That 9/32 chisel tip is quite large, 7.14mm. Did you mean that or the 3/32 which is 2.38mm? I've got both but I use the 3/32 for most through hole soldering. At work do you each get to use the same station day in day out?
Yeah, correct - 3/32 chisel tip. Apologies, I wasn't paying attention and I don't speak imperial fluently enough to notice the mistake.
We use the same station every day - Nobody is in any way gentle with them, I'm probably the most careful.
I used to work on automotive/marine gear in the past as well. I don't think you can get around the conformal coating clogging filters unless you use a rotary tool then flush it away to reduce the effect. Then you slow down and it's a time versus money thing. It used to be quite lucrative when I was doing that, at one stage $7 a minute if I ripped through the easy repairs as fast as possible .
Quite lucrative for my employers, but not so much for me. We have apprentices and a technician for straightforward stuff, I end up stuck with the oddball work or headscratchers, but even so there's usually ~200 pins to desolder to remove the connectors before I can get at the PCB.
On inspection my tweezers are the same as yours, but with blue plastic handles instead of black.
One thing I forgot to mention is don't be afraid to crank the temperature of the desolder gun up. I spoke to the Pace rep a few years ago and he recommended this, he said 400c is not really uncommon. - After this I raised my "default" temp from 350 to 380 and had much improved results. For certain ECUs I'll even go as far as 430c and a preheated board for a few stubborn joints that have no thermal relief around the pad.
Tip life isn't as good as it used to be, but my most commonly used tip (1121-0931-P5 - 1mm) still lasts a month or so. At £13 a piece they're not cheap, but the shorter tip life more than pays for itself in faster workflow and less clogging.