As far as that particular ring goes, have someone give you a hand. push in on the driven to get a little bit of space between the ring and the pulley, that will let the tips of the plier's pins get all the way in the holes in the ring. Once you get the ring off, you'll likely need to clean up around the grooves edges with a fine file to get the outer half off the shaft. One little bit of gouged or dented groove edge will lock it up tight.
the sad truth to it is that good tools are getting harder and harder to come by. As far as snap ring pliers go, i have a beat up pair that i've had since the late 70s (bowling pinsetters have about a million snap rings on them) They don't have brand id at all, but they have a grooved screw-on plate on each handle end that holds the hardened pins and come with an assortment of pin sizes. The really crucial thing about them are the pins that insert into the ring's holes. the ends need to have very clean, sharp depth to the groove at the end to hold the ring when it's tensioned for removal. Most of the china junk today has pins that look like the come to a point with a very shallow, rounded groove. I threw a pair of those into the woods at work this summer. Take a fine file to the pin ends to help them hold the ring better and you'll have much less frustration with them. I don't get along well with crap tools at all.
The closest i can find to what i have are these. Mine have silver metal handles with grooves, never had an plastic or rubber on them.
http://www.bing.com/shopping/lisle-4...rs&FORM=CMSMSP