What is your preferred brand of sockets?

Sootywg said:
Just to add some names to the mix (and show my age)
First set bought in the 60s was an Elora imperial set (German). Added metric in the 70s Kampmann also German. Never had a failure though only used for personal vehicle maintenance. Added others over the years, some Britax others Japanese and Halfords. Cheap sockets are never worth it!View attachment 40608View attachment 40609
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Good to see a German brand, apparently good tools, never owned any. Interesting we drive German cars but use British tools. Availability?
 
Snydersmuncher93 said:
Machine mart have been good for lots of other stuff. All my axle stands etc and air stuff is from them. Why wife doesn’t like me going there though as I start getting carried away.


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Buy on a VAT free day then you haven’t spent money? You have saved 20% ?
 
The Halfords stuff is good and I have lots of it. The only criticism is that most of the sockets are multipoint, so not great on nuts and bolts where you need the extra security of a proper hex grip. I have some Facom sockets and also (and probably most used) some brilliant Bahco socket sets. Bahco sockets are great quality, full hex sockets and can be picked up quite reasonably priced online.
 
Vorsprung durch Technik said:
Having read the comment above about Facom not being worth the money surprised me until i checked on ebay current prices! Wow more than doubled/ trebled in just a few short years which i can't understand the hike in price let alone believe what i'm seeing!!! My 12pt 3/8 socket set J.420E 7mm to 24 extension bar ratchet was £54 6 years ago (still got the receipt) which is now about £159 with a discount. About 5 years ago purchased a Facom S.2PB 1/2" drive 6 pt set for £95, a bargain considering the quality and now silly money no doubt. So for the prices i paid, although the Halfords set is good they don't have the resale/desirability tactile feel of Facom.
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So I think that the cost of tools on eBay has shot up due to a number of factors in recent years. I know that there’s a few car related Facebook pages which share out redirect links to eBay items, they do this because if their redirect results in a sale, they get a percentage. Seems sensible enough to me, but the end result is the little gems you used to get after trawling eBay are how far better exposed to a wider audience.

The other side of it is - and this might just be me - if I could have bought a former mechanics toolkit rather than building mine up from scratch over years, then you had better believe I would have. eBay facilitates that better than anything these days.

I have been slowly getting an ex mechanics bits and pieces as he empties out his garage, mostly crap but got one of my favourite tools from him so cannot complain. Just waiting for him to decide he’s got no room for his snap on spanner’s....
 
Snap-on spanners

The only set of snap-on gear I might actually pay the 3 figures for. I have used them from a couple of friends tools when helping them out and their long(ish) spanner’s are a joy. I think the are just their standard length but they are longer than most. Thin, but I’m no way weak. The open end is probably stronger than most of my sockets. Have been waiting for my buddies snap-on guy to hit me with a good deal on them. He’s not being very forthcoming!
 
Talking of Snap on stuff i bought a set of snap-on screwdrivers about 6 in a plastic flimsy tray back in 1992 ish for something like £90 if memory serves and to this day i still think i must have was been mad!! Ordered out of the catalogue through a mate who owns a motorbike shop. They're only average at best so early 2000's i bought much better screwdrivers from the likes of Wiha (German) for much less.

B4Andra, if you can get the old snap-on stuff pre 2000's it's quality but sadly nowadays it not much better than snap ons bluepoint stuff.
 
chb said:
Bahco sockets are great quality, full hex sockets and can be picked up quite reasonably priced online.
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Yep Bahco stuff is good quality at an excellent price a no nonsense brand that performs very well going on my observations. Over the years i've bought Marples record chisels Robert Sorby sets and one year on holiday saw a superb price on some Bahco chisels in a wooden box so thought lets see?. They out perform the Marples any day in that they keep a sharper edge for longer and are sharper out of the box to start with! Anything out of Sweden was known for top notch quality steel.

The only problem with tool companies today is that what was once a great brand has been bought out by another company and the quality doesn't necessarily stay the same.
 
Another +1 for Bahco stuff.

I've got a decent sized Bahco case set at home which is ideal for pretty much everything on cars - I got it from Amazon at a good price, and nothing's broken or bent. I also use Bahco for my work tools (typically see much tougher work) and they've stayed pristine.

Regards,

Matt.
 
Bahco is a Swedish manufacturer that today is merged into the SNA group, and Bahco is their premium brand. Bahco started 165 years ago and invented the adjustable spanner 1891.
They still manufacture tools in Sweden.
 
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I just got a Nielsen breaker bar. It looks pretty but was pretty cheap. It just shows that I have no idea what a quality tool is!


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Pinkythelabrat said:
I just got a Nielsen breaker bar. It looks pretty but was pretty cheap. It just shows that I have no idea what a quality tool is!


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I picked up an unbranded breaker bar last week. Chrome Vanadium steel and very similar to some branded breaker bars but much much cheaper. It's a long one, about 3.5 ft for about £25 delivered. Those stretch bolts are not going to get the better of that bar.

I have noticed some branded products have the brand etched on the tool and the tool is much cheaper unbranded.
 
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