Gator Gripz Nitrile Disposable Gloves
- Price: around £14/50
- Price per glove: 28p
- Rating: 3.0 stars
- Contact: toughglove.co.uk
The Gator Gripz hold on in wet conditions due to their textured surface, are comfy despite the thick skin and offer decent protection against most chemicals. They were beaten by the carb cleaner, but the degradation was gradual, and the nail drop resulted in a small hole rather than a split. They work with touchscreens, but are twice the price of the Mercators.
Yellow Pearl Gloves
- Price: around £8.39/100
- Price per glove: 8p
- Rating: 2,5 stars
- Contact: justgloves.co.uk
These thin gloves have great sensitivity and work well with touchscreens. But they popped after a sniff of carb cleaner and split on the nail test. The cheaper Quinton Hazells are marginally better.
Verdict
A keen price and excellent performance mean the Toolstation Disposable Blue Gloves win. If you need a little more grip, then the second-placed Mercators’ textured pattern may make more sense. Third place goes to the Site SDG210s, which offer comfort and protection, while being biodegradable, too.
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