These Are The Tools That Changed My Wrenching Life

Photo: Rory Carroll

This one will also be controversial, but over the last decade or so, I’ve been replacing the old craftsman tool set my parents bought me for my birthday when I first started working on cars with better, mostly American-made tools. There are still times when I buy stuff at Harbor Freight, mostly because they’re the only tool store that’s open late-ish around here. But, for the most par, if I’m buying a hand tool, it’s coming from Wright Tool in Ohio. I have some Wera stuff, and was previously in the habit of buying S-K, but I’ve given up on them since they started producing a line of tools overseas. I know they still make a lot of stuff in the US, but I don’t want take the time to learn about their various lines. I’d rather buy from one company that I know makes high quality stuff here.

My main motivation for this isn’t supporting American manufacturing, though that is part of it. It’s that better tools actually work better. I didn’t believe this until Autoweek’s Wesley Wren demonstrated it to me, but tools that are built to tighter tolerances fit fasteners more tightly and are less likely to deform under hight loads, which means they don’t slip off and round fasteners as often. Again, hard to believe, but I don’t think I have rounded a fastener with American-made tools. How much would you pay to never have to deal with that again?

And yes, I know some store-brand tools perform really well in the tests on YouTube. And I know that in many cases, the tools you buy at a big box store might be made by a reputable manufacturer under contract. But again, I’m not going to spend a ton of time researching which cheap tools work well when I could just spend a little more to support a company that makes things in a town I could drive to.

Finally, I know some people are going to say I should just buy Snap-On or Mac tools. I have acquired some of their tools via eBay and the odd garage sale and they all seem great. But, do you have to have the truck visit you or can you buy them online, or how does that work?

Shop Wright Tool wrench sets: Amazon
Shop Wright Tool socket sets: Amazon