Looking at getting a few new sets of sockets, but 6 or 12 point type ( high torque)? Which do you prefer?

What make do you trust?


Cheers

Both!

Its horses for courses again, you can get away with 6 sided 95% of the time, but as you probably well know, you need double hex as well for things like caliper bolts etc.

Single Hex are better for use in a nut runner, as they tend not to round off so easily.

Im such a Fan of the Halfords Proffesional now, mine have had such a beating and keep going, and the few breakages I have had have been changed without quible.

At work I have Snap-on sockets, the quality is good and the lifetime guarentee is worth the high prices, although lots of people at work have started to use the halfords stuff (also lifetime guarenteed). I would recommend getting 6-sided impact sockets, and 12-sided chrome sockets. Often 12-sided sockets are more useful to give you that extra half a turn etc, whilst 6-sided ones are good for those poor quality fasteners that round off.

You should also consider some deep sockets, a good combination of sockets IMHO would be shallow chrome 12-flank sockets and deep 6-flank impact sockets, assuming you are intending to use an impact gun.

Slightly OT - if you are using an impact gun then an impact UJ would be a great investment I have used this one (this is the 3/8", i also have the 1/2" but its not listed on the website) almost daily since i bought it

Note: in my experience chrome sockets do not last well when used with impact guns, no matter what the make.

Lewis

I personally have only 6 sided ones, and for the very rare odd occasions I do need a 12 point one I've bought individual sockets to suit. The only things I can think of that use 12 points are V8 oil pump covers, V8 bottom end bolts and rear caliper bolts.

The 6 sided ones mean its pretty much impossible to round nuts off!

Snap-on ones are the mutts nuts but expensive. I have a 1/2" teng set that survived many years of abuse and is still good as new. I also have a sealey 1/4" set which is again good as new.

Impact socket wise i have a mixure of snap-on, facom, halfrauds proffesional, CP, sealey and some unbranded. With the exception of the unbraned which are a bit nasty, theres not alot to choose between them.

Jon

If you want tools that will last you and not let you down ,personaly Id invest in Snap-on .

But dont be tricked into thinking that the Snap-on is the same as the Blue point brand that the dealers sell , Lately the Bluepoint branded range quality has become poor and is made in the far east and labeled up as the named brand .

But if you are buying for occasional use ,the Halfrauds pro brand are more than good enough and a snip of the price of Snap-on.

IMHO the 6 sided are much more hardwearing and as mentioned grip the fastner better , But the LR does carry a few 12 sided fastners such as callipers and gearbox .

One thing i have noticed, is the lack of "Imperial" sets. There seems to be a lot of this Metric/Inch sets though? Where they put a few inperial sockets in that cant be coverered by a metric one. Dont actually use that many imperial sockets but sometimes on a worn metric bolt head/nut they come in handy.

Had a look at Halfrauds sets yesterday. Quality looks good, price is pretty reasonable. What are their Spanners like?

The Halfords professional sockets, spanners, and ratchet spanners are all very good, and are hard to beat at the price.

I use Halfords professional sockets sets and spanners 90% of the time, rest is mainly Draper Expert.

Niether.

I use a German socket set which grips the flats not the corners.
Works great except on 12 point bolts (modern engines and V8 oil pumps).


Edited to add piccie.
BRUEDER MANNESMANN
This stuff is luverly.

I kind of agree with Bish on this!

I have mostly Halfords sockets, all 12 point apart from Impact ones and they claim to be drive on the flats.

However, I also have a set of Meterinch sockets which are the original drive on the flats design and are truly impressive at getting things with rounded corners undone. They are essentially a 6 sides design.

Because these grip with a cam which tightens on the flat as you rotate the socket, the size is much less critical so a metric set will cover most imperial in the same range and grip equally well.

I keep the meterinch ones as a 'if all else fails' insurance policy - and keep them for best.

Si

the only stuff i use is this stuff from teng

I also own some Teng stuff among Halfords pro, Sealey, Draper, Britool Sykes Pikivant and Facom (same company), and MAC tools but mostly Snap-on. Teng stuff is good and lasts well, it seems to be better made than Snap-on IMHO but the (lack of) aftersales support and aggrovation involved in replacing tools that are supposed to be lifetime guarenteed is not worth the high prices in my experience. I'll stick to Snap-on in the future

Just my opinion

Lewis

Note - some Snap-on reps are absolute t*ssers - the one that comes to work needs to be shot , I wouldnt cross the road to p*ss on him if he was on fire, moreover I would find the nearest petrol station so that i could douse him in fuel. However the one my mate deals with is excellent, and now all my orders and returns are done through him

Yup for he stuff that needs to be robust I've been buying nothing but Teng. It's got Snap-On quality (if not better) at lower prices.

I couldn't really care less what make once it's not something that's gonna get subjected to high torque or pressure, so I've lots of Draper and Rolson gear. Y'know the kind of stuff you don't mind smacking with a hammer...

Actually I reckon Draper make Teng or the other way around, as I mentioned in another post

I happily beat Snap-on etc with a hammer, they are lifetime guarenteed so why not?

I'm reporting you to the RSPCT

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

respect your tool

I fondly remember using my Snap-on 30mm deep impact socket as a press tool I had to file out the half inch square to make it fit my Impact gun afterwards, hmm done that to few sockets actually

Extensions make ideal drifts and punches

id go for 6 sided due to the amount of things ive failed to undo with 12 siders & then taken off no hassles with 6 sided.
6 siders & a finer rachect (less distance between the clicks) works for me.
another 12 sider bolt is the swivels to axles - 9/16th if i remember right, or 14mm depending what you grab first.

I use this clarke set clicky with a nice 3/8 snap on ratchet as the one supplied is pants but the socks have tacket some abuse and last well plus I cant remeber rounding any bolts off with it. Even if you have cheapy sockets I use a good ratchet every time just makes the job so much nicer and smoother.

Useful bit of info for you

Pirtek (the hydraulic hose people) stock Teng tools. I brought a loverly pair of waterpump pliers off them the other week.

these who i linked to before are sh*t hot at sorting out any problems you may have
like others say teng are excellent quality if not better than cr£p on but cheaper, next day delivery for you and will collect replac warranty stuf within a few hours or if you go see em they'l do it there and then

toolshack need to speak to gary

01254 680363

My socket set is Halfords professional, and I have a spanner set for metric and imperial as well. They are good quality tools in my opinion. I only ever had to replace the 3/8 ratchet under warranty and that was as hassle free as you would wish - I gave them the old one, and he gave me a new one - no questions or paperwork.


Les.

Six point as everybody else has said get 3/8 inch sockets for normal work. Easier to handle use 1/2inch with a breaker bar then go back to 3/8. Buy the 12 point as needed for the job.


Snap-On

Just because I trust them doesn't mean I don't use buy other makes.


mike FOAK
Knickers

I can cause trouble in an empty house !!!

I have a set of 1/2" 6 sided deep impact sockets from Machine mart - can't fault them, and reasonably priced, too.

What sockets you use tends to depend on the quality of the hex you are undoing. As Land Rover use really crap bolts (those 10mm ones on the 300tdi come to mind) you have to use 6-point sockets or else the head will just round off. Unfortunately my socket set (Gedore, bought many moons ago) is 12-point, so I am gradually replacing the more important sockets with 6-point stuff. I can't afford Snap-on so I buy King Tony or similar 'good' stuff.

I remember first using Snap-on back in 1969 on HS (now Bae) Harriers. They had a positive lock, not a ball-bearing but more like a spring loaded bar which went into a hole. We could (and had to) connect together a couple of yards of extensions and uj's to get to some of the harder-to-get-to bolt heads. We could then yank the whole lot out without it all separating. We all carried pop-rivets on string tied to our overalls to get the sockets and extensions apart. We wondered at first at the RAF spending such money on tools, and then we found out how good the Snap-on stuff was. But to this day I am amazed that they bought Snap-on, for most of the other equipment we had to use was rubbish.

When I changed from an office engineering job to mending garden machinery back in '97, I wanted a new tool kit as I didn't want to cart everything from home to work and back.

I went to Halfords and kitted myself out from the pro range with the intention of replacing items as they broke with snap-on or similar.

Everything is used every day, and nothing has worn out apart from the tips of a couple of screwdrivers. I broke a couple of torx bits from the socket set by abusing them, but they were changed without any problems.

Why spend more?